Election finance filings are in, and Los Altos appears to be hosting a few financially lopsided races.
Supporters of Measure N have raised $60,000, while opponents expect to spend less than $1,000, and a candidate for a seemingly obscure seat on a water district board of directors has outspent his opponent by a factor of 40 and raised more than three times that of any other local candidate or campaign. Candidates appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot filed the mandatory California Form 460 campaign financial statements last week.
A summary of the campaign finances reported by candidates in local races follows, including the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees, those in support of and against Measure N, the Los Altos City Council and the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Board of Trustees.
Los Altos School District
Challenger Martha McClatchie leads the race in money raised for one of the three open seats on the Los Altos School Board of Trustees, collecting $25,192 in contributions as of last week.
McClatchie provided $15,000 to her own campaign and raised more than $10,000 through donations. Her campaign reports indicate that 30 donors have each contributed more than $100, with the largest single donation ($1,000) coming from Los Altos resident Laszlo Bock.
Sangeeth Peruri collected the second-largest amount in the race – $14,626. His donation totals are similar to McClatchie’s, and he gave his campaign a $5,000 donation. His reports reveal 24 donors of more than $100 each. His largest contributor is Bob Grimm – his campaign treasurer – who gave $1,000.
John Swan and Vladimir Ivanovic both exceeded the five-figure mark in contributions, raising $10,810 and $10,795, respectively.
Ivanovic contributed $6,095 through loans to his own campaign and gathered the rest through donations. He accepted seven donations of more than $100, including $500 from the Los Altos Teachers Association, $1,000 from the Huttlinger Alliance for Education and $2,000 from outgoing school board Trustee Mark Goines.
Swan loaned his campaign $3,000 and has received more than $100 each from 15 donors. Los Altos resident Karl Hansen is his largest contributor at $2,000.
Incumbent Tamara Logan raised $9,020. She loaned $4,000 to her campaign and collected 11 donations of more than $100 each. Her donations include $500 from the Los Altos Teachers Association and $1,000 from the Huttlinger Alliance. Logan’s largest contributions, $1,000 each, came from Grimm and Goines.
Measure N
Measure N, the $150 million bond measure designed to raise money for facilities in the Los Altos School District, received considerable financial support from the community. The Yes on N campaign raised more than $60,000. The No on N campaign, in contrast, did not file official financial reports but filed paperwork noting that it plans to spend less than $1,000, the threshold for financial reporting.
The Yes on N campaign – raising funds through the Keep Los Altos Schools Strong committee – raised $62,625. It paid $10,282 to TBWB Strategies, the consulting firm handling its campaign public relations. Campaign treasurer Grimm said more detailed spending reports would be available Friday, when the next financial reports are due.
The largest donations to Yes on N include $10,000 from the Huttlinger Alliance, $7,000 from Gelfand Partners Architect (which has worked on projects for the district), $5,000 from each district elementary school’s PTA and $375 from the California Teachers Association.
Los Altos City Council
Moneywise, realtor Mary Prochnow leads the five-person race for two seats on council with $14,849. That total includes a $5,100 loan she provided to her campaign.
Prochnow received $9,347 in monetary contributions, including $1,000 each from Los Altos residents Roberta Young and Ricky Feldner and Palo Alto’s Cypress Properties Inc. Other notable donors include former Los Altos councilmembers Curtis Cole, Bob Grimm and Marge Bruno, who each contributed $250 to Prochnow’s campaign.
Candidate Jean Mordo – a former Los Altos Hills councilman – reported raising $12,573, which includes a $5,500 personal loan to his campaign. Mordo recorded $7,073 in monetary donations.
Grimm, Mordo’s campaign treasurer, contributed the largest amount ($1,000). Other donors include Los Altos Hills Councilman Gary Waldeck and his wife, Barbara ($250); downtown property owner Mel Kahn ($250); Los Altos Planning and Transportation Commissioner Jerry Moison ($100); and Marge Bruno ($100).
Incumbent Jarrett Fishpaw reported $13,063 in contributions, including $10,391 in loans he provided to his campaign. Fishpaw received $1,150 in monetary contributions and $1,522.50 in nonmonetary gifts. His largest monetary donation came from Burlingame resident Michael Van Every ($250), CEO of Republic Urban Properties.
Challenger Karen Berner reported raising $13,150 for her bid to join the council, $13,000 of which she donated to her own campaign. Berner received one donation of $100 from Los Altos residents Brian and Jennifer Cilker.
Another newcomer, Alexander Glew, raised the least amount among the field of five, coming in at $1,145. The total includes $1,000 he loaned to his campaign. He did not report receiving any monetary donations to his campaign. Glew received a $145 nonmonetary contribution from Market Savvy Consulting, a business owned and operated by Los Altos Councilwoman Val Carpenter.
MVLA High School District
The seven candidates vying for two seats on the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Board of Trustees raised less money than those running for the elementary school board and city council.
Two candidates, Kevin Kramer and Doug Moore, filed reports indicating that they would not raise or spend more than $1,000 on their campaigns.
Newcomer Sanjay Dave raised the most, $10,373, but that includes $10,000 he loaned to his campaign.
Fiona Walter collected the largest amount of funds, $3,557, $650 of which she donated herself.
Incumbent Joe Mitchner and newcomer Dana Bunnett each raised more than $4,000. Bunnett’s $4,585 includes $3,000 she loaned to her campaign. Of Mitchner’s $4,224, he loaned $3,950 to his campaign.
Incumbent Debbie Torok reported raising $1,874, which included a $1,000 loan to her campaign.
Other races
Los Altos Hills resident Dr. Peter Fung leads the way in spending in the three-person race for two open seats on the El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors. He reported raising $28,375, $23,000 of which he loaned himself.
Fung, a vascular neurologist at El Camino Hospital, donated $1,000 to his campaign and received eight donations of $250 each from physicians in Fidere Anesthesia Consultants Inc. of Mountain View. Los Altos Hills retiree Beatrice Hom donated $1,000, Fung’s largest contribution from someone other than himself.
Incumbent David Reeder, a Los Altos resident, received $22,891.36 in total contributions for the year, including a $2,000 loan he gave to his campaign. Of the $20,603.99 in monetary contributions reported, Reeder received $8,250 – in the form of 33 donations of $250 each – from physicians associated with Fidere Anesthesia Consultants Inc. Los Altos Hills resident Edward Taft gave the largest single contribution at $1,000.
Margaret Abe-Koga, near the end of her run on the Mountain View City Council, reported $18,501 in contributions in the form of monetary donations. The Mountain View Professional Firefighters Local 1965 contributed a pair of $1,000 donations to her campaign. Other notable donations include $1,000 from Campbell Councilman Evan Low’s 2014 campaign for state assembly.
In the two-candidate race for the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors, former Los Altos Hills resident Gary Kremen (now of Palo Alto) leads in contributions with $280,773.45. He provided $248,500 of that via nine loans. Kremen has spent more than $312,704 on his campaign.
A supplemental contribution report filed by Kremen Oct. 7 shows an additional $48,000 donation from the candidate and a $1,500 contribution from the Monarch Investment & Management Group.
Kremen’s largest donation came from Steven Westly, managing partner of The Westly Group, who contributed $10,000. Additional supporters include Campbell Vice Mayor Jeffrey Cristina ($1,000), the Mid-Management Association of the Santa Clara Valley Water District ($500) and PG&E ($200).
Incumbent Brian Schmidt, a Mountain View resident, reported $13,181.83 in year-to-date contributions and $8,209.05 in expenditures. Of that reported total, $13,055.09 came in the form of monetary contributions.
Schmidt gave a $500 contribution to his own campaign. Other notable contributions came from Los Altos Councilwoman Val Carpenter ($500) and the Santa Clara County chapter of the California League of Conservation Voters ($500).
