Most American & Pacifica voters oppose the influence of special interest money in politics as undemocratic. Buying influence negates the power of our individual votes for any political office, including City Council. Equally troubling, big money=dirty politics=dishonest smear campaigns. Any candidate who accepts $$ tied to this money is culpable for the dishonest smear campaign

Thanks to required State campaign contribution disclosures (Fair Political Practices Commission/FPPC) found on our City’s website, you can follow the money as of Oct 15: City Council conservative candidates Sue Beckmeyer, Mike O’Neill and Vickie Flores ALL received the majority of their campaign funding from out of town real estate interests. Counting direct/independent expenditure funding, Sue Beckmeyer received 58% of her total funding from out of town real estate interests. Realtor Mike O’Neil has received 64%, and Vickie Flores has received 73%.

Top funders were the National Association of Realtors, based in Chicago which spent $11,000 dollars for advertising for each of the three candidates (over $33,000 total), and the California Association of Realtors which gave $8,500 across these three Realtor-linked candidates. Realtor Thomas Thompson and his wife, who live in San Mateo, contributed $8,500 to three Realtor-linked candidates in total. There were NO labor donations to these candidates despite claims otherwise. The other 4 Council candidates received zero outside real estate $$.

The outside Realtor Groups and interconnected local Political Action Committees are behind the disturbing and disgusting smear campaign against Mayor John Keener-a new low for Pacifica. A key connection is San Mateo Realtor Thomas Thompson (see above) who contributed over 80% of the funding to the PAC Pacificans for Responsible Govt AND separately gave $$ to each of the 3 Realtor-linked Candidates. Pacificans for Responsible Govt funded the 1st smear mailer, California Assoc. of Realtor funded the 2nd smear mailer and National Association of Realtors funded the 3rd smear mailer. The Realtor-funded Candidates deny a link to the smear campaign, but these numbers don’t lie. They also refused to return their campaign contributions linked to the smear campaign.

If these outside Realtor Groups can pay to smear our Mayor, then they can buy our City Council. I know honest hard-working Mayor Keener and his track record personally, and have worked with him on reducing climate change impacts & solving the pollution problem at Linda Mar Beach. He is independent, fiscally conservative and genuinely cares about our community. These fake news mailers are full of GOP/Trump-style lies & viscous attacks. Pacificans need to pay extra attention, separate facts from lies and insist on integrity. Civil debate is healthy, but dishonest smear campaigns and special interest $$ campaigns must be called out as undemocratic and harmful to our community.

If money corrupts power/politicians, then don’t vote for City Council candidates who have compromised their integrity by accepting tainted outside money. Stop this trend. Go to the City election webpage if you want more information. Protect Pacifica for ALL Pacificans