Cash Flows to Incumbents in All but 1 Race

Sitting City Council members outpaced their challengers in fund-raising efforts for this fall’s election--except in Thousand Oaks.

There, candidates stood conventional wisdom on its head, with a young, inexperienced contender taking in nearly four times more than the only incumbent in the nine-candidate race, campaign finance reports filed Monday show.

Tom Lee, the 21-year-old president of the Ventura County Young Republicans, led all Thousand Oaks council hopefuls with a total of $20,632 raised for the Nov. 5 election, reports show. That compares with the $5,792 that incumbent Councilman Mike Markey shows on his campaign report.

In Oxnard, by contrast, incumbent Andres Herrera clobbered all other candidates in the five-man council race with more than $40,000 in contributions, $33,000 of that money in the past three months.

“I’m very aggressive,” Herrera explained. “I started early, way before the beginning of the year.”

Across Ventura County, City Council candidates filed or mailed in their campaign finance forms Monday reflecting how much they had raised and spent in the past three months. The reports are required by law, designed to show who is supporting--or influencing--each campaign.

“This money does not influence me,” Herrera said. “What this is is an investment in the people in office who are doing things for everybody. We are creating jobs and opportunities . . . And the people that will benefit the most are the residents.”

Many challengers, like Moorpark business owner Chris Evans, have invested their own money in the race. All but $99 of $3,059 Evans raised in the three-month period came from his own pockets.

Evans said his reliance on his own money is not a question of having infinite resources or of rejecting help from patrons who might expect favors down the road. Instead, Evans said that when he decided to run, he also decided the effort was worth spending his own cash.

“If I need to do something, I’ll write the check,” he said. “This is important enough to put in my time and money.”

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In Thousand Oaks, challengers led the pack in fund-raising efforts. After Lee’s $20,632 total, retired auto dealership manager Marshall Dixon raised the second-highest total with $14,167 for the campaign. His contributions included $1,000 from the Emerald Group, which recently staged a political forum and invited only Dixon and the three other candidates it considered most likely to win.

The owner of the Emerald Group, Tom Parker, initially denied accusations by other candidates that he was heavily involved in Dixon’s campaign, but later admitted he was one of Dixon’s advisors.

Planning Commissioner Linda Parks raised the third-highest figure, $8,342--including $500 donations from former Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski and Newbury Park’s Two Winds Ranch. In addition, Parks received a $1,000 loan from her husband, Al.

Zukowski has also contributed $550 so far to the slow-growth campaign of marketing consultant Dan Del Campo, who has raised a total of $3,113. Del Campo has also received $1,300 from James Zeanah, husband of Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, and a $500 loan from his wife, Mary Jo.

Incumbent Markey, a Compton homicide detective, has raised $5,792 so far this year, according to his report. Markey’s contributions included $100 from former Mayor Alex Fiore and a $1,500 loan from himself.

Lee’s contributions came mostly in small increments, such as the $100 he received from Katherine Tavoularis, the executive director of the Orange County Republican Party. He has also received $1,250 from his campaign manager, Anthony Strickland, who is working along with Lee on Tom McClintock’s state Assembly campaign.

Children’s court investigator Ramaul Rush has raised $2,041 so far, all of it his own money. And Ekbal “Nick” Quidwai, an office machines salesman, has collected $9,601, with the bulk of it his money. The other two candidates in the Thousand Oaks City Council race, David Seagal and Norm Jackson, did not file their reports by the Monday deadline. Reports can also be postmarked by the deadline date.

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In Simi Valley, small businesses and big developers are backing several of the seven candidates for City Council seats.

Incumbent Councilwoman Barbara Williamson reaped the most money in the period from July 1 to Sept. 30.

Williamson’s $10,549 in donations is made up of mostly large gifts from private citizens, corporate executives and one developer that contributed to all three incumbents.

New Urban West--the Santa Monica-based developer that proposes to build 652 homes in Long Canyon as the last phase of the Wood Ranch development--gave $500 to Williamson, $500 to fellow incumbent Bill Davis and $1,000 to Mayor Greg Stratton, who is running unopposed.

“We support the City Council in Simi Valley,” said Tom Zanic, vice president of New Urban West. “We think they’re doing an excellent job, and we’re happy to give them support in their reelection efforts.”

Asked whether he was hoping for support in return from Davis, Stratton and Williamson, Zanic said, “We work with whoever is elected.”

Stratton took in $2,675 in the three-month reporting period, while Davis accepted $2,416.

Financial planner Michael McCaffrey took in $5,216 in donations for his council bid from a slew of small businesses, while weatherstripping contractor Glenn Woodbury--financially McCaffrey’s closest competitor among the challengers--accepted $1,904.

Auto shop owner Dennis Serbick and former Simi Valley policeman Dave Weiner each took in less than $1,000 in donations, records show.

In Moorpark, City Clerk Lillian Hare declined to provide copies of the reports Monday afternoon, saying she wanted a chance to make sure the reports had been filled out correctly.

Copies provided by the candidates, however, revealed campaigns running on far less money than those in neighboring cities. Rancher Bill La Perch, for example, submitted the campaign finance report’s short form, reserved for candidates who do not anticipate spending more than $1,000 during the year.

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Mayoral candidate Michael Wesner has collected $4,388, much of it from the city’s business community. He has received donations, for example, from the owners of Village Muffler & Auto Repair and Moorpark R.V. Storage.

Debbie Rodgers Teasley, a council candidate and former Moorpark Chamber of Commerce president, has also drawn on the local businesses for support. Of the $3,664 she has raised, several of the contributions have come from her fellow real estate agents, who have chipped in as much as $250. A political action committee organized by the California Assn. of Realtors contributed $650.

Oxnard’s Herrera received his largest contributions from catering companies, developers, real estate agents and the BLT waste disposal company that manages Oxnard’s new waste transfer station.

Candidate Roy Lockwood, who is retired, put $10,650 of his own money into his campaign coffers while mortgage broker John Zaragoza raised $7,361 and incumbent Bedford Pinkard raised $9,211. Candidate Emmett Whatley did not report his statements by Monday night.

In the mayoral race, incumbent Manuel Lopez raised $3,969 in the past three months, but reported a loan from the previous report of $21,000. Candidate Anthony De La Cerda said he did not raise any money while candidates Oscar Karrin and Robert Randy Taylor did not deliver their statements by Monday night.