This Turlock candidate spent $21,000 campaigning. How much have others paid this election?
One Turlock City Council District 2 candidate has spent nearly $21,000 campaigning this election season, financial disclosure statements show, far outpacing the incumbent, her fellow challenger and spending in the 2018 midterms.
In the race to represent southwest Turlock, Rebecka Monez reported spending the most while City Council Member Gil Esquer disclosed about $6,000 in campaign expenditures and Ruben Wegner planned to spend less than $2,000.
Financial disclosures posted on the city website also show a District 4 candidate spent more than four times as much as her opponent. Pam Franco reported $16,500 compared to Robert Puffer’s $3,600 in campaign expenditures between July and October. The incumbent representing northwest Turlock, Becky Arellano, is not running for reelection.
Franco and Monez each contributed $25,000 in loans to their own campaigns in June and July, 460 forms show. In a post on her campaign Facebook page, Monez said she and her family decided to invest their own money. On the other end of the spectrum, Wegner filed a California Fair Political Practices Commission form in September declaring he anticipates spending less than $2,000 on campaigning.
At this point in the 2018 election season, candidates for City Council Districts 1 and 3 spent less on average than the current group, disclosure statements show. The seven candidates reported spending an average of about $6,000 by mid-October. By comparison, four of the five 2020 candidates disclosed spending an average of $12,000. Wegner did not report his exact expenses, but assuming he spent his self-declared maximum it would put the current average at $10,000.
The top spender back then, now Council Member Nicole Larson, reported about $12,000 in campaign expenditures by the same filing period Monez reported spending $20,974. In a Facebook post Tuesday, Esquer alluded to his opponent’s expenditures and asked residents to vote for him.
“Show them that they may have more money to spend than we do, but they can not buy our votes with their obvious negative attacks and misinformation,” Esquer said in the post.
Donations to Turlock campaigns
Contributors to campaigns include individuals, political groups, elected officials and in one case another city council hopeful. The Stanislaus County Democratic Committee donated $1,500 to both Esquer and Puffer’s campaigns in October, financial statements show. Jeani Ferrari of Ballico also donated $500 to each of the men’s campaigns.
Puffer personally contributed $200 to Esquer’s campaign, Esquer reported. The council member, who was first elected in 2016, also disclosed $500 donations from both Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa and Modesto City Council Member Mani Grewal. Esquer’s wife Rosa contributed a $200 donation and $1,000 loan to his campaign, and the union Plumbers and Fitters Local 442 of Modesto gave him $250, too.
Other than the county Democratic committee, all of the other campaign contributors Puffer reported were individuals. Albert Puffer of Turlock gave the largest donation of $1,000, he reported. Puffer did not contribute loans to his campaign like Franco and Monez, but he did pay for his ballot statement and filing fee out of his own pocket, marking them as non-monetary contributions.
Franco, a real estate broker and life member of the Building Industry Association of the Greater Valley, disclosed a total of $1,750 in donations from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee. She disclosed only one other contribution, from Balvino Irizarry Consulting of Modesto, plus listed door hangers, stickers and sign materials as non-monetary contributions from herself and the business she runs with her husband.
On her 460 forms, Monez reported raising $4,870 through a drive-through dinner fundraiser. She did not list any additional campaign contributions.
Spending includes marketing, signs
Monez paid the Modesto-based Servant Marketing Company $6,100 for social media, video and web marketing work for her campaign, financial statements show. She also spent $2,600 on consulting and campaign literature from Balvino Irizarry Consulting. Monez further reported spending $3,400 on campaign paraphernalia and $2,300 for her dinner fundraiser.
As for mailings, Monez reported 10 payments under only that code. The payments ranged from $90 for the state voter guide to $1,250 for Landslide Communications based in Laguna Niguel.
Franco primarily spent campaign funds on mailers and signs. She disclosed spending about $7,500 on mailers in nine payments and $2,700 on signs. Franco also spent $4,400 for media consulting, marketing and relations, paying Joe Spangler of Modesto $2,400 and Balvino Irizarry Consulting $2,000 for those services.
Meanwhile, Esquer reported spending $2,900 on campaign paraphernalia, $1,900 on yard signs and about $300 each on video and post cards. Puffer similarly reported spending $1,700 on signs and door hangers, as well as $800 on designing those and campaign literature. He also disclosed spending $15 on boosting Facebook posts.
Candidates disclosed the following campaign cash balances at the end of the last reporting period, Oct. 17: $8,200 for Esquer, $11,200 for Franco, $8,900 for Monez and $2,600 for Puffer.
