This was in the Record Searchlight web and paper today:
A Shasta County assessor-recorder candidate is splitting proceeds from a gingerbread house competition with a children's charity and his campaign, a tactic his competitor says is misleading families by using their holiday goodwill to inadvertently bolster his political war chest.
"Gosh, that's families, you know," Leslie Morgan, the incumbent assessor-recorder, said Thursday of Ron Largent's "Gingerbread Magic" competition at the Christmas Holiday Spectacular display at the Shasta District Fair grounds in Anderson. "It's going to hit a whole different vein of life (outside the political arena) - you know, the whole 'here we are sitting on Santa's knee.' "
But Largent, a longtime local real estate professional, says the unusual fundraising tactic is completely legal and anyone who participates in the gingerbread competition will know they're giving to a political campaign.
They'll also know that half of the cash generated will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Sacramento & Northeastern California, he said.
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He acknowledges that the tactic is unusual, but that's one of the reasons it will be an effective fundraiser for both sick children and his campaign, he said.
Such creative thinking also is why he makes an appealing candidate, Largent said.
"I'm sick and tired of traditional thinking," he said. "That's why I'm getting involved."
The gingerbread house competition has a $10 entry fee for individuals and a $25 fee for businesses or groups. The competition runs from today to Dec. 18. Winners will be announced Dec. 19.
Winners will be chosen based on votes at a ballot box at the fairgrounds, through votes on Largent's campaign Web site, www.largent2010.com, and by "guest judges" who will be announced this weekend, said Terry Barnes, Largent's campaign manager.
Largent said his campaign has gone out of its way to make sure everything is legal and disclosed, and a participant in the competition must first sign a form that spells out who's getting their money.
Online entrants using Largent's Web site must click a box saying they acknowledge they're giving to his campaign.
"It's very clearly stated," he said.
Largent said he also checked with the Fair Political Practices Commission and got the all-clear on legal matters.
"This definitely is an unusual approach to fundraising," said commission spokesman Roman Porter. "Unfortunately, court decisions don't allow the FPPC to regulate the content of solicitations, only require that there's certain disclosures."
The campaign likewise got approval from Make-A-Wish to include the organization on promotional materials, under the condition that fliers clearly state the foundation isn't supporting the campaign - just taking the money.
"We asked that the disclaimer be included so that it would be known that no endorsement of the candidate was being made," said Melinda Carson, the executive director of the Sacramento-based charity, which provides trips or other gifts to sick children.
Morgan said she thought that she originally assumed using a charity as a way to get donors to give to a campaign was illegal because tax-exempt charities generally stay out of political fundraising.
It's not illegal in this instance, said campaign ethics expert Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and the FPPC's former general counsel.
But Stern, who reviewed Largent's fundraiser flier, said he thinks that "people are going to be very surprised" that by entering the holiday competition they're also donating to a candidate.
"I've been doing this for about 40 years," Stern said. "I don't think I've seen anything like it."
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