WATER DISTRICT HOPEFULS LAUNCH BLITZ; INCUMBENT SAYS EFFORT VIOLATES SPIRIT OF FUND-RAISING LAW.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Five weeks before Election Day, three Newhall County Water District candidates challenging the trio of incumbents have posted election signs around town and mailed glossy color brochures to residents.

The publicity effort has been made possible through donations the candidates have collected: $5,568 for Tom Campbell, $4,857 for Barbara Dore and $4,763 for Valerie Thomas as of Sept. 25. The war chests and locations of their campaign signs - on The Newhall Land and Farming Company property - have raised concerns among the incumbents.

The incumbents in this small rather obscure district say their opponents' efforts are contrary to Prop. 208, passed by voters to encourage voluntary campaign financing limits.

``We have no intention of exceeding (the voluntary campaign financing limits) because the voters said they don't want special-interest donations given to candidates,'' said board member Lynne Plambeck, an incumbent in the Nov. 4 election.

But one of the opponents, Valerie Thomas, said the challengers are merely taking steps they see as necessary to run a viable campaign against seated officers.

``Challengers are always at a disadvantage,'' Thomas said. ``We don't have our name on the letterhead, we don't have a newsletter stating the wonderful things we've done. We've gone to friends and said, `Help us, please.' ''

The water district board made an effort to set fair fund-raising limits before the campaigns kicked off, Plambeck said. It considered, in part, the amounts she and other board members spent in previous campaigns. Plambeck said she had spent about $1,500 four years ago.

The board decided to make the cap more generous, and estimated that a 25 cents-per-resident limit would allow candidates to raise somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000. Once a more exact population estimate was gathered, however, the cap came out to about $6,000.

Campbell, Dore and Thomas chose not to participate in the voluntary caps. The incumbents - Plambeck, Edwin Dunn and David Rapoport - agreed to participate.

Of the 296 candidates running for various offices statewide, only 11 have chosen not to volunteer for the campaign financing caps set by individual agencies, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

The list includes Bill Lockyer, a state senator running for attorney general, a candidate for state treasurer and various council candidates, the FPPC has noted.

Of the 11, only three have already collected at least 65 percent of the cap set for their election. They are Campbell, Dore and Thomas, the FPPC stated. Plambeck, Dunn and Rapoport have collected less than $1,000.

Newhall Land's permission for the challengers to place large campaign signs on the developer's high-profile properties is an indication the company is behind the three, Plambeck said.

Plambeck, Dunn and Rapoport have taken stands against Newhall Land during their tenure on the water board.

The Newhall water board has filed a lawsuit in an effort to ensure the agency's rights to state water received from Castaic Lake Water Agency. The move is essentially an attempt to reserve water that Newhall Land will need for the proposed Newhall Ranch project.

In addition, Plambeck and others have made numerous visits to the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Department to show that there is not enough water for the huge housing development proposed for a swath of land west of the Golden State Freeway.

``Absolutely, it's an organized attack,'' Plambeck said

But Thomas said Plambeck's concerns are unfounded. Under the campaign financing rules, the challengers cannot accept any donations exceeding $100 from a single individual, organization or company because they have declined to participate in the voluntary cap.

Those who participate in the financing cap may receive up to $250 from a single source, Thomas said. Any donations under $100 remain anonymous for both groups.

``I don't know anything about that part of it,'' said Thomas, in response to whether the challengers were running as a slate sponsored by Newhall Land. Their campaign signs on the company's property are identical save for their names.