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County GOP gives $50,000 to PAC supporting 4 Newport council candidates

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In the final stretch toward Election Day on Tuesday, the Republican Party of Orange County has funneled about $50,000 into a political action committee that’s supporting the Newport Beach City Council slate known as “Team Newport,” according to recent campaign disclosures.

The party this month made two payments of about $25,000 each to the conservative Atlas PAC in support of the slate, which includes Marshall “Duffy” Duffield, Scott Peotter, Kevin Muldoon and Diane Dixon, according to independent expenditure reports.

Another major supporter of the slate was Fieldstead and Co., which gave the PAC $25,000 on Oct. 22, the documents show. The company manages “philanthropic programs as part of a Christian world view,” according to its website.

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Duffield, who has been largely absent from the public eye since undergoing heart bypass surgery Oct. 13, has raised more than twice as much as any other candidate through Oct. 18, documents show.

Since the beginning of the year, Duffield, who is challenging Mayor Rush Hill for his District 3 seat, has raised $205,286 — about $12,400 of which was raised during the most recent filing period, which started Oct. 1. He spent a total of $105,005.

Dixon, who is running unopposed in District 1, raised $97,681 from the beginning of the year through Oct. 18, the next-highest sum after Duffield’s. But during the most recent reporting period, she has raised $2,841, less than all but one candidate.

Hill raised a total of $71,920 this year through Oct. 18 and spent $60,901.

Mike Toerge, who is running against Peotter for the District 6 seat, has outraised his opponent since the beginning of the year, $61,058 to $46,216.

During the most recent filing period, however, Peotter has outraised Toerge, $10,590 to $6,500.

District 4 candidates Muldoon and Tim Brown have both raised a little more than $46,000 this year, though Brown has spent about $13,000 more than Muldoon.

The third District 4 candidate, Roy Englebrecht, has touted the fact that he hasn’t raised any money. He spent $1,566 of a $2,000 loan to himself.

In his most recent spending report, Englebrecht listed just one expenditure: a $55 haircut from Image Salon.

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