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Campaign mailer is under scrutiny
The document attacks two City Council candidates. Political science professor questions who benefits.
By Chris Wiebe
BURBANK — The arrival of political hit pieces in Burbank mailboxes late last week has sparked questions about the origin of the mailers.
The fliers, paid for by the Coalition for Responsible Leadership, attacked City Council candidates Gary Bric and Anja Reinke on several grounds — including Bric's 1997 driving under the influence conviction and allegations that Reinke represents unsavory clients in her law practice.
The coalition was formerly registered as the Good Government Committee and has as its treasurer Kinde Durkee, whose accounting and business-management firm is based out of Burbank, according to state records.
Durkee has a reputation as a "well-known" and "widely respected" campaign treasurer who usually works for members of the Democratic Party, said Mona Field, a political science professor at Glendale Community College.
But Durkee also received an order from the Fair Political Practices Commission in February 2006 that required her to pay a penalty on charges that she "violated the Political Reform Act by sending a mass mailing that did not include proper sender identification," the commission's order said.
The Coalition for Responsible Leadership is one of many groups that are often turned to during political races to orchestrate mass mailings of campaign literature, Field said.
"There are a million of these front groups and it is very difficult to know who is behind these types of mailings because with the way filings and contributions are registered, you really don't know who's behind it," she said.
Durkee could not be reached for comment.
But the remaining question is who stands to benefit from the mailer attacking Bric and Reinke, Field said.
And these sorts of questions naturally lean toward the two candidates not mentioned in the mailer, in this case married couple Carolyn and Philip Berlin, she said.
"I think we could surmise that people who support the Berlins are doing some kind of independent expenditures to undermine their opponents," she said. "But whether there's any partisan problem underneath this or is it just a coincidence that this coalition is linked to a major Democratic treasurer — you just really don't know."
The Berlins have no knowledge of the origin of the mailings, Carolyn Berlin said. But it is possible that the mailings came as a response from supporters to recent negative campaigning against the Berlins — such as the "No Married Couples on the Burbank Council" signs and T-shirts throughout Burbank, she said.
"We've heard a lot of complaints from a lot of different sources about the 'No Married Couples' signs that have been out there a long time," she said. "We have gotten calls inside and outside of the area who have been very offended and have felt that it was anywhere from illegal to discriminatory. Whether it was their campaigning that brought this on is possible, but we have no idea."
Both Bric and Reinke have bemoaned the distribution of the mailers as dirty politics.
"I've followed elections for a lot of years and I don't remember any negative campaigning like what we've seen currently," Bric said. "Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of this and find out who was responsible for sending out the hit piece on both Anja and myself. And hopefully the voters will see how tragic this type of campaigning is in an election and will base their opinions and votes on the candidate and what they stand for."
QUESTION
What do you think of recent political mailers in the campaign for City Council? E-mail your responses to burbankleader @latimes.com; mail them to the Burbank Leader, 221 N. Brand Blvd., 2nd Floor, Glendale, CA, 91203. Please spell your name and include your address and phone number for verification purposes only.
CHRIS WIEBE covers City Hall and the courts. He may be reached at (818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at chris.wiebelatimes.com.
The fliers, paid for by the Coalition for Responsible Leadership, attacked City Council candidates Gary Bric and Anja Reinke on several grounds — including Bric's 1997 driving under the influence conviction and allegations that Reinke represents unsavory clients in her law practice.
The coalition was formerly registered as the Good Government Committee and has as its treasurer Kinde Durkee, whose accounting and business-management firm is based out of Burbank, according to state records.
Durkee has a reputation as a "well-known" and "widely respected" campaign treasurer who usually works for members of the Democratic Party, said Mona Field, a political science professor at Glendale Community College.
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The Coalition for Responsible Leadership is one of many groups that are often turned to during political races to orchestrate mass mailings of campaign literature, Field said.
"There are a million of these front groups and it is very difficult to know who is behind these types of mailings because with the way filings and contributions are registered, you really don't know who's behind it," she said.
Durkee could not be reached for comment.
But the remaining question is who stands to benefit from the mailer attacking Bric and Reinke, Field said.
And these sorts of questions naturally lean toward the two candidates not mentioned in the mailer, in this case married couple Carolyn and Philip Berlin, she said.
"I think we could surmise that people who support the Berlins are doing some kind of independent expenditures to undermine their opponents," she said. "But whether there's any partisan problem underneath this or is it just a coincidence that this coalition is linked to a major Democratic treasurer — you just really don't know."
The Berlins have no knowledge of the origin of the mailings, Carolyn Berlin said. But it is possible that the mailings came as a response from supporters to recent negative campaigning against the Berlins — such as the "No Married Couples on the Burbank Council" signs and T-shirts throughout Burbank, she said.
"We've heard a lot of complaints from a lot of different sources about the 'No Married Couples' signs that have been out there a long time," she said. "We have gotten calls inside and outside of the area who have been very offended and have felt that it was anywhere from illegal to discriminatory. Whether it was their campaigning that brought this on is possible, but we have no idea."
Both Bric and Reinke have bemoaned the distribution of the mailers as dirty politics.
"I've followed elections for a lot of years and I don't remember any negative campaigning like what we've seen currently," Bric said. "Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of this and find out who was responsible for sending out the hit piece on both Anja and myself. And hopefully the voters will see how tragic this type of campaigning is in an election and will base their opinions and votes on the candidate and what they stand for."
QUESTION
What do you think of recent political mailers in the campaign for City Council? E-mail your responses to burbankleader @latimes.com; mail them to the Burbank Leader, 221 N. Brand Blvd., 2nd Floor, Glendale, CA, 91203. Please spell your name and include your address and phone number for verification purposes only.
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