The California Apartment Association is spending big to unseat Councilmember Henry Foster III in the closing days of his reelection campaign.
That spending has coincided with major contributions from local business groups like the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown San Diego Partnership into political committees run by the California Apartment Association.
But leaders at those local groups say their donations have nothing to do with the late push to oust Foster — even though the donations and spending both occurred within a 10-day stretch in October just after both local groups made late endorsements of Foster’s opponent, Martha Abraham.
Since Oct. 16, the California Apartment Association, through its Housing Solution Committee, has spent nearly $77,000 against Foster, on both polling and political mailers sent to residents, some of which targeted him for his role in the city’s trash fee error.
In the first 17 days of October, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Partnership, through their political action committees, donated a combined $45,000 into a separate group listed as the California Apartment Association Independent Expenditure Committee.
Political committees, like the one sending anti-Foster mail, formed generally to support the interests of the group they represent, must list their top three funders on any campaign materials. But the anti-Foster mailers list just one source — the California Apartment Association.
That’s technically true, since money only goes into the group’s Housing Solutions Committee through other California Apartment Association committees, specifically its Political Action Committee and its Independent Expenditure Committee.
So far this month, the Chamber PAC donated a total of $30,000 to the CAA Independent Expenditure Committee, and the Downtown Partnership PAC gave a total of $15,000.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce PAC is a vehicle to politically support candidates and causes endorsed by the chamber, and receives donations from the group’s membership on a rolling basis. Recent large donations include $50,000 from the California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC and $29,500 from the Padres, bringing the team to a total of $49,500 donated this year.
Melaine Woods — the California Apartment Association’s vice president of local affairs — is a board member of both the Chamber and Downtown Partnership PACs.
Other local political groups have also consolidated their spending through the California Apartment Association. The San Diego-based United Medical Marijuana Coalition PAC and the San Diego County Lodging Association PAC each gave $5,000 to CAA committees.
But even if CAA didn’t string donations through a network of committees, the Chamber and Downtown Partnership still wouldn’t be listed as the CAA’s top donors.
Equity Residential, an apartment group based out of Chicago that owns multiple buildings across San Diego, has contributed over $1.84 million this calendar year to the CAA’s Independent Expenditure Committee, which is the CAA Housing Solution Committee’s main funding source.
The group’s second largest donor is Essex Property Trust, Inc. — one of San Diego’s largest landlords, which recently paid a $19.25 million settlement in a San Diego County lawsuit alleging it wrongfully withheld security deposits. The apartment group donated over $1.78 million this year to CAA’s Independent Expenditure Committee.
AvalonBay Communities, which owns AVA properties in Pacific Beach and Balboa Park among other sites in the city, has donated over $1.65 million this calendar year to the same committee.
Compared to the CAA’s Independent Expenditure Committee, its Political Action Committee accumulates smaller donations from many more donors, typically apartment property managers and owners.
The California Apartment Association’s Political Action Committee’s campaign filings disclosed donations from many San Diego residential property managers and apartment groups.
And the CAA PAC has been involved in other local races — but it spent directly in all of those, rather than funneling money through a committee alongside other outside donations. In August, it supported six San Diego County candidates — each running in city council or mayoral races in Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Imperial Beach. The largest of those was a $2,500 contribution to Oceanside District 2 Councilmember Rick Robinson’s reelection bid.
Other donations included $1,000 supporting Chula Vista Mayor John McCann’s reelection bid, and another $1,000 contribution toward Keith Blackburn’s Carlsbad mayoral run.
