SANTA CRUZ >> Thursday was the deadline for local candidates and committees to file their fundraising totals to the city or county clerk for Jan. 19 to Feb. 15.
Below are the fundraising totals thus far, posted as of Sunday morning. We are closely following the Santa Cruz City Council races and the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors races, so we’re only posting campaign finance totals for those races.
We think it’s useful to list the donors for each campaign because it gives you an idea of who supports the candidates. We’ve curated a list of notable donors to each campaign, in the period from Jan. 19 to Feb. 15. What were our criteria for this list?
- Donors who reside outside Santa Cruz County, since it’s useful to know what outside money is funding local campaigns.
- Donors who are current or former public officials or running for office.
- Donors who head major local businesses or organizations.
- Any committees or groups.
Note on the campaign finance information: The people listed here are individual donors as posted by the city and county clerks. Campaign filing forms include occupations and employers for each of the donors. Individuals’ campaign donations do not necessarily reflect the positions of their organizations. We included some of that information here for context.
The Santa Cruz City Council recall campaigns
If you’re a Santa Cruz City voter, you’ll see four questions on your March 3 ballot related to Santa Cruz City Council.
- Should Councilmember Chris Krohn be removed from office? (If a majority of voters vote yes, then Krohn would be removed from office.)
- If Krohn is removed from office, who should replace him? Katherine Beiers or Don Lane. (Whoever gets more votes would replace Krohn, if he is removed.)
- Should Councilmember Drew Glover be removed from office? (If a majority of voters vote yes, then Glover would be removed from office.)
- If Glover is removed from office, who should replace him? Tim Fitzmaurice or Renee Golder. (Whoever gets more votes would replace Glover, if he is removed.)
There are two fundraising committees supporting the recall of Krohn and Glover: Santa Cruz United and Santa Cruz Together.
- Santa Cruz United formed last year and initiated the recall by organizing petitions.
- Santa Cruz Together initially formed in 2018 to campaign against Measure M, a ballot measure that would have brought rent control and stricter eviction rules to the city. Santa Cruz Together began supporting the recall last summer and funded petition signature gatherers.
This month in our episode about the recall and race for Glover’s seat, we debunked the claim that the recall campaign is funded by outside real estate interests.
Several of you wrote to us in disbelief, asking us to revisit this. We did. We reviewed Santa Cruz Together’s forms, including their most recent forms. We have not yet found any evidence that outside real estate interests are funding the recall campaign. Though many of Santa Cruz Together’s donors are landlords, property managers or real estate agents, most of their donors are from Santa Cruz County.
As we said in our previous episode, it is true that out-of-county real estate interests helped fund the No on Measure M campaign. But that was not Santa Cruz Together. That was a different committee: No on M, A Coalition of Santa Cruz Homeowners, Housing Providers, Teachers and Seniors Opposed to Costly Initiatives – Sponsored by the California Apartment Association. That committee filed its termination form in December. It has not funded the recall campaign.
Below are the fundraising totals thus far.
Santa Cruz United Committee Supporting the Recall of Councilmembers Glover and Krohn: $45,255 in the period from Jan. 1, 2019 through Feb. 15, 2020. Most of its fundraising was done in 2019. One notable donor from 2020 is $2,500 from Jason Edward Anderlite DBA Modular Consultants.
Santa Cruz United’s campaign finance reporting forms from 2019 listed an additional roughly $67,000 of nonmonetary contributions from Santa Cruz Together, for petition signature gathering. A Santa Cruz Together spokesperson told us those same expenses are accounted for on Santa Cruz Together’s campaign reporting forms. It does not represent an additional amount.
Santa Cruz Together: $131,153 in the period from Jan. 1, 2019 through Feb. 15, 2020 (plus $500 in nonmonetary contributions). Many of the donors are landlords, property managers, or real estate agents, but most are from Santa Cruz County.
Notable donors from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15 include: Palo Alto resident and property manager Elizabeth Walch ($250), San Jose-based Crema Realty ($150), Walnut Creek-based Merlander Company ($200), Santa Cruz-based Anderson Christie Inc. ($500), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. ($3,000), Prunedale resident Kenneth Rilling ($300), Olympia, Wash. resident Barbara Ogle ($100), Portola Valley resident John Foster ($200), Soquel resident and multi-family housing developer Richard Moe ($1,000), Santa Cruz-based Carle & Carle Properties ($1,000), Pleasanton resident Neil Sweeney ($150), Los Altos Hills resident Anna Durante ($300), Sunnyvale resident Li-Hua Wang ($100), Locust Street LLC ($600), Bend, Ore. resident Patricia Pianavilla ($100), Santa Cruz-based Locatelli Rentals LLC ($100), Santa Cruz Surfside Apartments LLC ($100), San Jose resident Betty Sakai ($100).
There are also two committees fundraising to stop the recalls. Below are their fundraising totals thus far.
Stop the Recalls of Councilmembers Glover and Krohn: $20,150 from Jan. 1, 2019 to Feb. 15, 2020, plus $81 of nonmonetary contributions. Notable donors from Jan. 19 to Feb. 15 include Katherine Beiers ($100), Santa Cruz for Bernie PAC ($400), Michael O’Malley ($999), Drew Glover ($1,300). The city of residence was redacted on the committee’s forms, so we are not able to tell which donors came from outside the county. We have requested unredacted copies.
The Stop the Recalls committee also received $1,000 on Feb. 16 from Santa Cruz resident Georg Kluzniok, a contractor.
Erika Aitken Against Recall of Glover/Krohn 2020: $3,378 through Feb. 15.
Candidates for Krohn’s seat, should the recall pass
Katherine Beiers: $15,499 raised through Feb. 15 (including a $5,000 loan from herself). Notable donors in period from Jan. 19 to Feb. 15 include: Chris Krohn ($200), Minnesota residents Jill Gustafson and attorney Daniel Gustafson ($400 each), former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Gary Patton and Marilyn Patton ($300), People’s Democratic Club ($200), Santa Cruz PAC for Bernie ($200),
Don Lane: $12,253 raised through Feb. 15. Notable donors from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15: former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Richelle Noroyan ($100), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. executive officer Charles Canfield ($250), Monterey resident Jeffrey Rice ($250), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. president Karl Rice ($250), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. executive vice president Tom Canfield ($250), Scotts Valley City Councilmember Jim Reed ($100)
Chris Krohn: No campaign finance forms posted on the city’s website. Krohn has not submitted any campaign finance forms since closing his fundraising committee after the 2016 election.
Krohn wrote in an email to Santa Cruz Local that he does not believe he has raised any funds since then.
Candidates for Glover’s seat, should the recall pass
Tim Fitzmaurice: $6,838 through Feb. 15. Notable donors from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15 include: Chris Krohn ($200 total), Santa Cruz for Bernie ($200), People’s Democratic Club ($200).
Renee Golder: $25,864 through Feb. 15, plus $996 of nonmonetary contributions. Notable donors from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15 include: former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Lynn Robinson ($200), Bay Federal Credit Union CEO Carrie Birkhofer ($200), former Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel ($100), former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Richelle Noroyan ($100), San Francisco resident and Nest Labs vice president Shige Honjo ($400), San Francisco resident and also Nest Labs employee Amy Honjo ($400), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. executive officer Charles Canfield ($400), Bellevue, Washington resident Thomas Kadavy ($400), Monterey resident Jeffrey Rice ($400), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. president Karl Rice ($400), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. executive vice president Tom Canfield ($400).
Drew Glover: $4,273 Jan. 1, 2019 through Feb. 15, 2020.
Candidates for District 1 county supervisor
Incumbent John Leopold: $83,719 Jan. 1, 2019 through Feb. 15, 2020. Notable donors from Jan. 19, 2020 through Feb. 15, 2020 include: San Jose resident and attorney for Applied Materials Stephen Adams ($500), San Jose-based Bay Area Municipal Election Committee ($600), Santa Cruz County Health Centers CEO Leslie Conner ($200), San Francisco resident and investigator for city and county of San Francisco Christine Echavia ($500), Los Gatos resident Brooks Griffin ($100), Alameda-based Operating Engineers Local 3-District 90 ($1,000)
Manu Koenig: $42,708 through Feb. 15. Notable donors in period from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15 include: Lincoln, Mass. resident John Koenig ($100), Denver resident Keir Myers ($250).
Donald “Kase” Kreutz: No filing posted.
Betsy Riker: No filing posted.
Mark Esquibel: $1,625 through Feb. 15. Notable donors: San Jose resident Jason Taylor ($100).
Benjamin T. Cogan: No filing posted.
Candidates for District 2 supervisor
Incumbent Zach Friend: $21,094 Jan. 1, 2019 through Feb. 15, 2020. Notable donors in period from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15: Candidate for Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Jack Gordon ($100), San Jose resident Ronald Brooks ($250), Portola Valley resident Michael Miller ($150), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. executive officer Charles Canfield ($500), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. executive vice president Tom Canfield ($500), Bellevue, Wash. resident Julie (Rice) Kadavy ($300), Monterey resident Jeffrey Rice ($500), Santa Cruz Seaside Co. President Karl Rice ($500).
Becky Steinbruner: $3,302 through Feb. 15. No donors listed in period from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15.
District 5 county supervisor
Incumbent Bruce McPherson is running unopposed. Despite not having a challenger, McPherson raised $19,750 in 2019, mostly after Oct. 1, after it was clear that he was running unopposed.
Kara Meyberg Guzman is a co-founder of Santa Cruz Local. From 2017-18, she served as the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s managing editor. She had other previous roles at the Sentinel, including working as a reporter covering transportation, education and the environment. She has a biology degree from Stanford University and lives in Santa Cruz.