WEST COVINA >> A developer with property in the city and ties to former City Councilman Mike Touhey spent more than $44,000 promoting three candidates in mailers that misleadingly suggest the trio received the police union’s endorsement.

Excel Property Management Services Inc., which is registered to Charles Co. owner Mark Gabay, paid $14,697 for materials supporting candidates Andrew McIntyre, Robert Sotelo and Karin Armbrust, according to the company’s Form 496.

The fliers list the West Covina Police Officer’s Association and the worded “endorsed” above photographs of all three candidates.

Armbrust and Sotelo did not get the police association’s endorsement, according to association President Joe Meyers.

The members did endorse McIntyre, but the other endorsements went to candidates James Toma and Mike Spence, he said.

“The guys are upset,” Meyers said. “They truly believe that these are deceptive mailers.”

Meyers originally did not want to speak about the topic, but he said he changed his mind after seeing a third variation with the same mistake.

“It’s deceiving, it uses our name,” he said. “I think it leads the public to believe that we’ve endorsed people that we did not endorse.”

The union met with all of the candidates and chose their endorsement based on those interviews, Meyers said.

Charles Co. has a history of dumping money on candidates in cities where it does business. The company spent $50,000 supporting Hawthorne’s Mayor Daniel Juarez during his run in 2011. A federal grand jury later charged Juarez with perjury for allegedly depositing $25,000 in campaign contributions from various sources into his personal bank account.

The company donated $60,000 to West Covina campaigns in 2007.

Longtime Councilman Touhey often abstained from voting on issues involving Charles Co. because it was a client with his consulting firm.

The company purchased 4 acres of the BKK Landfill — which Touhey voted to close — for more than $1 million in 2006.

The council appointed McIntyre to Touhey’s vacant seat when Touhey left to join the board of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Water District. Touhey listed the McIntyre Co., DC Corp. and Charles Co. as clients in a past financial interest form.

McIntyre, Sotelo and Armbrust continued to rake in contributions from developers and special interest groups since filing campaign finance disclosures in September.

McIntyre listed nearly $9,000 from limited liability corporations affiliated with Athens Services, according to his Oct. 24 disclosure.

All three gained thousands more in contributions from the Cook family, which runs DC Corp. and its associated LLCs. Both Sotelo and McIntyre voted in support of planned DC Corp. development on San Bernardino Road that is now in litigation.

The three candidates had few contributions from actual West Covina residents. Armbrust received $30 from a woman living on Rio De Oro Drive, nearly 3 miles away from her listed address on Vanderhoot Drive. She said during an October candidate forum that her elderly neighbor gave her $30 to help with her “grass-roots” campaign.

Other notable campaign contributions since September included $5,000 donated to Spence from the campaign of Assemblyman Curt Hagman and $500 to Toma from the campaign of former West Covina councilmember and current Assemblyman Roger Hernandez.