The price of no: $1.75 million

Measure N foes spent nearly $700,000 in campaign’s final weeks

By JILLIAN JONES
Register Staff Writer

Opponents of June’s Measure N poured nearly $1.8 million into defeating the initiative that would have killed the proposed development at Napa Pipe, according to campaign finance reports.

During the last filing period, May 18 to June 30, Measure N opponents Keep Napa Napa reported $550,000 in contributions from the owner of the Napa Pipe site, Napa Redevelopment Partners. Those late contributions put Keep Napa Napa’s total contributions for the year at at more than $1,550,000, dwarfing the reported budget of Measure N supporters.

Nearly all of the contributions to Keep Napa Napa came directly from Napa Redevelopment Partners. Napa Redevelopment Partners’ Keith Rogal has said the firm has financial support from Farallon Capital Management, a San Francisco investment firm.

At the polls, Measure N was defeated 54 to 46 percent. The measure would have stopped the proposed development of 3,200 townhomes at Napa Pipe and given voters the right to decide on any future proposal that exceeds existing county caps on residential growth.

Napa Coalition for Responsible Growth — the group behind the Yes on Measure N campaign — raised a total of $73,000 this year, according to reports, including $15,000 between May 18 and the end of June.

Napa attorney James Marshall, treasurer for the coalition, reported three separate personal contributions to the campaign during the last filing period, totaling $7,600. Marshall reported contributing $4,100 several days after the election.

Additional contributions totaling $4,247 came in from winery owner Dario Sattui. Jon Stiffler, an investment counselor in Santa Rosa, is listed as contributing $3,800.

Rogal questioned the accuracy of the Napa Coalition for Responsible Growth finance reports, which, he said, “raise a lot more questions than they answer.”

Earlier this year, Keep Napa Napa’s Joe Fischer filed a Fair Political Practices Commission complaint alleging that the coalition under-reported its contributions and failed to report unnamed financial backers.

At the time the complaint was made, both Marshall and Measure N campaign manager Vic Ajlouny denied any wrongdoing.

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