WEATHER »

A Peek Inside Campaign Coffers

How Much Money Have County Office Candidates and Incumbents Raised?

Saturday, May 26, 2012
By Chris Meagher (Contact)

Rancher Nancy Crawford-Hall continues in her strong financial support of 3rd District supervisorial candidate Steve Pappas, pouring another $80,000 into his campaign over the past two months. She makes up 72 percent of Pappas’s fundraising effort for the 2012 race. Meanwhile, unions funneled a good amount of cash into the account of his opponent — incumbent Doreen Farr — during the financial reporting period that ended a little more than two weeks before Election Day on June 5.

Crawford-Hall, who contributed more than $500,000 to Pappas’s failed 2008 campaign and his subsequent failed lawsuit to contest the results, maintains there was voter fraud in that election, which Pappas lost by 806 votes out of more than 36,000. Crawford-Hall made union action a large part of her allegations, which have not held up in court thus far.

In a brief interview with The Santa Barbara Independent earlier this month, Crawford-Hall was asked why a special interest like a union was different than a special interest such as an individual, like herself, who has given exponentially more amounts of money than anyone else. “I didn’t pay to have the election rigged,” she responded. Crawford-Hall has given a total of $110,000 in this election cycle.

Pappas raised a total of $152,199, including $98,299 over the most recent two-month filing period. He has $19,500 in outstanding loans he gave his campaign and, because of money spent, has $23,109 left in the bank. Pappas received contributions from 26 different people, while Farr reports financial support from 136 individual sources. She received $185,145 in contributions this reporting period, and she’s brought in a total of $319,836 since January 2011.

Farr received $60,000 from the Service Employees International Union Local 620, $20,000 from the Santa Barbara County Firefighters Union, $5,000 from the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters PAC, $500 from the United Auto Workers, and $1,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 413.

She also reported $203,753 in outstanding debts, $183,637 of which is legal fees stemming from Pappas’s failed legal contest of the 2008 election. Pappas is currently appealing a judge’s decision that he must pay Farr $525,000 in legal fees.

Meanwhile, in the race for the 4th District seat, former Lompoc Mayor Joyce Howerton is giving incumbent Joni Gray a run for her money. Howerton raised $78,753 in the last two months to bring her total to $80,796. Gray flexed a little muscle herself, raising $37,979, for a total of $88,770 since the beginning of the year.

Gray — a conservative in the most conservative district in the county — still hasa $34,032 in outstanding loans, however. She received contributions from Lompoc Mayor John Linn, Guadalupe Mayor Lupe Alvarez, current 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, and former supervisors Joe Centeno and Brooks Firestone, to name a few.

Howerton received a huge $60,000 boost from the California State Council of Service Employees. She also received $2,500 from the SEIU Local 721. Fellow challenger and rancher Peter Adam brought in $24,766 over the two-month period, much of it from the ag industry.

Salud Carbajal reported bringing in $83,550 this period. He currently has $188,854 on hand. He received $10,000 from Randall Van Wolfswinkel, who poured $700,000 into the 2009 Santa Barbara mayoral and city council elections. That amount supplements a $10,000 contribution from Van Wolfswinkel in 2011. In addition to the money he received, Carbajal also gave $5,000 to the Yes on Measure W and X campaign.

Leading up to Election Day, candidates have 24 hours to report contributions of $1,000 or more.

UC Santa Barbara's 22nd Annual Reel Loud Film Festival

Now in its 22nd year at UCSB, Reel Loud is ... Read More