Donations

Strict limits on campaign contributions imposed by voters nearly three decades ago are crumbling in the Los Angeles mayor's race, with big donors using loosely regulated "super PACs" to help candidates like never before in a citywide election, a Times analysis has found. Of the $17.5 million collected so far to support mayoral hopefuls Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, roughly one-third - a record $6.1 million - has gone into independent political action committees that can accept contributions of any size.

Advertising company Lamar sued the city of Los Angeles two months ago, demanding the right to install new digital billboards in such neighborhoods as Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Glassell Park and the Fairfax district. Lamar's involvement in city politics did not stop there. Since it filed that lawsuit, the company has financed scores of billboards for candidates in the May 21 election - 100 for mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel, 100 for city controller candidate Dennis Zine and 20 apiece for City Council candidates Curren Price, Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo.

As the devastation wrought by super storm Sandy becomes increasingly evident, one of the greatest of human impulses is certain to kick in: generosity. Over the next few weeks, we are likely to see a frenzy of clothing drives and canned food drives. Pet supplies, dry goods and books will be donated and dispatched to the affected areas. For many good-hearted people, participating in this kind of giving feels more concrete and satisfying than simply writing a check. But, as we've learned from studying Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, the Japanese tsunami and numerous other disasters, unsolicited donations are seldom useful and often burdensome.

When the upcoming comedy "The Hangover Part III" wrapped production in January, Warner Bros. was left with tons of used plywood, joists, furniture, faux brick and other materials from the film set. But instead of hauling the leftovers to the landfill, the studio donated the items - enough to fill 10 truckloads - to the charitable organization Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, to be sold in Habitat's stores in Gardena and Norwalk....

If a well-heeled neighborhood of Los Angeles wanted better police protection, would it be OK for the residents to donate money to their local police station so it could assign an extra patrol car to their streets? Most people would rightly say no. Law enforcement is a public service; taxpayers support it for the safety of all, to be deployed as needed to provide the best protection for the city. Residents might hire a private security guard for their neighborhood, but they cannot reshape public allocations of resources to benefit themselves through private donations.

For girls, prom preparation usually means looking for the perfect dress, finding jewelry that sparkles and a pair of shoes that will let them dance throughout the night, but what about the boys? They need the right gear too. And not everyone can afford it. So the Prom Dress Project, a program sponsored by the St. Francis Medical Center Foundation, is looking to provide Southeast Los Angeles students with everything they need to dress for prom. Now in its second year, the project is for the first time including boys and will supply the male students with suits, shirts and ties for the big night.

In what is said to be the largest fundraising goal in American academia to date, USC is launching a campaign to garner $5 billion in donations by 2018, on top of $1 billion given to the school in the last year. USC President C.L. Max Nikias said he was optimistic that the campaign, to be announced Sunday, would succeed despite the economic worries that even wealthy alumni may have about their investments. "Yes, we have to be mindful of the short-term economic uncertainties, but this campaign focuses beyond the next few months and next few years," Nikias said.

That “substantial donation” that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson reportedly made to the pro-Newt Gingrich "super PAC" Winning Our Future last month? Pretty substantial, as it turns out. The Las Vegas mogul and his wife put another $5 million into the super PAC in February, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed Tuesday. His daughter, Shelley Adelson, donated $500,000. Altogether, the Adelson family has given Winning Our Future $16.5 million out of the $18.8 million it has raised.

California's attorney general filed a civil lawsuit against a Riverside County charity that raises money to support programs for military veterans and active-duty personnel, particularly for those hospitalized with war wounds. Help Hospitalized Veterans has used much of its donations for lavish salaries and pensions, self-dealing business relationships and loans, and perks such as $80,000 in golf memberships and use of a condominium, Atty. Gen.Kamala D. Harrissaid in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court.

We have been giving faithfully to about five charities a year. We are on a fixed income, so we have to limit our contributions. However, in the last three years, perhaps longer, requests for donations have dramatically increased to the point where we may stop giving donations. We decided to save all requests for donations. At the end of October there were 57 separate and distinct organizations requesting donations. In this 10-month period, one organization requested donations 18 times, another 12 times, another 11 times and so on. Most of the requests send address labels and we have enough labels to last for years.

WASHINGTON - Early last month, state lawyers and election officials around the country dialed into a conference call to talk about how to deal with the flood of secret money that played an unprecedented role in the 2012 election. The discussion, which included officials from California, New York, Alaska and Maine, was a first step toward a collaborative effort to force tax-exempt advocacy organizations and trade associations out of the shadows. The unusual initiative was driven by the lack of progress at the federal level in pushing those groups to disclose their contributors if they engage in campaigns, as candidates and political action committees are required to do. "There is no question that one of the reasons to have states working together is because the federal government, in numerous arenas, has failed to take action," said Ann Ravel, chairwoman of California's Fair Political Practices Commission, who organized the call with officials from about 10 states.

Strict limits on campaign contributions imposed by voters nearly three decades ago are crumbling in the Los Angeles mayor's race, with big donors using loosely regulated "super PACs" to help candidates like never before in a citywide election, a Times analysis has found. Of the $17.5 million collected so far to support mayoral hopefuls Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, roughly one-third - a record $6.1 million - has gone into independent political action committees that can accept contributions of any size.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg donated $350,000 to the Los Angeles school board campaign this week, records show. Bloomberg's contribution, which was filed Tuesday, will enlarge the already sizable war chest of the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The goal of the coalition is to back candidates who will support the policies of L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy and pledge to keep him on the job. Before the March primary, Bloomberg contributed $1 million for the three board races - the largest contribution ever made in an L.A. school board campaign.

Compton High School has two tennis courts, a coach and now, all the gear it can use, including rackets, balls and even shoes. What's lacking is a team. But that's beginning to change. The school started signing up prospective tennis players last week as a donation of equipment and regulation nets was being unloaded. Curious students approached the tennis court to ask what the commotion was about and left as team members with racket bags filled with gear. "Guess we play tennis now," Tatiarria Hayes, 16, joked with her best friend, Robin Butler, 15, both holding black and green bags.

Two days after a fatal explosion shrouded a small Texas town in an eerie plume of smoke, officials still weren't sure exactly how many people had died. But one thing had become increasingly clear: Texas is a team. Using a Facebook group called “Prayers for Victims of Waco/West TX Fertilizer Plant Disaster” -- which had more than 75,000 "likes" by Thursday evening -- people offered myriad services. A local nurse said she could help with search and rescue efforts. Scores of people offered to volunteer at a crawfish boil fundraiser at a motorcycle shop in nearby Waco on Saturday.

Danny Amendola may be new on the scene in New England, but he has already become part of the community. The former St. Louis Rams receiver who joined the Patriots via free agency last month plans to be very generous in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings Monday that killed three people and injured at least 170 more injured. He tweeted that night: I will DONATE $100 for EVERY pass I catch next season to whatever "Boston Marathon Relief Fund" there is. And $200 for any dropped pass.

WASHINGTON -- Nine years ago, then-Vermont Gov. Howard Dean broke new ground when his campaign used the Internet to help raise what were then record sums for his insurgent White House bid. Now President Obama's campaign - whose digital strategist hails from Dean's Internet operation  - is pouncing on another technological tool, announcing that it would be the first presidential campaign in history to accept donations via text message....

A good day for the UCLA basketball program started before players even took the court. Hours before the tip-off against Arizona State, the Bruins athletic department received two unexpected donations of $100,000 each for the upcoming renovation of Pauley Pavilion. Ross Bjork, a senior associate athletic director, said the gifts were part of a recent uptick that has pushed fundraising for the project to almost $62 million. "There's a buzz around the arena," Bjork said. "Lots of activity."

WASHINGTON - The nonprofit advocacy group that was formed to back President Obama's agenda, which was sharply criticized as a potential conduit for wealthy interests to influence the White House, has been financed overwhelmingly by thousands of small donors since its launch in late January. Organizing for Action took in just three six-figure donations through the end of March. The biggest, $250,000, came from a son of Warren Buffett's longtime business partner. Only about two dozen of the 770 fundraisers who collected major donations for Obama's reelection gave to the organization, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.

When Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel went to a school in her rival's City Council district Wednesday to chide his abilities as a school reformer, she apparently didn't realize many at the school like Eric Garcetti. The chief executive of Camino Nuevo Charter Academy criticized Greuel for bringing “negative campaigning” to the campus and for making the “odd” choice of attacking Garcetti at a school where he helped bring in a $700,000 federal grant to build a soccer field.