Boosted by a strong fundraising month and loans to their own campaigns, author Julia Lythcott-Haims and planning commissioner Doria Summa are heading into the final stretch of their City Council campaigns with the most cash on hand.
The latest campaign finance statements show money rolling into the Palo Alto City Council race, with six of the seven candidates raising more than $40,000 each. The seven candidates — Alex Comsa, Lythcott-Haims, Brian Hamachek, Lisa Forssell, Ed Lauing, Summa and Vicki Veenker — are running for three seats that will open up at the end of this year.
Lythcott-Haims had the strongest month, having raised $20,184 between Sept. 25 and Oct. 22, according to documents that were due Thursday. She also loaned $7,000 to her campaign, bringing her overall contributions to $89,745, which is leading the field.
Former council member Larry Klein recently contributed $500, raising his overall contributions to her campaign to $1,518. Resident Deborah Goldeen gave $500, while Nanci Kauffman, head of Castilleja School, donated $259.92. Other recent donations include $999 from Smita Singh, accounting manager at The Sobrato Organization, $500 from local resident Jon Mewes and $519.52 from Mary Jane Marcus, social worker at Catholic Charities.
Summa, a member of the Planning and Transportation Commission, was just behind Lythcott-Haims in fundraising, having received $20,041 in contributions over the last reporting period and $45,321 overall. When combined with the $30,000 loan that she gave to her own campaign and the $395 she received in nonmonetary contributions, she ended the month with $75,715 in total contributions received.
Her top contributor is retired venture capitalist G. Leonard Baker, who gave her $4,900. The 2018 campaign of council member Tom DuBois, gave another $3,000 to Summa's campaign. She also received $999 from Helyn MacLean, who like Baker had contributed heavily in the past to candidates who support slow-growth policies, and $500 from Keith Reckdahl, her colleague on the Planning and Transportation Commission. Jeanne Fleming, a leading advocate for limiting installations of cellphone antennas in residential neighborhoods, gave a total of $1,515 to Summa, while Jeff Hoel, a proponent of expanding the city's fiber network, gave $1,000.
Veenker, a mediator and attorney, raised $5,800 in the most recent period, raising her overall campaign contributions to $50,997. Former Mayor Liz Kniss contributed $500 to her campaign, as did Democratic Activists for Women Now (DAWN), an organization that supports the election of progressive women. Council member Eric Filseth, who has tended to be on the opposite side of Kniss during major land-use votes, contributed $250, while Hamachek, who is also running for a council seat, donated $100.
Lauing, who chairs the Planning and Transportation Commission, also received a $3,000 check from the campaign of DuBois, who is terming out this year, bringing his overall contributions to $47,069. He also reported a strong fundraising month, with $16,547 received between Sept. 25 and Oct. 22.
Lauing's major donors include G. Leonard Baker and Mary Anne Baker, who have each contributed $4,900 to his campaign to date. They also include a $500 contribution from Jeanne Fleming (bringing her overall donations to Lauing's campaign to $1,000), $500 from Reckdahl, $500 from architect Rob Steinberg, $500 from resident Megan Barton and another $500 from resident Peter Rosenthal.
Forssell, who serves on the Utilities Advisory Commission, received $6,382 between Sept. 25 and Oct. 22, bringing her total contributions to date to $44,335. Her top contributors in the recent period include Palo Alto residents Monika Bjorkman, who gave $1,000, Ellen Krasnow, who gave $500, and Michael Kieschnick, who also gave $500. She also received $100 from Menlo Park Vice Mayor Jen Wolosin.
Realtor Alex Comsa reported $42,525 in total contributions, though most of that money is a loan from himself to his campaign. According to the campaign finance documents, he has loaned $38,900 to his campaign to date, including $36,000 in the latest reporting period. He did receive a $750 contributions from local companies Jing Jing Gourmet and Good Home Investment, as well as $250 from stock trader Nadeem Zureigat.
Brian Hamachek, a software engineer, is the only one running a relatedly low-budget campaign. His last disclosure, which he filed on Oct. 3, shows him with $1,920 in cash on hand.
The seven candidates are running for the seats currently occupied by DuBois, Filseth and Alison Cormack. DuBois and Filseth are both terming out after eight years of service while Cormack is concluding her first four-year term and has opted not to run for reelection.
Comments
Registered user
Evergreen Park
on Oct 28, 2022 at 10:51 am
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 10:51 am
The headline to this article is highly misleading. It makes it sound as though Summa’s campaign is in the same league as Lythcott-Haims, when in fact Lythcott-Haims has raised twice as much — $89K to Summa’s $45K, which is comparable to several other candidates. It is only is you read further into the story that you are told that the comparable fundraising numbers pertain only to the latest reporting period which Summa needed to loan her campaign $30K to keep up with the flood of money going into the race. Very sad for Palo Alto that it is now costing almost $100K to run for our local City Council. We have only to look at state and national elections to see where this leads.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:14 am
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:14 am
"Former council member Larry Klein recently contributed $500, raising his overall contributions to <JHL's> campaign to $1,518. "
Incredibly deceptive since he was one of the 4 named people paying for the first of the "3 Great Candidates" saturation ads along with Gail Price and Steven Levy BEFORE they went anonymous and renamed themselves "The Committee To Support" (the 3 candidates Julie, Forsell and Vicki) and stressing they have no connection to the candidates nor their campaigns.
See Doug Moran's 10/11 informed blog here on this type of spending Web Link "--An Independent Expenditure Committee (IEC) is in this election--
The IEC Committee to Support Lythcott-Haims, Forssell, Veenker for Palo Alto City Council 2022 is going to great expense for ads for the candidates named. The people behind this committee are -- from an early ad -- Jennifer DiBrienza, John Kelly, Larry Klein, Gail Price and Steve Levy. Their endorsement for those three candidates are the vacuous "Build more housing for all income levels in all parts of Palo Alto", "Accelerate impactful climate action", and "Strengthen local economy & raise city revenue".
If I were an intrepid journalist, I would want to ask the supporters -- without expecting a credible response -- why they are collecting money to spend on advertising rather than contributing directly to the candidates for them to enhance their own advertising strategies??
Likely motivations:
• Traditional: Obscure who is contributing and/or how much. Or get contributions above the legal limit of $4900 for each candidate. For perspective, with only 6 maxed-out donors a candidate would be very close to the $30,000total that is being bandied about as a reasonable limit for campaigns. ..."
We're aware of PAW's endorsements but keeping the facts and record straight are hallmarks of the "quality journalism" PAW claims to espouse.
Registered user
Midtown
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:17 am
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:17 am
This article could have looked deeper into the numbers for the entire campaign.
The public can look up filings for City Council here: Web Link
For School Board here: Web Link
Lythcott Haims has spent $78K already though she appears to be the only one paying interns for all the hours. Other campaigns seem to rely on volunteers and family members. Lythcott Haims has teamed up with school board candidate Chiu-Wong on postcards in the mail and other efforts. I assume each pays a share, but I can't tell how they share the costs.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:22 am
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:22 am
Is there any indication that whoever raises the most money wins?
This article reads as if that were the case.
Registered user
Palo Alto High School
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:39 am
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:39 am
Well, if people look at who has the most campaign funds, they should look a bit deeper within themselves. We all need to do our own research and look at our values to determine who is the ideal individuals for City Council. My personal feeling is that we hear what we want to hear and many candidates work hard to say what we want to hear. Experience and knowledge do make a big difference.
Registered user
Midtown
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:51 am
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 11:51 am
When I looked up the candidate fundraising filings, there is a disclosure that Nicole Chiu Wang campaign gave Julie Lythcott Haims campaign $1000. there is also a $1100 donation made from Julie Lythcott Haims campaign to Chiu Wang's campaign. Do donors agree that a campaign can fund someone else for a different office? Both also earlier gave each other $1000 as did their spouses. I assume all legal, but it shows there is a lot of money concentrated in a small group who are helping each other to represent all of us.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Oct 28, 2022 at 12:56 pm
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 12:56 pm
I’m glad to hear that some of my past campaign contribution money for Tom Dubious is trickling down to other good candidates.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 28, 2022 at 3:02 pm
Registered user
on Oct 28, 2022 at 3:02 pm
Julie Lythcott-Haimes is the only Council Candidate taking developer money - always a hot button funding issue. But even more concerning is she's taking it from a developer with a huge project in the pipeline that she would be making decisions about - huge Frys site.
The Accounting Manager, Smita Singh, of the Sobrato Organization contributed $999 to her, and Lighthouse Public Affairs, Richard Hackman, Consultant to Sobrato, also contributed. Developers and voters know that JL-H wants to build-market rate housing big, dense and everywhere - of course developers support her.
This brings up serious ethical and judgement issues. If elected she will have to make many decisions about this project. As many other candidates have done when this happens, she should have returned the money, but didn't, she kept it, setting up a conflict of interest at the very least.
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on Oct 29, 2022 at 11:37 am
Registered user
on Oct 29, 2022 at 11:37 am
Wow. Not surprised to see Julia Lythcott-Haymes is getting funds from the head of Castilleja School - talk about quid pro quo! Did anyone catch her comments in her Palo Alto Weekly interview? Start at 6 minutes in: Web Link Although Julie shows no in-depth knowledge of the actual issues related to Castilleja's expansion, she sums it up with unbridled ridicule and makes it clear she thinks residential neighbors should have no voice at all when it comes to monoliths being built in their midst. Even given the school's decades of obfuscation, she insists the City should just "trust that these smart people who run Castilleja... are going to do better this time." Really? She also notes that she is a complete outsider with zero knowledge of current city staff performance, but says it would be more productive to let staff make decisions without City Council input, that it would be "a more healthy relationship." Yikes! Not a person I want on our Council. Doria Summa has served on the Planning Commission with great distinction, she is far the better candidate.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Oct 29, 2022 at 2:13 pm
Registered user
on Oct 29, 2022 at 2:13 pm
"Although Julie shows no in-depth knowledge of the actual issues related to Castilleja's expansion, she sums it up with unbridled ridicule and makes it clear she thinks residential neighbors should have no voice at all when it comes to monoliths being built in their midst. Even given the school's decades of obfuscation, she insists the City should just "trust that these smart people who run Castilleja... are going to do better this time."
Just like she wants to trust all the smart people at City Hall while she ignores city issues and what serves the neighbors and residents best.
Too had she can't be bothered to inform herself on local issues or listen to residents before spouting off with fact-free assertions. But that makes her deep-pocketed backers happy because she can shift the blame to everyone else, creating the diversions from the real issues since that suits them.
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on Oct 30, 2022 at 1:40 pm
Registered user
on Oct 30, 2022 at 1:40 pm
Julie Lythcott-Haims is a breath of fresh air! She raised two kids in Palo Alto schools and has lived here since 2000. She is not an "outsider". She is a well-known author of 4 books and was dean at Stanford, for those reasons she has received support and donations from people that know and respect her from all over the country. From what I've learned she would like to make Palo Alto a place where our kids can someday afford to return and where service people (fire, police, teachers etc) can live. This will require more housing. The state is requiring 6000 more dwellings and Julie's vision is that as we consider fulfilling this requirement we keep equity in mind, by including all types of housing. This includes market rate, below market rate and ADU's. I have not read anything about building "monoliths", just realistic and fair housing that Palo Alto desperately needs.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 30, 2022 at 4:02 pm
Registered user
on Oct 30, 2022 at 4:02 pm
[Post removed; duplicate.]
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Oct 30, 2022 at 9:19 pm
Registered user
on Oct 30, 2022 at 9:19 pm
The state's requirement of 6,000 housing units was based on jobs that are no longer there and jobs at Stanford which has found putting housing on their property while they removed from community housing stock 750 apartments on Sand Hill and buying up countless houses in College Terrace.
How does removing housing help affordability? How does pushing for Market Rate housing improve affordability new housing requirements are only 5% for very low inxome and another 5-10% below market rate?
Any homeowner like Julie can check their property tax bill and they'll see the biggest chunk is for their LAND, not the house and improvements. How's she going to make land more affordable?
It doesn't. If density equaled affordability, Manhattan and Tokyo would be dirt cheap.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 30, 2022 at 10:01 pm
Registered user
on Oct 30, 2022 at 10:01 pm
@Danielle Mewes,
“The state is requiring 6000 more dwellings”
Previous poster points out that state numbers are based on jobs.
How can the mandate be reasonable with Covid, the economic downturn and news that vacancies are growing and there are 21 sales force towers worth of vacant office space in SF.
Web Link
Registered user
College Terrace
on Oct 31, 2022 at 5:46 am
Registered user
on Oct 31, 2022 at 5:46 am
In this election we are, essentially, hiring three people to help evaluate and vote on critical issues that impact all of us. Land use is key among those issues. Even though there are seven accomplished candidates running, only two have the exact knowledge and experience Palo Alto needs at this time. Those two are Doria Summa and Ed Lauing. They will not have to learn on the job. It would be smart to hire them.
Registered user
Downtown North
on Nov 1, 2022 at 9:55 am
Registered user
on Nov 1, 2022 at 9:55 am
Disappointed with Julie here too, but I agree with Annette that when it comes to land use, Doria Summa and Ed Lauing know what they are talking about. Please somebody tell Alex Comsa to shut up unless he can prove where his land use experience is coming from, how many big projects he was involved in Palo Alto and where they are located, because the guy's stupefying incompetence and in-your-face failed realtor attitude bother many people around here. At least Hamacheck admitted that he was a Republican, but Comsa even hides that along with his actual experience.