City Council Run Takes Big Bucks

The three candidates for Piedmont City Council have started asking supporters to warm up their checkbooks now that campaign season for the Feb. 7 election is officially underway. 

According to campaign finance records, City Council hopefuls spent between about $3,000 and nearly $30,000 in the two previous elections, mostly on local media ads, flyers, postage, portraits and catering for campaign parties. Campaigns were generally cheaper for incumbents. 

Ryan Gilbert, who is now acting as treasurer for , was the big spender in the 2008 election, and ultimately the biggest benefactor of his own failed bid for a council seat. He tried to jump start his run by loaning his campaign account $26,505.46, but ultimately only brought in $5,298.90 in donations against $28,769.06 in expenses including more than $6,500 in campaign consultant bills. He got 1,524 votes. 

Margaret Fujioka, who's now campaigning for reelection, won her seat on the council that year with a broad base of support. To garner 2,579 votes (40.5 percent) and the victory, she spent nearly $2,900 on mailings and received contributions totaling $22,187.74, with 68 individuals donating $100 or more. 

Dean Barbieri collected $13,957 for his successful reelection campaign in 2008, with 28 donors contributing at least $100. Former Vodaphone CEO Arun Sarin, who has made significant contributions to Republican candidates for national office and to the RNC, was Barbieri's single largest donor, throwing in $500 to support the mayor, who drew 2,252 votes (35.4 percent). 

The 2010 election was markedly less pricy, with John Chiang spending $8,415.99 on his reelection and Jeff Wieler, who had been on the council four years earlier, spending $7,065.20 to win back a seat. Both only had about a dozen donors who gave more than $100; the biggest donation to Wieler's campaign was $300, Chiang's biggest donor gave just $200. Chiang was the top vote-getter in that race, with 2,432 votes (29.3 percent), followed by Wieler with 2,167 (26.1 percent). 

Julie Watters bested all the competition in fund-raising in 2010, bringing in $8,608. That included $1,000 from University of California portfolio manager Randy Wedding, who has endorsed Rood for the upcoming February election, and $600 from Berkeley public health professor Ralph Catalano. Both Wedding and Catalano had joined Watters in vocal opposition to the , which had already reached public hearings by the time the campaigning got underway in 2009. But the big money didn't get Watters onto the council. She earned only 1,359 votes (16.4 percent).

Instead, Garrett Keating, who was an incumbent that year, was able to gather much more support, 2,126 votes (25.6 percent), having spent just $3,154.43. Ken and Carla Betts, who own several auto service stations around Piedmont, were Keating's biggest donors, giving $600; Rob Debare, an internist at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Oakland, and his wife Esther Rogers gave $500. 

The first campaign finance reports for the current race are due Nov. 28.