Crawford-Hall Spent $175,000 on Pappas Campaign

From the beginning of the year to June 30, rancher Nancy Crawford-Hall spent $175,000 in an attempt to get Steve Pappas elected to the 3rd District seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. It was Pappas’s third failed attempt to win the seat, and the second straight loss to Doreen Farr, who currently holds the office.

In total, Pappas raised $215,274 for the campaign, which means 81 percent of his contributions came from Crawford-Hall, who owns the Santa Ynez Valley Journal and often uses her weekly column to attack Farr. And that brings Crawford-Hall’s grand spending total in the last two elections to $580,500.

She gave Pappas $45,000 on Election Day, June 5, when he went on to lose the contest by almost 10 percentage points. In addition to the money Crawford-Hall poured into his campaign, the campaign also still owes Pappas $11,000 from a loan.

Crawford-Hall spent $380,500 on Pappas during the 2008 election, and another $25,000 in 2009. After Pappas lost that election, he filed a lawsuit contesting the results but was rejected by judges at every turn. He is currently appealing a judge’s decision that he pay Farr’s legal fees. Oral arguments in that appeal are scheduled for next month.

Farr, meanwhile, raised a total of $376,721 this campaign. In the days leading up to the election, she received $10,000 from fellow supervisor Salud Carbajal, $5,000 from Miramar owner Rick Caruso, and $5,000 from the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association.