ELECTIONS: MALIBU : Lawyer Tops Spenders in Council Race : Politics: Many of the 30 candidates have dipped into their own pockets to finance their bids to win seats that will be filled if cityhood wins.

By RON RUSSELL

May 31, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

A land-use attorney has spent $23,448 of his own funds to top the list of campaign spenders thus far among candidates for City Council in Malibu’s incorporation election Tuesday.

Paul Shoop, who has said he will not accept contributions, spent more than the combined total of the next two highest campaign spenders, Larry Wan and Missy Zeitsoff, according to records filed with the county for the period that ended May 19.

Wan, the former head of the Malibu Township Council, a pro-cityhood group, spent $12,033 for the period, while Zeitsoff, also associated with the group, spent $9,638.

The disclosures, required by law, show that many of the 30 candidates have dipped deeply into their own pockets as they try to win one of the five City Council seats voters will fill at the same time they decide whether Malibu becomes a city.

And with most candidates supporting cityhood as an attempt to wrest control of Malibu from a development-minded county government, major real estate developers have been noticeably absent from the list of campaign contributors.

“At this point, it would be the kiss of death for anyone’s campaign to accept much developer money,” one observer said.

The financial disclosures filed with the county do not include contributions or expenditures since May 19. Candidates will not be required to make a complete accounting of their finances until after the election.

Nine candidates did not file financial statements. By law, a candidate is not required to do so if he or she has not received or spent $1,000 or more.

Meanwhile, leaders of a pro-cityhood group have complained that the only organized group opposing cityhood has failed to make the necessary disclosure of where it has obtained its funds.

Concerned Citizens for Protecting Malibu’s Future, which has advertised heavily against cityhood in Malibu’s two weekly newspapers and whose organizers acknowledged having collected more than $2,000, had not disclosed its finances as of Wednesday.

“We would like to know where their money is coming from and why they haven’t bothered to disclose it,” said Gary Amo, a political consultant for MCI/YES on Y, the pro-cityhood group that was formerly the Malibu Committee for Incorporation.

Margaret Richards, treasurer of Concerned Citizens, said the group has applied as a political action committee with the state. She attributed the delay in disclosing its finances to the group’s having only been organized little more than a week ago. “We fully intend to comply, and we will,” she said.

For the period that ended May 19, MCI/YES on Y reported contributions of more than $66,000 and debts of more than $15,000.

Among those donating money to the group were celebrities Herb Alpert, Mel Brooks, Olivia Newton-John, Henry Mancini, Bob Newhart, Carroll O’Connor, George C. Scott, James Whitmore and Burgess Meredith.

Among the candidates, Shoop, Wan and Zeitsoff may have been the leading spenders, but they did not have the largest number of contributions, if loans and gifts made by candidates to their own campaigns are excluded.

Walt Keller, the former co-chairman of the Malibu Committee for Incorporation, has collected $10,865 to top the contribution list, followed by Mike Caggiano, long associated with the Malibu Township Council, with $8,530, and real estate broker Richard Idler, with $7,606.

John Merrick, a retired Municipal Court judge who, along with Keller and Wan, is most often mentioned as one of the favorites in the council race, has collected $5,220 in contributions, with expenditures of $4,429.

Shoop, who is credited with having greatly increased his name recognition since the start of the campaign, has been accused by opponents of standing to benefit financially from property he owns should voters approve cityhood and a pro-development majority be elected to the City Council.

Although Shoop has acknowledged that he and his wife own a 50% interest in nine acres in the Civic Center area, where a San Luis Obispo firm wants to build about 75 condominiums, he has dismissed the criticism as “a lot of nonsense” spread by opponents.

Wan and Zeitsoff, the two other big spenders for the reporting period, have also depended heavily on their own funds to finance their campaigns. Wan and his wife loaned his campaign $15,000, although not all of the money had been spent, and of the $10,679 in total contributions reported by Zeitsoff, $8,702 was from a loan to himself.

Indeed, excluding money candidates have given or loaned to their own campaigns, only seven of the 30 candidates had received contributions of more than $3,000 for the period, and at least five--not including Shoop--had raised no funds.

MALIBU CITY COUNCIL RACE

The following information is based on financial disclosures reported by candidates for the period ending May 19: 10 LEADING SPENDERS

1. Paul Shoop $23,448

2. Larry Wan $12,033

3. Missy Zeitsoff $9,638

4. Mike Caggiano $8,238

5. Sam Birenbaum $8,123

6. Richard Idler $7,245

7. Walt Keller $6,500

8. Sally Womack $4,601

9. John Merrick $4,429

10. Joan House $4,077