Breaking down campaign finances

Campaign contributions matter in political campaigns, both large and small. In the three-way race for two seats on the Scotts Valley City Council, Stephany Aguilar received the most money for her campaign- a total of $17,786, with Jim Reed coming in a close second at $17,516.  Derek Timm reported receiving a total of $10,438 for his campaign, all according to the most recent campaign disclosure statements, covering the period to Oct. 20, filed with the city clerk.  
The big difference between the Aguilar and Reed campaign contributions is, Aguilar herself funded more than 80 percent of her campaign, with almost $15,000 reported as self-funded loans to her campaign. Reed reported no self-funded loans to his campaign, with the total amount received reported as contributions from supporters, as was the case with Derek Timm.
The City of Scotts Valley adopted its own Campaign Reform Act Ordinance, updated in 2010, that limits individual campaign contributions to $100 per candidate- with supporters required to be identified by name in the campaign disclosure documents if they contribute the maximum of $100. Contributions of less than $100 are reported, but are not required to be identified by name. 
Aguilar reported contributions of $100 from the Building and Construction Trades Council, Local 234 of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Northern California Carpenters Union, and the Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County. Aguilar received about $2,586 in unnamed contributions under $100.
Reed received $100 contributions from Sam Liccardo, Mayor of the City of San Jose for whom he serves as chief of staff, Carl Guardino, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Michael Schulman, president of Scotts Valley School Board, Kaiser-Permanente, Fred Keeley, former state Assemblymember representing Santa Cruz, and Dene Bustichi, former Scotts Valley city councilmember. Reed collected the largest amount from unnamed contributors of less than $100 with a total of $12,359.
Timm’s campaign disclosure reports included about 55 named contributors of $100 each, including Fred Keeley, several real estate agents, and a few general contractors. Most of the named contributors, by occupation, seemed to cover a wide cross section of the community. Reporting also included about 68 unnamed contributors of less than $100 for a total of $5,947.
According to the most recent report of the county’s Election Department to the Secretary of State, there are 7,840 registered voters in the City of Scotts Valley- about 44 percent registered Democrat, and about 25 percent registered Republicans, with the balance registered in smaller, third parties. If the total amount of money raised by the three candidates for city council in 2018 is divided by 7,840 voters, the money raised equals about $5.85 per voter.
The campaign disclosure documents are available on the City of Scotts Valley website, under the City Council, Election & Committee Campaign Reports, at: http://www.scottsvalley.org/252/Election-Committee-Campaign-Statement-Re
SLV Water District                                                                                      There are no locally imposed caps for campaign contributions to candidates for the board of directors of a water district in unincorporated areas of the county. The total amount of contributions received by the so-called “incumbent slate” of candidates- Chuck Baughman, John Hayes and Gene Ratcliffe, who filed their campaign disclosure statements together as a committee, was $12,358. About 24 percent of this total was contributed by the candidates themselves, in the amount of $1,000 each, for a total of $3,000.  
The campaign disclosure documents included about 22 other named contributors, contributing in the range of $100 to $1,000 each to the “incumbent slate” campaign, including members of the Valley Women’s Club, for a total of $8,019, plus about $300 in unnamed contributions less than $100.   
Contributions to the so-called “challenging slate” of candidates, Bob Fultz, Steve Swan and Lois Henry, who also filed their campaign disclosure statements together as a committee, totaled $16,448.37.  About half of this amount, $8,244, was provided by candidate Fultz, including a $5,000 loan to the committee. Henry also loaned the committee $4,000 of her own money, with Swan contributing $1,500. 
The balance of the campaign contributions to the “challenging slate” came from a total of 11 different individuals contributing a total of $2,300, plus about $400 from unnamed contributors giving less than $100.
The campaign reports for the SLV Water District race can be found through the County of Santa Cruz Election Office/ Candidates and Measures/Campaign Reporting.