CHULA VISTA – The Lincoln Club of San Diego County is using its resources to get a Republican elected mayor on Tuesday.
The political action committee has spent $50,872 this year, mainly on direct mail, to help Republican Cheryl Cox in her campaign to unseat Mayor Steve Padilla, a Democrat.
Lincoln Club executive director Chris Niemeyer said the Chula Vista mayoral race, which is nonpartisan, is “the most important race for us in the entire county.”
“Our track record will show that over the past few years we have spent big for the hottest races,” he said yesterday. “Chula Vista is going to be a big city in the next decade, and it's important to have a strong person as mayor.”
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Contribution scenario
Candidates for public office in Chula Vista can accept up to $300 per person per election.
Political action committees don't have limits on how much they can accept.
One PAC, the Lincoln Club of San Diego County, has spent nearly $51,000 this year supporting mayoral candidate Cheryl Cox in her bid to unseat Steve Padilla.
Three donors with Chula Vista ties gave at least $10,000 each to the club this year: David Malcolm, Jim Pieri and Harvey Souza.
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The Lincoln Club is a Republican donor group that states its mission is fostering fiscally responsible government. With more than 400 members, the club has raised nearly $432,000 this year.
The club received major donations from people with Chula Vista ties: $10,160 from Suncoast Financial Mortgage Corp., which is owned by David Malcolm, a former city councilman and port commissioner; $15,050 from Jim Pieri, owner of MountainWest Real Estate; and $13,000 from the Village Club Card Room on Broadway, which is owned by Harvey Souza.
The Lincoln Club has blanketed Chula Vista households with glossy pamphlets that attack Padilla's character, headlined: “Steve Padilla . . . A Shameful Record.”
The pamphlets criticize Padilla for taking pay advances on his mayor's salary and for using city money to hire a $10,000-a-month bodyguard to drive him around while continuing to collect his car allowance.
“It was deceitful for Steve Padilla to take both a taxpayer-funded chauffeur and a car allowance,” one mail piece states. “It was shameful of Steve Padilla to take 10 pay advances.”
Niemeyer said that Padilla's poor performance in the primary – he trailed 10 percentage points behind Cox – shows he can be beaten.
“We know he's vulnerable, and we'll go after him,” he said.
Cox, a trustee of the Chula Vista Elementary School District, has worked as a government lobbyist for several Chula Vista businesses.
Padilla said he wasn't surprised to hear that Malcolm, Pieri and Souza donated to the club. In mailers and in public statements, Padilla has hammered on Cox's past consulting work for “convicted felon” Malcolm and “casino owner” Souza.
In 2002, Malcolm resigned as Chula Vista's representative on the Port Commission amid controversy over his lucrative consulting contract with a company doing business with the port. He later pleaded guilty to a felony conflict-of-interest charge.
Padilla said Pieri is “still angry” about a failed high-rise project proposed for downtown Chula Vista. The Españada project, which called for two luxury condominium towers on H Street, drew criticism from residents who said it was out of character with the neighborhood.
Pieri said he spent millions of dollars on land and planning. In October 2005, Padilla yielded to pressure from community activists and yanked his support for high-rise zoning at that site, killing the project.
“It explains a lot,” Padilla said. “Birds of a feather flock together, and it is now clear that Cheryl Cox is the David Malcolm-Jim Pieri-Españada high-rise candidate for mayor of Chula Vista.”
Pieri said he donates to the Lincoln Club regularly.
“Every year I contribute to the Lincoln Club because they do the best job supporting the Republican candidates in the races,” he said. “I don't tell them what to do. That is up to them.”
Pieri said he has “basically stayed out of” the Chula Vista mayoral race and is not supporting either candidate.
Malcolm said yesterday that his wife, Annie, who is president of Suncoast, was the one who donated to the Lincoln Club. He said they support San Diego ballot measures Propositions B and C – and have no interest in the Chula Vista mayoral race.
“I've lived in San Diego two years and I am very happy to be out of Chula Vista politics,” Malcolm said.
Cox has known Malcolm for many years and said she considers him a supporter. She worked as a consultant for Suncoast in 1996 and said she was paid $25,000 for helping the company bring Knott's Soak City water park to Chula Vista.
Souza, who hired Cox in 1998 to help expand his card room, did not respond to a request for comment.
Cox said that her supporters are performing a public service by giving to political action committees.
“The value in campaign contributions is the contribution to the political process itself,” Cox said. “It helps candidates by getting the word out and educating the voters on important issues.”
She said Padilla could be called the “union candidate” because the San Diego Imperial Counties Labor Council supports him.
Chula Vista has strict rules about donating to political candidates. An individual can donate no more than $300 per candidate per election.
But political action committees, like the Lincoln Club, are able to accept contributions of any amount. The money goes into a pool and is spent according to priorities set by the club's board of directors, Niemeyer said.
Malcolm's donation to the Lincoln Club bolsters Padilla's efforts to link Cox to Malcolm. In August, a Padilla campaign worker was caught taking photographs of a Cox fundraiser in an attempt to get a photo of her with Malcolm, who didn't attend.
“Mr. Padilla needs to talk about what he's done in Chula Vista and quit worrying about someone who lives in San Diego,” Malcolm said. “He's trying to deflect from what he did. The man stole public money by taking pay advances and car allowances he didn't deserve.”
Tanya Mannes: (619) 498-6639; tanya.mannes@uniontrib.com
