| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
SoCal developer's offices searched in campaign finance probe
Friday August 22, 2003LOS ANGELES (AP) Authorities searched Beverly Hills developer Alan Casden's offices as part of an investigation into possible city campaign finance law violations in the 2001 mayoral race.
Prosecutors revealed little else about the probe but said searches were also conducted Thursday in Simi Valley, Granada Hills and Encino.
Casden, who bid to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, has developed thousands of upscale apartments and low-income housing. Over the past four years, the 57-year-old and his firm made $213,000 in contributions to benefit city candidates, according to Ethics Commission records.
Casden could not be reached for comment but his attorney, Ronald Turovsky, said Casden and the firm would fully cooperate.
``We are certainly aware of no violations,'' Turovsky said.
Records show Casden and his firm, Casden Properties, have in past years made small contributions to campaigns for Mayor James K. Hahn, city attorney Rocky Delgadillo and six City Council members. The firm also contributed $100,000 to the campaign to beat last year's secession efforts in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.
In the 2001 mayoral election, Hahn charged Casden and others had contributed $100,000 each to the state Democratic Party, which aided Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign for mayor. Hahn said the spending circumvented mayoral campaign contribution limits of $1,000.
But an investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission found no evidence any money was specifically earmarked for Villaraigosa, said California Democratic Party attorney Lance Olson. Olson said the current probe does not involve state party expenditures for Villaraigosa.
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