Supervisor Susan Rose leads campaign fund-raising race 2/26/02 By JUNE RICH NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER Money can't buy you love, but it can buy you many yard signs. Local candidates have been raising a lot of cash for their March 5 primary campaigns, with seats open at all levels, from county supervisor to tax collector to clerk-recorder-assessor. Here's a brief rundown of who gave what to whom. 2ND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR It appears that Susan Rose doesn't want to give up her seat, representing much of Goleta, Hope Ranch and the western reaches of Santa Barbara. She has raised the most money in any of the local races: $133,630 in the last 14 months. About $53,529 poured into the campaign in the last two months. Her biggest contributors were the Santa Barbara County firefighters, with a gift of $10,000, Santa Barbara Voters for Better Government with $7,500, and Santa Barbara resident David Chambers with $5,500. Ms. Rose's opponent, Michael Magne, brought in $73,080 during the same time frame, according to the most recent campaign finance reports, filed Feb. 21. The reports do not necessarily reflect corrections filed by candidates. The small business owner won $15,000 from the Los Padres Agriculture & Land Political Action Committee, whose stated mission is to improve the business and regulatory climate for farmers and land owners in Santa Barbara County His second largest contribution, $7,000, came from the Lincoln Club, a fund-raising organization for the Republican Party. His third largest contribution came from out of the area, $5,000 from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee, based in Los Angeles. Mr. Magne also received $1,000 from the executive director of the Val Verde Foundation, which has been fighting the county to open its historic Montecito estate to public tours for several years. Supervisor Rose voted against opening the estate in 1999. The political action committee for Hope Ranch, a wealthy, seaside enclave in the 2nd District, treated both candidates to $1,000 each. Mr. Magne loaned himself a substantial amount of money in the campaign, about one-third of his war chest or $22,000. He also reported about $7,000 worth of services from his business, Jensen Audio Visual, on campaign expenses like office space, staff and Web site work. Ms. Rose only loaned herself $300 in the last 14 months. 5TH DISTRICT SUPERVISOR Joe Centeno is leading the trio of candidates for the 5th District office, which represents the larger Santa Maria Valley, in fund-raising. The Santa Maria mayor has collected $54,547. Libertarian candidate William Wagener is a far second with $13,070, and Jeanne Sparks has the least money, $10,433. Mr. Centeno raised the most last fall, with $5,000 contributed in December by the Los Padres Land & Agriculture PAC. He also pulled in $2,500 from James Diani, owner of A. J. Diani Construction. Mr. Diani is leading the movement to split the county. Mr. Centeno received a bevy of $1,000 contributions from other business owners: Beringer Blass Wine Estates, Betteravia Farms, Foxenwood Builders, Home Motors Sales and Service, the Minson Company, which owns two shopping centers in the Santa Maria area, Santa Maria Ford, Sharer Harvest Company and Speiss Construction. Almost all of Mr. Wagener's contributions came from his wife, Carole Wagener, in the form of $12,000 worth of signs and materials. Mr. Wagener's report -- a somewhat casual affair with several basic, mathematical errors -- shows the remaining $1,070 as donated by countless "unknown individuals," except for $100 from by his treasurer, Santa Maria landlord Joe Furciente. Ms. Sparks' biggest contributions, of $500 each, came from the Democratic Club of the Santa Maria Valley and James Murr Jr., A Santa Maria resident with the county Auditor-Controller's office. Of all the candidates, Ms. Sparks seems to have received the most contributions of $100 or less. They comprise almost half of the money she collected in the most recent filing period. CLERK-RECORDER-ASSESSOR In the race to lead the office that oversees elections, Joe Holland has raised twice as much money as Larry Herrera, though Mr. Holland loaned himself $20,000 of that. Mr. Holland has $47,108, compared to Mr. Herrera's $23,955. Mr. Holland's biggest contributors were the Los Padres Land & Agriculture PAC, with $5,000, followed by the Santa Barbara County firefighters, with $2,500. It appears that Mr. Herrera's largest contribution came from Salud Carbajal, executive assistant to 1st District Supervisor Naomi Schwartz. He received $1,000 from retiring county Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Ken Pettit. He also received a cluster of smaller donations from leaders in Latinos for Better Government, and from several Democratic Party groups. TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR The outside candidate, Eric Sonquist, has raised twice as much money as his challenger, Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector, Bernice James. Mr. Sonquist, administrator to the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, has taken in $44,577, compared to Ms. James' $21,877. Mr. Sonquist's greatest contributor was a local attorney, Joseph Abkin, with $1,025, followed by $1,000 from another attorney, Kenneth Pivo, and $1,000 from the Los Padres Agriculture & Land PAC. The San Diego-based Sempra Energy gave him $200. Mr. Sonquist's treasurer also loaned him $10,000, and Mr. Sonquist loaned himself $5,000. Ms. James received her largest contributions from herself, $10,000, essentially half of her war chest. Get printer-friendly version