The Best People Give So You Can Pay More Utility Taxes

Mod: We managed to get our mitts on the campaign donor list for the Measure UUT ballot initiative, and it is quite the who's who of the frilliest folks in the Sierra Madre community. Taxes might be for the little people, but writing checks so the hoi polloi can pay those taxes is very much in style this season. This is also pretty much a roster of those who supported every bad idea to come down in town over the last 20 years ago, from the Downtown Specific Plan right up to some of today's less than brilliant ideas. Like paying $100,000 a month in hopes Larry Giannone can find people willing to work for his dying Police Department. And honestly, do you really want to pay an additional 66% in UUT appropriations to support an SMPD that recently saw nearly half of its officers quit on this town, leaving it without adequate personnel to patrol the streets at night? So you know, this is an early roster. Another one hits at the end of this month. Today I'm posting a partial list, I left some folks out. But I think this will give you the flavor of what is going down. Enjoy!

Sierra Madre Police Association ... $2,000
D. Barton Doyle ... $100
Judy Webb-Martin ... $120
Patrick Holland ... $300
John and Marta Capoccia ... $250
Janice Nelson and Doug Hayes ... $250
Robert and Antoinette Buckner ... $200
Jacqueline Pergola ... $200
Charles and Karma Bell ... $150
John and Teri Buchanan ... $150
Edward and Amelia Garcia ... $150
Carol Canterbury ... $100
David Felt ... $150
Jeffrey Dapper ... $200
K. Goldstein Trust ... $100
Kurt and Jasmine Richter Trust $150

Mod: Thank them all for giving to make your taxes higher. After all, if you can't afford a 10% UUT, what the hell are you doing living here?

Pasadena Star News: Arcadia council candidate gets controversial $26K donation from local developer

Mod: The Pasadena Star News has now picked up on the Bulldozer Bob Harbicht/Ta-Jen Lee campaign donation scandal. For the entire PSN article click here.

ARCADIA: A local developer that has been trying to build on an Arcadia hillside for 15 years has spent $26,850 to support a City Council candidate’s campaign, according to campaign finance records.

Instead of donating directly to Harbicht’s campaign, Nevis Capital LLC, owned by Ta-Jen Lee, routed the money through the California Homeowners Association, a political action committee in Sacramento.

The PAC spent $15,000 on a mailer sent to voters this week asking Arcadians to “bullet vote,” or only cast one vote for Harbicht, even though there are two seats open. The PAC also spent $10,000 on online marketing for candidate, records show.

Open government advocate Gil Aguirre called using PACs for local politics a “new phenomenon” that obscures where campaign money may be coming from.

“That’s an incredible amount of money for a developer to be funneling to one candidate,” he said. “Obviously, the stakes are high in Arcadia.”

And the move has some residents concerned that Lee is trying to buy Harbicht’s vote on a future project. But Harbicht disagrees.

“I consider that an insult,” he said. “My vote isn’t for sale.”

Mod: Yes, Bulldozer's vote is not for sale. But that might be because it already been bought.

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