If you’ve parked Downtown lately, you may have returned to your car to find a bright yellow “violation” stuck to the windshield. It’s not a real ticket but a campaign flier mocked up to look like one, attacking mayoral candidate Lee Leffingwell by saying he “wants you to pay for this spot on nights & weekends.” Similarly, on Facebook you may have noticed an ad depicting Leffingwell with the tagline, “He’s not my Leffing Mayor,” which links to a video claiming Leffingwell supports such parking charges.
Both ads are the work of the “Brewster Nation,” which describes itself alternately as a group of “representatives of Austin’s small business, creative, digital, and other tech industries” or “private citizens who support [Brewster] McCracken and a more creative and productive Austin.” The latter comes from the language on the violation flyers; according to a press release, the group doesn’t consider itself a political action committee – which in theory explains why there’s no legally required disclosure on the ads or similarly required information on file with the city.
Details about the group are extremely sketchy; its website had no contact info other than a generic e-mail address. A Whois search says BrewsterNation.com is registered to Kimiko Tokita, a woman also named as a media contact in the press release announcing the website launch. However, in a comment on the Brewster Nation blog, the administrator writes, “Brewster Nation is funded by a private Austin individual exercising his right to free speech, and providing a web portal for others to share their opinion.” Tokita confirmed she was hired to work for the group by a figure who, for now, wishes to remain anonymous. Adding to the intrigue, late Monday afternoon – after news of the campaign had spread across the local media landscape – the Brewster Nation website was taken down.
As for the substance of the claim, the parking topic emerged at a candidate forum in April. There, Leffingwell recounted that at an Audit and Finance subcommittee meeting, he had suggested Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar “take a look at charging for parking at night and on the weekends” once the city moves from parking meters to a computerized kiosk system that can charge different rates at different hours. “The fact is that Lee has not proposed it; he’s not even necessarily for it; he just told Spillar we should ‘look at it,'” says Leffingwell campaign consultant Mark Nathan. Moreover, Nathan calls the ticket ads themselves “as illegal as illegal can be,” noting there is “obviously no disclaimer language on any of the materials, so the party is anonymous.” Moreover, he says, “At this point in the election, any expenditures of this type are required to be filed with the city clerk within 48 hours, along with a sworn statement that the expenditures were made without the prior knowledge or consent of the candidate whose election is being advocated.”
McCracken spokesman Colin Rowan says: “It’s an independent group. The campaign, nor Brewster, has not been involved with the creation of the materials.” (The Brewster Nation blog did contain a note from McCracken saying, “I don’t know who you are but what you are doing is very creative and cool – just what Austin is all about!” and thanking the Nation for its support.) As for the group as a whole, Rowan says: “It’s very focused on one particular issue – one that hasn’t really come up during this race. But clearly, they care a lot about the issue. I think everyone is better served when efforts are fully disclosed, but I’m not going to issue a legal opinion about their activity.”
This article appears in May 8 • 2009.