By Buster Moov Staff Writer Representatives from the company that owns the contaminated Porta Bella property

spent $9,000 at a fundraiser for U S Rep Buc! "oward on #riday $%ecutives of Remediation #inancial &nc 'R#&(, the Phoeni%)*ased mana+in+ partner of Sprin+field ,,-, donated $9,000 to the con+ressman.s reelection coffers at the event, which was held at the "yatt -olum*ia "otel and -onference -enter While Sprin+field ,,- has told city officials it does not have the money to clean up the 99/) acre Porta Bella property, 0ary Belue, R#&.s director of development, said the company did not pay anyone.s way at the fundraiser #ederal election rules prohi*it corporate contri*utions to con+ressional candidates, and companies cannot reim*urse employees who ma!e donations Belue said Monday that 12 R#& attendees each paid $230 for tic!ets, totalin+ $4,000 5fter the newspaper o*tained a list from "oward.s campai+n office on Monday showin+ that several R#& attendees actually paid more than $230, Belue said some of the 12, includin+ himself, opted to contri*ute an e%tra $1,000 apiece6 collectively $/,000 in addition to what they paid for the tic!ets 5mon+ those who contri*uted $1,000 each were R#& president Myla Bo*ins!y and her mother, e%ecutives 7im ,ewis and Ric Sa+er and Belue.s wife, Patsy Belue said the R#& people wanted to show their appreciation for "oward.s wor! in o*tainin+ federal funds for eventual +roundwater cleanup 8ecades of weapons testin+ *y now defunct defense contractors left *ehind some 293 different contaminants, includin+ perchlorate, a roc!et fuel component that has *een lin!ed in low doses to thyroid pro*lems :"oward has *een very helpful,; Brown said :'7he( people who wor! for the company wanted to show their support "e has +ot and continues to support 'money for cleanup( ; "oward has authori<ed $9 million for the 5rmy -orps of $n+ineers to study the e%tent of the perchlorate pro*lem 7he chemical was detected in 1999, in four pu*lic water wells ad=acent to the Porta Bella property 7he wells were su*se>uently closed Sprin+field ,,- hopes to *uild 2,911 homes, a *usiness par!, a shoppin+ center and an elementary school on the property 7he company too! out rou+hly $/0 million in loans when it purchased the land in ?an 1999, and officials say they have =ust $4 million left in the *an! 7he company owes $300,000 to the state of -alifornia for cleanup monitorin+, several contractors are suin+ over unpaid *ills and no soil or water has *een cleaned $%ecutives say they cannot afford to *e+in removin+ the pollution unless the city chan+es a 199/ a+reement that allows the company to clean and *uild homes in phases