Richmond Councilman Jim Rogers

Former Richmond Councilman John Marquez has filed two complaints against Councilman Jim Rogers, alleging that his one-time colleague violated campaign finance laws and may have cost him re-election in November.

In a complaint filed today with the Fair Political Practices Commission, Marquez states that Rogers formed an illegal committee, loaned it $28,000 to pay for three attack mailers and failed to include proper disclaimers.

Marquez said Rogers also violated a city ordinance that limits contributions in Richmond campaigns to $2,500.

“These illegal mailings were just plain wrong,” Marquez said. “Jim Rogers is a lawyer and member of the City Council and he promoted and voted in support of Richmond’s Campaign Finance Ordinance. He should have known that it was wrong.”

Rogers said that he amended his committee type with the state last fall after he was made aware by the Contra Costa Times of a problem.

John Marquez

Under state campaign finance law, candidates cannot create and control independent expenditure committees. The regulation is intended to prevent elected officials from using such committees to avoid disclosure or sidestep compliance with contribution limits.

“I didn’t realize at the time that I had screwed up the paperwork,” he said. “Once it was brought to may attention, I called the (state) and followed their advice.”

As for the city’s contribution limits, Rogers said it applies to individuals who contribute money to another candidate’s committee.

“I have every right to make an unlimited expenditure on my own,” Rogers said.

Rogers formed “Beckles for Council” and used the independent expenditure committee as the platform by which he sent mailers that promoted Jovanka Beckles and targeted incumbents Nat Bates, Marquez and Harpreet Sandhu.

It’s impossible to say how much these three mailers tipped the scales against Marquez although they probably helped.

Bates was re-elected but Marquez and Sandhu failed to win their seats. Beckles did not prevail but finished fourth. Marquez came in fourth fifth place in a contest where only the top three would take office.

Rogers may have erred on the type of committee he formed but he did not attempt to hide his involvement.

He listed his endorsement of Beckles prominently on the mailers.

However, the disclaimer printed on the mailers  — “Beckles for Council” — gives the false impression that she sponsored the mailers.

If Rogers is found liable for violation of state or campaign finance law, he could be fined thousands of dollars although large fines are rare.

Keep in mind that it is a postmark deadline, so some of the reports have not yet arrived in the election offices.

But here is a quick run-down of what some East Bay candidates raised in 2008 based on reports I picked up in Martinez this morning and checked on-line at the Cal-Access, the state’s on-line campaign finance report web site:

California Legislature

State Senate District 7: Democrat Mark DeSaulnier raised $702,709. His opponent was a nominal Republican who did not campaign due to conflicts with his employer.

State Senate District 9: Democrat Loni Hancock raised $751,151. She spent most of her money in the primary in a hard-fought race with Wilma Chan.

Assembly District 15: This was unquestionably the most expensive contest in the East Bay. Democrat Joan Buchanan, who won the seat, raised $2,390,835. Her GOP opponent Abram Wilson collected $1,384,436. These totals do not include the vast sums of independent dollars spent on their behalf by various interest groups.

Assembly District 14: Democrat Nancy Skinner raised $628,321. She spent most of her money was spent in the primary where she battled against other Democrats in this heavily Democratic district.

Assembly District 11: Democrat Tom Torlakson raised $370,492. He also had a nominal Republican challenger. Torlakson returned to this seat after he termed out of the Senate, where he will serve his final term allowed under term limits. He is running for state superintendent of schools in 2010.

Click through on the right for Contra Costa County campaign finance tidbits:

Assessor Gus Kramer raised $1,675 last year even though he won’t be up for re-election until 2010. But he has had some legal troubles recently what with some air pollution fines related to properties he owns plus a jury found him guilty of retaliating against an employee who filed a disrimination suit against him.

Oil refineries spent $201,929 on independent expenditures for Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover, who faced a tough re-election bid against challenger Gary Agopian. Glover raised $134,655 for his own account while Agopian reported $66,513 in contributions.

San Ramon Councilman David Hudson is keeping alive his fundraising committee for county supervisor. He reported $206.41 in the bank.

Advocates for Measure WW, the East Bay Regional Parks bond extension measure, collected $637,745 for their successful campaign.

Ranked No. 2 is the infamous sex call financed by a Republican challenger in an uphill fight to unseat incumbent Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa.  “Mike Thompson has been a baaaaaad boy!” says a throaty woman in a breathy voice.

And in the No. 10 spot is the robocall from conservative group ProtectMarriage.com that used Barack Obama’s words about gay marriage in an anti-Proposition 8 call.

Click here for the full Top 10 list and audio links to the calls, along with a chance to vote for your favorite.

Not that you would know it but robocalls are illegal in California unless introduced by a live caller. Then why do we get so many? Campaigns get around the law by hiring out-of-state call centers beyond the jurisdictional reach of the California Public Utility Commission.

The National Political Do Not Contact project is lobbying for national legislation to bar or restrict the use of robocalls but critics say a prohibition is a violation of Free Speech rights.

The department will use the results to improve serrvices, according to Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald.

The survey features 10 questions about voting methods, polling place operations and effectiveness of pollworkers.

Inspectors who run polling places, poll workers, precinct coordinators who provide support to polling sites, and personnel who staff return centers were election supplies are returned after the closing of the polls are also asked to participate in a survey.

For more information, call 510-272-6933.

We’ll be talking about the 2008 presidential campaign and all things to do with elections. It’s a free event open to the public at the college, so come on by.

Click here for the details at Saint Mary’s College events calendar or read more.

I started the day at the gym, in part, to ward off the calories I knew would hit the newsroom. It’s tradition here to eat pizza, Chinese food and M&Ms on election night.

I then began a new tradition of meeting for lunch with some veteran Contra Costa politicos for some off-the-record predictions about national and local races. The most prescient among us win bragging (or gloating) rights until the next election.

And then I watched the first African-American in this nation’s history become president-elect. It was something many believed could not happen in my lifetime or even the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren.

Unlike the past several presidential elections, the outcome unfolded quickly, too.

By 8:01 p.m., the television networks declared Obama the winner. GOP nominee John McCain delivered a very classy concession speech. It was just what I would have expected from McCain.

I was unable to listen to all of Obama’s short speech because I was busy writing about the early results in congressional district 11 (McNerney vs. Andal) but I am sure I can find it online in at least 3,000 places.

Now, all eyes will be on the Democrats.

They will hold power in the White House, Congress and the U.S. Senate, a trifecta that will carry both tremendous responsibility and an extraordinary level of scrutiny. The country faces deep economic uncertainty, growing concerns about climate change and expensive wars on terror that seem to have no end.

Obama promises change but as the debate during the election showed, voters are far from united on what that means. Meanwhile, near super-human status has been bestowed on this one man — even Obama jokes about it — and he will almost certainly fall short of the expectations of one group or another. Obama has inspired tens of thousands of people to become involved in the process but unlike an emotional election night victory, political successes are usually measured in small incremental steps over many years. Will these new enthusiasts have the patience and the stamina to stick with it over the long haul?

Tomorrow … make that later today … I will talk with the East Bay members of Congress and find out how they view their jobs in the next two years given the changing political landscape.

But it is back up as of a few minutes ago.

I’m told the site is experiencing 10 times the normal levels of traffic. A spokeswoman says they are disabling the map function, which should speed it up.

This is what happens when you have an election and everyone shows up.

Weir said she provided false information to the California Republican Party and Assemblyman Guy Houston’s office about the number of ballots she was provided in the precinct where she was assigned in Discovery Bay.

Weir said the worker told the GOP that she was given too few ballots to handle the voters in her precinct. That is incorrect, he said.

The precinct has 931 registered voters, of which 455 are permanent vote-by-mail voters who have already received ballots, Weir said.

The county delivered 500 official ballot to this precinct, Weir said, which accommodates 100 percent of the precinct’s registered voters who do not vote by mail plus a few extras to cover people who have spoiled their mail-in ballot and wish to obtain a new one.

Under this scenario, it seems unlikely that a precinct could run out of ballots. But in high turnout elections, unregistered voters often turn up at the polling place. Pollworkers will not deny anyone the right to vote; those individuals cast what are called “provisional” ballots, which means they are counted only if the voter turns out to be registered but is not on the official rolls for one reason or another.

Under the county’s emergency plan, if a precinct runs out of ballots, voters fill out a sample ballot. (This Discovery Bay precinct has 50 sample ballots on hand for this purpose.)

The sample ballot results are transferred by hand to an official ballot at the election office and scanned into the tally. It sounds scary but the Secretary of State’s office has approve it as part of the county’s emergency plan, Weir said.

The county also has extra official ballots on hand that could be delivered to any precinct that runs out and it could print more official ballots if necessary, Weir said.