Local democrats look inward; forms show who made bank from No on O.

Two parts on the theme of political self-examination.

One: For me, Christmas this year comes July 31. That’s the date by which campaigns from the primary season are required to release their financials – how much they took in, how much they spent – through the June 30 reporting period. Aside from the numbers on Californians for Law and Order, the shady, sleazy anti-Sheriff Scott Miller PAC (which I’m predicting will never actually file a single bit of truthful information), I’m especially interested in seeing the final numbers on the No on O campaign.

Everyone knows California American Water Company put an astounding $2.4 million behind the effort to defeat Measure O, which called for a feasibility study and possible public buyout of the company. Company spokesman Kevin Tilden says Cal Am ended up spending a bit less, and the balance will be returned to the company.

But even a preliminary look at the numbers that came at the end of May reveal some pretty juicy intel. Local activist Carlos Ramos and Salinas-based attorney Juan Uranga collected $28,000 between March 18 and May 17. Through their Ramos Cordova Strategy Group, Uranga did Latino field outreach, hiring a handful of CSUMB kids on the cheap (I’m told $500 per kid) to do 10 precinct walks. Ramos also handled the media as press secretary.

Campaign Manager Paul Higgins earned about $23,000 during that time, while campaign worker Chris Marohn (yes, the one who surreptitiously launched Californians for Law and Order and dragged a few friends down with him) brought in about $10,500, while his wife was paid about $3,000.

Speaking of media, local TV stations also cashed in on No on O’s relentless advertising. The campaign paid KCBA $33,456 during those two months. KION brought in (wow!) $120,720.

And (double wow!) KSBW took in $150,407. KSBW President and General Manager Joseph W. Heston, who in one editorial called Measure O “cockamamie,” declared in another editorial, “Measure O could put us on a long, expensive road with no exit map.”

I think that was before he cashed the check.

In the interest of fairness: The Weekly made $3,200 from Yes on O ads, and $4,794 from No on O.

Two: It was heartening to see the soul searching being done by local democratic activists, evidenced by the three-hour meeting of the Democratic Central Committee June 24.

The all-volunteer group is working through some serious feelings of betrayal following the news, first reported by the Weekly, that the Scott Miller smear PAC was launched by Marohn, an elected member of the committee who resigned because he went to work on the campaign of judicial candidate Heidi Whilden. (The dems had endorsed opponent Luma Serrano Williams, who lost).

The betrayal is multi-layered. The Weekly traced back the phone used to register the PAC to former Central Committee member Daniel McCormick; McCormick told us it was a phone he used for campaign work, that it had disappeared from his control and he didn’t know what happened to it. But he told Vinz Koller, chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee, he gave the phone to Marohn.

As they deal with the ramifications of Marohn’s actions, the dems are also asking themselves how to self-discipline when a member goes rogue. Do they exile? Do they censure? What?

As Central Committee Vice Chair Jimmy Panetta told the group, “We’re not a police agency. We’re on this committee because we volunteered to be here.

“It’s up to us to make sure we don’t screw around like this,” Panetta continued. “Do we want to stand up for the principles of the Democratic Party, or do we want to stand up for how fat our wallets get?”

Good questions. Based on the tough stuff the two dozen or so members who sat through the meeting are dealing with, I think all of them would go the principles route.

Mary Duan is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com or follow her at twitter.com/maryrduan. Reporter Sara Rubin contributed to this report.