Assembly candidates Susan Jordan and Das Williams were the biggest fundraisers among local candidates last year, with more than $500,000 between them.
Candidates for state and county offices filed their semi-annual campaign finance reports by Monday. The forms list contributions and expenditures from 2009. Since the county filing period for candidacy starts in February, it is largely incumbents who have begun receiving contributions.
Williams, a member of the Santa Barbara City Council, raised $331,387, beating Jordan by more than $100,000.
His largest contributions reported this period came from unions and local politicians. The California State Council of Laborers political action committee gave him $7,800, and the local Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers PAC contributed $3,800.
Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider and Councilman Grant House each gave him about $3,800, as did council contender John Thyne.
Jordan, whose husband, Pedro Nava, holds the 35th District seat, raised $224,829 in 2009 and, like Williams, received most of it from many smaller contributions. She received her largest contribution from a union as well, with $7,800 from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and $3,400 from Nava.
She had several contributors of $3,900, which is the campaign limit for individuals contributing to legislative candidates. According to the Fair Political Practices Commission, individuals can give $6,500 to statewide candidates and $25,900 to gubernatorial candidates.
Republican Mike Stoker raised $102,537 for his campaign last year and spent just $4,683. His largest contributions were $7,800 from the United Agricultural Political Action Committee and $7,800 from Alexi Realty, Inc. of Santa Maria. He also received $3,900 from state senators Tony Strickland and Jeff Denham as well as 33rd district assemblymember Sam Blakeslee.
Small contributor committees have higher limits, and political parties have no limits. There are also calendar-year limits on contributions to state officeholders.
Neither Jordan, Williams or Stoker accepted the voluntary expenditure ceilings of $518,000 for the primary and $906,000 for the general election.
Republican Daniel Goldberg agreed to the expenditure ceiling but has not filed campaign finance reporting forms with the county or Secretary of State’s office.
Attorney General
Nava is running for attorney general. He raised $417,025 last year and spent nearly $100,000. Disclosure is required for officeholders, too, and he spent about $170,000 from his Pedro Nava 2008 account, most of which went to credit card payments and business-related travel, as well as supporting Jordan’s campaign.
He hasn’t agreed to the expenditure limits, which, for the attorney general position, are $5,178,000 for the primary and $7,768,000 for the general election.
Supervisors
Second District Supervisor Janet Wolf, who recently took the post of chairwoman of the board, raised $117,371.91 last year for her re-election campaign. Her biggest donor was the Santa Barbara County Firefighters Good Government Committee, which has given her $11,000 to date.
District Attorney
The district attorney race is heating up, and the candidates are raising the money necessary to hold their own.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley raised $75,350 and spent a little more than $20,000, mostly for campaign materials. A fellow senior deputy district attorney, Gerald Franklin, contributed $8,000 to her cause, and she gave herself a loan of $5,000.
Acting District Attorney Joshua Lynn raised $49,249 last year and spent about $11,000. Brent Lynn, a mutual fund portfolio manager in Denver, gave $18,000 to the campaign, and Richard Lynn of Santa Barbara contributed $5,000. Joshua Lynn also gave himself a $3,500 loan.
Sheriff
Sheriff Bill Brown’s re-election campaign chest is closing in on $43,000, and his handwritten forms included $5,000 contributions from some big names, such as actor/producer Kirk Douglas and Sirius Telecom CEO Chris Edgecomb.
The primary election will June 8, and all county elected offices will be on the ballot as well as selected state offices.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.