It's a fight over who controls SLO County, and outside money is pouring in

Large donations from outside South County have been reported by both candidates in the District 4 supervisor's race, signaling how significant this particular election is to the county's future.

More than half of incumbent Supervisor Lynn Compton's campaign donations have come from people outside her district, many of whom are hoping to maintain conservative control of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.

Compton's role in a three-person conservative board majority is at risk from challenger and political newcomer Jimmy Paulding, who has received more campaign contributions from people within the district — according to an analysis by The Tribune of campaign finance reports — even though he's a registered Democrat in an area with 2,431 more registered Republicans as of early May.

Out of around 565 donations that Compton reported receiving since July, at least 36 percent came from county residents outside the South County district with another 14 percent coming from outside San Luis Obispo County, including $5,000 from Teixeira Farms Inc. in Santa Maria.

In contrast, out of around 725 donations that Paulding reported receiving, at least 11.5 percent came from county residents outside District 4 with 3.3 percent percent coming from outside of the county.

Mike Brown, who directs the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business, a local conservative policy group, said that at countywide events and meetings, he regularly reminds people of the importance of the District 4 supervisor seat.

"I remind people all the time that though supervisors are elected by their district, they govern the whole county," Brown said, and that's why money is pouring into the race.

"Logic is, it's a pro-ag, pro-business board majority, and she's a part of it, you'd want to keep her," Brown said.

It's not just conservatives who are supporting a District 4 candidate because of their feelings about the conservative board majority; those critical of the local incarnation of conservative rule see Paulding as an answer to disrupt a lock-step voting block.

"People across the county are supporting Lynn or Jimmy because of the way they feel about the majority," said Tom Fulks, who has written liberal columns for The Tribune and is an adviser on Supervisor Bruce Gibson's campaign.

He said it's bigger than politics: "It's good government versus bad government."

While more out-of-district county donors have contributed to Compton — hundreds instead of the dozens that have donated to Paulding — he has actually raised more total money from outside District 4, namely because of two monstrous donations.

Paulding received the largest single donation for a county candidate in the June election when the Holland family gave $40,000 to his campaign. The Hollands said that their motives are to elect officials who they think will reform mental health treatment in the County Jail.

He also received $10,000 from Dan Cook, a SLO County progressive who lives in Templeton.

Out of the $240,150 Paulding received and reported as of May 22, at least a third came from other districts in the county and around 15 percent came from outside the county.

Compton has received and reported $229,572 as of May 22, of which at least a quarter came from other districts in the county and another quarter came from outside the county.

A note on our analysis of out of district donations: Percentages of county donations from outside the district are under-reported here for both candidates. Campaign finance forms include cities but not addresses of donors. Donors from San Luis Obispo may or may not be in District 4. For the purpose of this analysis, we considered them in-district donations. Both candidates received contributions from San Luis Obispo donors.

This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 6:49 PM with the headline "It's a fight over who controls SLO County, and outside money is pouring in."