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Wednesday, May. 28, 2008

$1.2M is raised by six supervisor candidates; may be record high for county

The amount collectively gathered so far by those running for three seats may be a record high for the county

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Candidates in the three races for county supervisor this year have raised close to $1.2 million among them since the campaigns began, creating what may be the county’s first million- dollar supervisors’ election.

Third District incumbent Jerry Lenthall and challenger Adam Hill have brought in $462,000 from last year through May 18, surpassing the $325,000 raised in 2006 by Bruce Gibson and Rodger Anderson. That was then a record amount for a single supervisor race.

But Hill and Lenthall are not the only candidates to raise huge sums this time around. In the 1st District, incumbent Harry Ovitt and Frank Mecham have collectively raised $309,341, and in the 5th District incumbent Jim Patterson and Debbie Arnold have raised $408,429 between them since the campaigns began last year.

The total among the three campaigns is $1,179,770, and the candidates still are taking in money.

The most recent reporting period covered March 18 through May 17. The primary election is next Tuesday.

There were some significantly large donations as well this period, notably the $28,500 given to Arnold by the Cattlemen’s Association Political Action Committee.

The association and other rancher-developer donations enabled Arnold to outraise Patterson.

Apart from those and the occasional eye-catching contribution — former congressman Michael Huf fington’s $500 to Lenthall, for example —the patterns are very similar to previous reporting periods.

The money flowed according to contributors’ views of what direction they want the five-member board to take. Development, rancher and property- rights money generally went to Lenthall and Arnold, while environmentalists and those with a more controlled view of planning gave to Hill and Patterson.

The Ovitt-Mecham campaign has been less land-use oriented.

1st District

Incumbent Ovitt and challenger Mecham, the mayor of Paso Robles, raised nearly the same amount of money this filing period.

Mecham brought in $32,997 while the supervisor raised $32,441.

The single largest contribution to Ovitt’s campaign was a $5,000 donation from the San Luis Obispo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. He also received $2,000 each from the San Luis Obispo Cattlemen’s Political Action Committee, San Miguel rancher John Tannehill, and Arciero Vineyard. Ovitt had 14 other donations of $1,000 each.

Mecham’s largest donations were contributions of $2,000 each from EOS Estate Winery, the Citizens Anti-Crime Committee and Villa del Rio Apartments in Paso Robles. He received $1,500 from investment counselor Charles Flory and had 10 other donations of $1,000 each.

Mecham received $500 from the Cattlemen’s Association Political Action Committee.

This year, Ovitt has brought in $45,590, and Mecham has raised $55,977.

3rd District

Lenthall, a former police officer, outraised challenger Hill, a Cal Poly teacher, by more than $10,000 in the recent nine-week campaign finance reporting period.

But Hill had more to spend going into the home stretch for the primary election as Lenthall nearly ran out of money.

According to figures available at the county Clerk- Recorder’s Of fice, Lenthall raised $79,401 between March 17 and May 18, including $12,330 in nonmonetary contributions.

Hill raised $68,853, including $5,470 in nonmonetary contributions.

However, Hill reported $65,000 on hand. At the end of the reporting period May 18, Lenthall’s finance documents showed a $474 cash balance Lenthall’s campaign coffers, however, shot quickly back up on May 22-23 as he received eight donations totaling $15,000. Four of the eight, including a donation from Tri W Enterprises, came from the same office in Santa Maria. San Miguel rancher Janice Pankey Tannehill also gave $1,000 on May 22.

Amber Johnson, Lenthall’s campaign spokeswoman, said contributions come in throughout a campaign. She added that Lenthall ran low May 18 because he had prepaid for television, mailings and other expenses.

The donation pattern did not change appreciably from earlier reporting periods. Both men had scores of donations, approaching 200 contributors each. The money came from people in all walks of life; the greatest number was retirees, and the great bulk of donations was in the $100 to $1,000 range.

Hill’s largest contributor was the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of San Luis Obispo County, which gave $15,000 after endorsing him.

Additionally, he received seven donations of roughly $1,000, including $1,000 from the Atascadero Democratic Club.

Many of his donors were locally well-known environmentalists, such as Andrew Christie of the Sierra Club, Sue Luft of North County Watch and Cal Wilvert of ECOSLO. Planning Commissioner Anne Wyatt gave $100, as did former county personnel director Richard Greek.

Hill loaned himself $10,500.

As in earlier reports, Lenthall’s individual contributors were mixed with developers, people in the construction trades, ranchers and prominent Republicans.

Among the givers were Denis Sullivan, owner of Blacklake Golf Resort, the Estrella River Vineyard, and David Lack Construction.

Republican donors included the Tom Bordonaro for Assessor campaign; Rep. Kevin Mc- Carthy, and Steve Ford, son of the late President Gerald Ford.

Lenthall also had a sprinkling of donations under $1,000 from various development and construction interests, including Michael Morris, who represents Ernie Dalidio, Clark Construction, and South County rancher H. D. Perrett.

5th District

Arnold’s big-ticket contributions from ranching and development interests helped her widen her fundraising lead over Patterson, the campaign finance reports show. The Cattlemen’s Association PAC was her largest single donor.

Arnold, a rancher from Pozo and former aide to former Su-per visor Mike Ryan, raised $133,998 during that period and more than $240,000 total this year.

Her other sizable contributions included $2,500 from Santa Maria farmer H. D. Perrett, $2,000 from Paso Roblesbased Sanford Stone, and $1,500 from the California Real Estate PAC, which is based in Los Angeles.

Patterson raised $72,212 during the two-month period, nearly three-fourths of the total of $109,938 his supporters raised this year. Cambria resident Phillip Christie — father of county Planning Commissioner and Patterson appointee Sarah Christie — donated $1,600,making him Patterson’s largest single contributor this period.

Patterson’s other contributions included $1,000 each from Santa Barbara attorney Clark Alexander and the Atascadero Democratic Club and $645 from Atascadero Mayor Mike Brennler and his wife, Anita Brennler.

Pete Clark, president of the Cattlemen’s Association PAC, said the organization supports Arnold because of her background in and dedication to ranching and agriculture.

He said the PAC operates independently of the San Luis Obispo Cattlemen’s Association.

“We just don’t feel (Patterson and Sarah Christie) have been supportive of the ranching community and private property rights,” Clark said. “We’ve got to look ahead to preserve and protect the ranches and private property for the next generations to come.”

Arnold and Patterson have been at odds on a number of issues this election season, including local laws regulating medical marijuana dispensaries and “smart growth” principles that encourage growth in existing urban areas.