Which candidates have raised the most money in Atascadero, Grover Beach and Morro Bay?

A lot can change in a month, and that held true in the final reportable period of campaign fundraising for several candidates for public office in Atascadero, Grover Beach and Morro Bay.

Although some candidates chose to spend the last month before the Nov. 8 election focused more on buying and distributing last-minute campaign materials, others continued to rake in major donations that gave them significant leads in fundraising over their contenders.

Here’s a look at how much the candidates in Atascadero, Grover Beach and Morro Bay have raised and spent in their quest for office as of Oct. 22.

Atascadero

In Atascadero, only one of the seven candidates running for mayoral and City Council seats has reached five figures in his fundraising.

Mayor Tom O’Malley’s campaign has raised $10,293 this year and spent $14,056. (O’Malley started the year with almost $5,000 for his campaign.)

Part of that came from a $500 donation from Robert M. Jones of Atascadero, as well as $100 donations from 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold and state Assembly district candidate Jordan Cunningham, among other smaller donations from private citizens.

Nicholas Mattson, one of O’Malley’s two mayoral opponents, was close on O’Malley’s heels with $9,915 in funds raised. To date, Mattson has spent $4,549 on his campaign.

Notably, he received a $2,500 donation from Castlerock Development, a San Luis Obispo building company responsible for Oak Ridge Estates in Atascadero and The Highlands in Arroyo Grande.

Incumbent Councilwoman Roberta Fonzi’s campaign took in $9,093 and spent $5,479. Notably, she received $250 gifts from Atascadero Councilman Brian Sturtevant and PG&E.

The remaining City Council and mayoral candidates have all raised significantly less.

Charles Bourbeau, one of Fonzi’s three opponents, took in $3,251 and spent $1,711. He received no donations from private citizens of more than $250.

Mayoral candidate Ann Ketcherside and council candidates Daniel Eister and Bret Heinemann all filed forms declaring they don’t intend to raise more than $2,000.

Grover Beach

Despite the relatively small field of candidates, the contenders running for office in Grover Beach significantly ramped up their campaign fundraising in the last month before the election, mostly in the form of nonmonetary donations.

Mayor John Shoals has raised $10,132, though most of that was made up of several large nonmonetary donations from businesses for campaign materials.

The largest of those was a $2,449 donation for campaign brochures from Central Coast Printing in Grover Beach, followed by $750 worth of graphic design and materials work from Public Policy Solutions Inc. in Templeton. Shoals also received a $118 nonmonetary donation from the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party for campaign slate cards.

Otherwise, Shoals’ two largest monetary donations, both for $1,000, came from Matthew Bashwiner of Chicago and the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union PAC 403. Shoals also received $500 each from Naresh Patel and Jessica Ann Carson, both of Grover Beach.

Heading into the final days of the election, Shoals has spent $3,887.

Council candidate Jeff Lee raised $6,207, including a $1,274 nonmonetary donation from Central Coast Printing in Grover Beach for postage and delivery.

Lee’s largest donations were $500 each from Peter Keith of Arroyo Grande and California Real Estate Political Action Committee.

Lee has spent $2,341.

Council candidate Debbie Peterson followed behind, raising $5,278 and spending $3,441. Her largest donation was $2,000 from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee, California Association of Realtors. She also received $500 from Peter Keith of Arroyo Grande and $200 from Integrity San Luis Obispo, a political action committee formed by local activist Kevin P. Rice.

About $300 of her assembled funds came from a nonmonetary donation from Peterson herself for use of her real estate business office space.

Both mayoral candidate Ron Arnoldsen and council candidate Terry Wingate filed forms declaring they don’t intend to raise more than $2,000.

Morro Bay

Tina Metzger reported raising the most of the three candidates running for mayor, with $12,197. Almost half of that was raised from Sept. 29 through Oct. 22, with her two largest donations being $500 a piece from Terry Newman of Morro Bay and Kathy Gully of Riverside.

Metzger was the only Morro Bay candidate to receive donations of more than $500 in the past month.

To date, she has spent $9,697.

Mayor Jamie Irons followed closely behind with his campaign raising $8,144 and spending $7,060.

Betty Winholtz, who is also running for mayor, raised $6,759 and spent $6,060.

Of the three candidates running for two seats on the City Council, Marlys McPherson has raised the most money with $6,821, including $367 from herself. She spent $4,558.

Robert “Red” Davis raised $4,885 and spent $4,732.

Richard Sadowski reported raising $1,050 and spending $717.

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Which candidates have raised the most money in Atascadero, Grover Beach and Morro Bay?."