Monning and Cunningham show fundraising prowess in state Senate, Assembly races

Incumbent state Sen. Bill Monning and Assembly candidate Jordan Cunningham have both stockpiled far more money for their election campaigns than their challengers in the June 7 primary, the latest information shows.

Monning, a Democrat from Monterey, is running for re-election to the 17th District Senate seat and faces just one challenger, Republican Palmer Kain, an insurance agent from Aptos.

The 35th District Assembly race also has just two declared candidates seeking to succeed termed-out Republican Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian. Cunningham, a Republican attorney from Templeton, is facing off with Democrat Dawn Ortiz-Legg, a solar energy consultant from Morro Bay.

The fields could still change, however. The official filing period for candidacy starts Feb. 15 and ends March 11 for the Senate race. Because no incumbent is running for the Assembly seat, the filing period is extended to March 16.

Campaign disclosure forms filed Monday, covering campaign finances for 2015, show huge disparities among the candidates who have declared their intention to run and started fundraising. Here are the latest figures:

State Senate, 17th District

Incumbent Monning started 2015 with $142,330 already banked. He raised $222,554 and spent about $130,085 in 2015 — greatly outstripping Republican challenger Kain. Monning had nearly $139,791 on hand Dec. 31.

His biggest donors include $55,200 from the California Democratic Party; $8,500 from the Northern California District Council of Laborers Political Action Committee; $8,500 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; $5,000 from the California State Association of Electrical Workers; $4,100 from the International Union of Operating Engineers; $4,000 from Tenet Healthcare; $3,000 from the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council; and $3,000 from Deloitte Services. San Luis Obispo City Councilman John Ashbaugh donated $100.

Kain started 2015 with no money and raised just $4,337, spending $7,277 over the course of the year. He ended the year with $3,488 in unpaid bills and $548 in cash on hand. Kain loaned his campaign $200 and forgave that amount, so he will not be repaid.

His largest donations were $1,000 from Jim Locatelli of Corralitos and $586 from California Trailblazers, a Republican legislative recruitment organization. Jim Kain of Salinas donated $500.

State Assembly, 35th District

Cunningham raised $181,191 in 2015, including a $5,000 loan from himself.

His major donations include $8,400 from King Oil Tools; $4,200 from the California Building Industry Association PAC; $3,200 from PG&E; and $1,000 from the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians. Other notable contributions were $500 from San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow, $1,000 from Katcho Achadjian for Senate and $412 from Debbie Arnold for Supervisor.

Cunningham has spent a total of $62,757, and he had $121,496 on hand as of Dec. 31.

Most of the money spent was used for campaign literature and mailings, including $7,200 to Landslide Communications and $6,500 to Budget Watchdogs Newsletter. Cunningham also paid for campaign consultants, including more than $3,000 to AimPoint and $1,500 to Robert Huber.

Ortiz-Legg raised $6,918 in 2015, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, all of that coming in the last six months of the year. Her expenditures are just over $7,000.

Donations include $100 from Janet Allenspach, the program coordinator for Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County; $250 from builder Gary Grossman; $100 from Kris Kington-Barker, executive director of Hospice of San Luis Obispo County; and $250 from local physician Ahmad Amir.

The largest chunk of her expenditures, $2,920, went to Caldynamics of Sacramento for website-related work.

Heidi Harmon, who ran unsuccessfully against Achadjian two years ago, is listed as having raised $670, but she told The Tribune on Wednesday that she’s not running for the seat.

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Monning and Cunningham show fundraising prowess in state Senate, Assembly races."