CITY HALL — High school teachers have long threatened that they would not accept late assignments because "it doesn't work that way in the real world," but no one has ever put politics in that category.
Neither the self-proclaimed Malibu reform slate nor Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) got their financial filings in by the Oct. 25 deadline, citing technological malfunctions and miscommunication, respectively.
The committee taking funds for candidates Craig Foster, Seth Jacobson and Karen Farrer filed this week, showing $5,699.95 spent in the three-week period and $33,210.05 left in their war chest.
Things have changed a bit since Oct. 20, the last day of the filing period, Jacobson said.
The group has sent out six pieces of mail in the interim and jumped on slate mailers, which has drawn down their reserves.
It's the end of the campaign, and bills are due, Jacobson said, so the balance has gone "way down."
The trio has been trying to combat negative materials put out by Unite Here Local 11 political action committee, a union group that has stated on its filings with the Secretary of State that it is supporting the three incumbents — Maria Leon-Vazquez, Jose Escarce and Ben Allen — and opposing the Malibu slate.
They plan to hit up malls in Malibu and walk precincts in Santa Monica this weekend to keep up the effort to get their word out before Tuesday's election.
"We're going to be out in high traffic areas," Jacobson said.
The group's filing was tardy because of problems with the e-filing system used to turn in the documents, which had difficulties accepting a three-person filing, Jacobson said.
The group went back to filing the old-fashioned way, although some information — including the employers of donors who gave over $100 — is notably absent.
That may be because many of the donors work for themselves, Jacobson said.
As for CEPS, there will be no update until Monday.
The organization doesn't usually raise or spend enough money to deal with filing deadlines, and mistakenly did not file, said Rebecca Kennerly, chair of CEPS.
ashley@www.smdp.com
