Critics question Ellman’s donation

September 30, 2004

Former Los Arcos developer Steve Ellman contributed $25,000 to the Maricopa County Republican Committee just days before that group created a local political committee whose purpose last spring was to defeat David Ortega’s bid for mayor of Scottsdale.

Ortega was the chief critic of Ellman’s onetime plan to develop the former Los Arcos Mall site, and a taxpayer subsidy that goes to the developer. A former city councilman, Ortega once referred to the plan as a "fiasco."

The committee formed Friends of Scottsdale six days after receiving Ellman’s campaign contribution. That group proceeded to spend $18,000 on political mailers and phone calls that harshly criticized Ortega’s leadership abilities as he campaigned.

County Republican officials said any link between the two campaigns is a coincidence. They also denied any communication with Ellman or any "earmarking" of funds to be used for political purposes.

But Ortega and other Ellman critics said the timing between the Ellman donation and the formation of the Scottsdale group appears to be more than coincidence.

The group was sponsored by the Maricopa County Republican Committee and led by Brittany Balmer, the executive director of the committee. Its political consultant was Nathan Sproul, a well-known Republican activist and former executive director of the state Republican Party.

"Whether or not Ellman was able to secretly use the Maricopa County Republican Committee as his tool to orchestrate negative attacks against me should be investigated," Ortega told the Tribune in an e-mail Wednesday. "In a nonpartisan race where Mayor Mary Manross is also a Democrat, it amazes me that the Republican party might have been so easily hijacked by a businessman like Ellman.

"Obviously, Ellman and others viewed me as a threat. Unfortunately, the facts came out after the election."

None of the campaign mailers distributed by Friends of Scottsdale mentioned Manross.

Ellman did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday and Wednesday.

His financial contribution was five times larger than any other individual contribution given to the committee in at least six years, according to campaign finance reports.

Ellman’s federal campaign contributions show he has donated to Democratic and Republican candidates and committees since at least 1996. His largest federal contribution since 1996 was $5,000 to the Democratic National Committee services corporation.

Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman Tom Liddy said it’s not unusual for the party to get involved in nonpartisan races, including municipal races. The group also contributed thousands of dollars to a political committee called Friends for Tempe’s Brightest Future, which sought to support Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman. That group also was formed by the county Republicans.

In Scottsdale’s case, the county Republican Party targeted Ortega because it viewed him as the weaker candidate, Liddy said.

The ads did not mention Manross because the group hoped to defeat Ortega in March and advance Bob Usdane, a former Republican state lawmaker, into a run-off election with Manross.

As for the Ellman contribution, Liddy said he mailed about 30 letters seeking contributions from potential supporters, including Ellman, last spring. The practice is common among political party fund-raisers, Liddy said.

"I can absolutely guarantee you we did not accept any earmarked funds, nor did I discuss with Ellman where the money would be spent," Liddy said.

Usdane said he remembered the political mailers that were sent by Friends of Scottsdale, but he did not approve of them.

One of the mailers called Usdane a "Republican consensus-builder," while describing Ortega as "just too partisan, too Democratic and too liberal to be a good mayor for all of Scottsdale."

Another advertisement described Ortega as having a "(former Democratic presidential candidate) Howard Dean streak for making very strange remarks in public."

Manross said she was not aware of the Ellman campaign contribution to the county.

"There is no reason for him to ever support me. He and I never agreed on much of anything at all," she said. "I would never expect or anticipate or encourage or ask for support from him."