Candidates in Seaside council races raise big money; city fines Jones for late forms.

With the Nov. 6 election just a month away, campaign signs are going up all over the place. Those signs aren't free. 

A look at the latest campaign finance disclosure forms shows who's contributing to candidates for local office, and Seaside—where three candidates are vying for the mayor's chair, and five candidates for two open City Council seats—tens of thousands of dollars are flowing into the races. 

Newcomer Jon Wizard leads the way in fundraising, with nearly $18,000 raised, and $11,000 spent to date, as of Sept. 27, the most recent campaign finance filing deadline. 

He's received numerous donations of $100, including from many elected officials and candidates: Monterey Councilmember Alan Haffa, County Supervisor Jane Parker, Marina City Councilmember Gail Morton and Marina Council candidate Adam Urrutia among them. 

He also got $500 from Kay Cline, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor two years ago. Wizard's larger gifts of $500 came from developers, Al Glover and Harvey Dadwal. 

Councilmember Jason Capmbell, who is seeking re-election, has raised about $13,000, and has a lot left in the bank, having spent shy of $2,000 to date. 

His donors include small gifts on the order of $100 to $250 from many of the same contributors as Wizard—Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Director Brenda Lewis, MPWMD candidate (and Measure J proponent) George Riley, Councilmember Morton among them. 

Environmental interests are also represented in Campbell's contributor list, a reminder that he first ran (and won) four years ago as an outsider in opposition to city sprawl, when city officials were pursuing the Monterey Downs development. He received $2,000 from Nancy Burnett, an Aquarium co-founder, and $1,000 from Bill Weigle, a Fort Ord open space advocate, $300 from Denyse Frischmuth of Sustainable Pacific Grove and $250 from Mike DeLapa, a LandWatch executive director. 

Regina Mason, a retired social worker and co-founder of The Village Project, is running a less spendy campaign, having spent just $3,500 total, including a $1,000 loan from herself to the campaign fund.

The other contenders in the council race—pastor Sam Gaskins, who was until recently locked in a legal battle with the city over the location of his church on the former Fort Ord, and Dennis Volk, proprietor of Mal's Market on Noche Buena Street—have reported no fundraising activity. 

In the three-person mayor's race, newcomer Lisa Ann Sawhey is spending exclusively family money, about $5,000. 

Ian Ogelsby and Councilmember Kayla Jones are facing off for the second time in two years—in 2016, when Ogelsby was seeking re-election to council, Jones ran and won.

Now they're locked in a costly and tense campaign, and at a City Council meeting two weeks ago, dozens of members of the public came to speak vigorously both in support of and in opposition to Jones. 

Ogelsby has raised over $11,000, including $2,600 from his old City Council campaign fund and $1,000 from Mayor Ralph Rubio, who is retiring and who is supporting Ogelsby as his successor. 

He also received $1,000 from Ord Market, owned by former councilmember and staunch Jones opponent Darryl Choates. Other large donors include the Monterey County Business PAC and Monterey Bay Business Committee, with $2,500 each. 

The Monterey County Business PAC's donors include San Ardo rancher Margaret Duflock; the Monterey County Hospitality Association; Chevron; Trio Petroleum; Don Chapin Co.; and PG&E, among others. 

Jones has raised slightly more, $12,600 to date, mostly from small donations. There are gifts of $100 to $500 from Supervisor Jane Parker, Kay Cline, George Riley, Beverly Bean and Janet Brennan, both in the League of Women Voters, Frischmuth, Carmel Residents Association President Barbara Livingston, and others. Jones' largest donor is Weigle, who gave $500. 

Jones has been actively fundraising for her mayoral campaign, but her failure to properly register the committee as separate from her 2016 City Council fundraising committee has landed her in hot water with the city clerk, who also serves as Seaside's election official. 

Jones changed the name from Jones for Council 2016 to Jones for Mayor 2018 and has been reporting contributions as such, but FPPC rules require not just a change of committee name, but a whole new committee for a candidate seeking a new position.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission has received an anonymous letter requesting an investigation into Jones' campaign filing, but has not yet made a determination as to whether they will open an investigation. 

But meanwhile, Seaside City Clerk Lesley Milton-Rerig wrote a letter on Sept. 24 to Jones notifying her of numerous paperwork shortcomings and issuing her a fine. Milton-Rerig says it's rare for her to take that step, but in most cases of late filings, she's able to quickly gather them after the deadline. 

"I won't do it unless someone has excessively exceeded the dates," Milton-Rerig says. "We do not like to issue fines. I don't personally like to issue fines."

Fines accrue at $10 a day for late filings. The committee for mayor for the 2018 election was required to be registered by July 31, meaning Jones could face about $600 and counting since that deadline. 

Until Jones files appropriate paperwork for the separate mayoral fundraising committee, Milton-Rerig says the fines will continue to accrue. 

Adding in penalties for late forms from 2017, between campaign seasons, Jones has accrued some $3,000 in fines, which continue to accrue. 

"I've been in constant contact with the FPPC and Secretary of State," Jones says. "They've not issued any fines against me." 

She says the correct paperwork is on its way to Sacramento where it will be processed, and that if in the end, authorities determine she does indeed owe fines, she will pay what's agreed upon. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect liabilities for fines related to 2017 forms as well.