NORTH COUNTY
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Candidates running for local offices in the Nov. 4 election were required to file campaign finance forms this week that list contributions and expenditures through Sept. 30.
The paperwork shows substantial amounts of cash being put into the hotly contested City Council races in Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista and Encinitas.
Oceanside
The Oceanside mayoral race is on a trajectory to break a city record in spending this year.
Candidate Rocky Chavez, a councilman, had raised more than $97,000 by Sept. 30. That could put Chavez within reach of becoming the top money-getter of all time by Election Day. The record is held by former Mayor Terry Johnson, who raised $101,000 in a special council election in June 2005.
In this mayoral election, Chavez's opponent, incumbent Mayor Jim Wood, reports campaign donations of $52,536.
Chavez's contributions include $2,500 from Gregory Canyon LLC, which proposes a landfill near Pala, and a like amount from Herzog Contracting Corp., which proposes to operate that landfill. The city has been in litigation against the landfill.
The councilman also received $6,000 from Robertson's Ready Mix. Chavez voted to place a controversial Robertson's plant near Loma Alta Creek.
In the race for two City Council seats, incumbent Jack Feller and Jim Gibson, who have campaigned for each other, reported contributions of more than $63,000 and $41,000, respectively. Feller also received $2,500 from Herzog.
Incumbent Esther Sanchez and challenger Charles Lowery have raised just over $26,000 and $16,000, respectively. Independent candidate Rex Martin has raised almost $4,000.
Candidates Zack Beck and Michael Lucas expect to raise under $1,000 and do not have to file forms. Rick Kratcoski has dropped out.
– Lola Sherman
Carlsbad
The race for two council seats has become the most expensive in city history.
Challengers Keith Blackburn and Farrah Douglas have collected $72,800 and $63,680, respectively, since they declared their candidacies last year.
Blackburn has spent $55,300 since the beginning of the year, outstripping former Councilwoman Norine Sigafoose, who spent $52,010 in 2004.
Incumbent Ann Kulchin collected $46,120 this year, but had $17,000 in the bank at the end of last year, giving her a total of $63,120 for the campaign.
Thomas K. Arnold listed contributions of $17,600. Glenn Bernard and Evan Delaney Rodgers are not raising money. The Carlsbad firefighters union, which is supporting Kulchin and Blackburn, had $41,300 as of Sept. 30.
– Michael Burge
Encinitas
Incumbent Jerome Stocks and challenger Doug Long led the nine Encinitas City Council candidates in amount of money raised for their campaigns as of Sept. 30.
The three incumbents – Stocks, Maggie Houlihan and James Bond – face six challengers. One candidate, Betsy Aceti, has withdrawn, although her name will appear on the ballot.
Stocks raised $24,972, while the other incumbents were far behind: Houlihan reported $6,556, and Bond reported $6,516.
Of the challengers, Long raised $22,046; Rachelle Collier, $15,218; Anthony Brandenburg, $12,717; Bob Nanninga, $7,560; Harriet Seldin, $6,350; and Joe Sheffo, $6,226.
The Deputy Sheriffs' Association of San Diego County's political action committee spent $1,656 for signs endorsing Stocks, Long and Brandenburg.
The Hometown Alliance, a Cardiff-based group, raised $1,162. The group has endorsed Houlihan, Collier and Brandenburg.
Also on the Nov. 4 ballot is Proposition K, which would extend the city's 2 percent tax on hotel stays to cover short-term rentals of homes to pay for sand replenishment. Citizens for Sand, which supports the measure, reported $1,900 in donations.
– Tanya Mannes
Vista
Incumbent Frank Lopez Jr. leads the four candidates vying for two council seats in fundraising efforts. Lopez pulled in $18,275 in cash and an additional $3,000 in a nonmonetary contribution – a fundraising dinner hosted by his daughter and son-in-law.
Most of Lopez's contributions came from business owners and developers, including O'Day Consultants in Carlsbad, Hanna Plumbing in Vista and Lusardi Construction in San Marcos. Fourteen businesses or individuals donated $390, the maximum contribution allowed in Vista, to Lopez.
Challenger John Aguilera collected $12,769. Nine of Aguilera's 58 contributors gave $390, including Mayor Morris Vance and his wife, Janice. Other contributors included the owners of BHA Inc., a Carlsbad land-planning business, and the Vista Fence Co.
Councilman Steve Gronke, a teacher, raised $5,433 and lent himself $1,200. Four employees of O'Day Consultants contributed to his campaign.
Challenger Gene Ford, a retired business executive, collected $1,823 and lent himself $970.
– Rick Rogers
