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Santa Clarita City Council Race ’14: Candidates Report Contributions

Santa Clarita City Council candidates reported fundraising efforts for the first two months of the year recently.


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Contributions for the most recent filing period, from Jan. 1 to Feb. 22, are reported by candidates in their Form 460, which are available on a city website called VoteSantaClarita.

Three candidates filed a Form 470, indicating they will not be raising or spending more than $1,000 on their campaign in the calendar year. Those candidates are Sandra Bull, Dennis Conn and Paul Wieczorak.

Here’s a brief look at the statements of contributions and fundraising efforts for the other 10 candidates, who are vying for three City Council seats up for grabs in the April 8 election.

In California, the deadline to register for any election is 15 days before the vote.

Clicking on the candidate’s name will lead to a video of the candidate answering several questions at a local City Council candidate forum organized by KHTS AM-1220. (Wieczorak was unable to attend the forum.)

Related article: Santa Clarita City Council Race ’14: Candidates Answer Forum Questions

1. Dante Acosta accepted $5,000 in loans, according to his most recent filing. He raised $2,790 in monetary contributions and $447 nonmonetary contributions. Acosta’s ending cash balance was $7,297.75. His contributions totaled $8,237.

His expenditures totaled $2,734.44

He has outstanding debts of $5,000 loan from Carolyn Acosta Medical Tech, SCV Quality Care.

Acosta also received a $1,000 contribution from GROW Elect, a political action committee that recruits, endorses, trains and funds Latino Republican candidates for public office.

Dante Acosta’s forms show that he raised $5,816 in contributions since Aug. 26, while spending $4,020.81 during the same period, according to his last filing. EZ Access Self Storage donated $1,000 on Jan. 16.

2. Moazzem Chowdhury received $12, 594 in monetary contributions. He received $21,060 in loans, for a total of $33,654 in campaign contributions. He reported nonmonetary contributions of $1,375.82, for a total of $35,029.82.

He noted expenditures totalling $22,183.62, and that his ending cash balance was $18,949.82.

Chowdhury did not have any filings for the previous filing period.

3. Stephen Daniels reported $880 in campaign contributions, and his expenditures totaled $721.51. He did not report any loans. He did not have any previous filings.

Related article: Santa Clarita City Council Race 2014: Candidate Fundraising By The Numbers

4. Alan Ferdman raised $2,235 and received an additional $2,000 in loans, according to his disclosures.

His beginning cash balance was $13,563 and he paid out $5,533 in expenditures. He now has outstanding debts of $6,000 for his campaign.

Ferdman reported an ending cash balance of $12,263 for the most recent filing period.
Ferdman put $9,314 in his campaign fund during the previous filing period, between a $2,000 loan and $7,314 in contributions.

During the first filing period in 2013, Ferdman gathered $7,357 — another $2,000 in a loan, $5,157 in monetary contributions and $200 in nonmonetary donations.

Ferdman spent $1,893 in the first filing period and $1,015 in the last period, which left his campaign with $13,563 in assets, and $4,000 in outstanding debts for the loans.

5. Berta Gonzalez-Harper raised $298, and received $2,000 in loans. She made $2,162.95 in payments for an ending cash balance of $135.05. She had no filings in the previous period for disclosure.

6. Maria Gutzeit received a total of $10,953 in contributions as of Feb. 22, $10,200 in loans

$1,550 in nonmonetary contributions. There was $6,805.38 in expenditures, for an ending cash balance of $14,246.12, with outstanding debts of $10,200 from the loans.

Gutzeit also filed amended reports noting additional contributions coming either after the filing period or at the $1,000 threshold for Form 497 disclosure.

Patti, a freelance writer married to Santa Clarita developer Charlie Rasmussen, donated $1,000. Charlie’s brother Larry Rasmussen, who’s also a developer, gave $1,000. A-Mehr Inc, a Laguna Beach-based engineering consultant, gave $1,000. Comfort Keepers gave $1,000. Developer RL Environmental Inc. contributed $1,000 on Feb. 24. Lance K. Williams of WIlliams Homes gave $1,000. Nathan Imhoff, a self-employed graphic artist gave $1,000.

The Conservation Station, a locally owned and operated recycling center in Santa Clarita according to the company’s website, gave $1,000. TST Inc., a Fontana-based aluminum manufacturer, contributed $1,000.

Gutzeit also received $1,000 from Amber Chemical, a British speciality silicones chemical group, developing diverse products for niche markets, according to the company’s website.

Her previous disclosures noted $10,200 in loans.

7. Duane Harte received $4,322 in loans, and reported $1,476 in expenditures.  

According to his last filing, Harte received a $1,000 contribution from “Buck” McKeon for Congress, in addition to $5,470 over the last year, and received an additional $159 in nonmonetary contributions.

He also took out a $5,000 loan for his campaign.

After spending $2,591 on his campaign in the last year, he still has $7,879 left for the last two months of the campaign season.

His ending cash balance is listed as $10,700.

Related article: Santa Clarita City Council Race ’14: From Filing To Election

8. Incumbent Marsha McLean reported her beginning cash balance of $21,739.91, and her ending cash balance as $22,249.03.

McLean reported contributions from developer Thomas Clark of Royal Clark Dev. Co., who gave $1,000; developer Brookfield Los Angeles Builders Inc., which gave $1,000; and The Conservation Station, which also gave $1,000.

Lance K. Williams reportedly gave $1,000, as did the California Real Estate PAC.

On her Form 460, she reported $4,496 in monetary contributions for the most recent filing period.

Her year-to-date total contributions was $26,537, including $476.40 in nonmonetary contributions, per her most recent Form 460. Her total expenditures were $5,402.01.

McLean raised $18,569 in the previous campaign disclosure period, and a total of $22,041 in the last year. All of it was in the form of contributions. There was also an additional $476.40 in nonmonetary contributions.

There were $1,415.13 in expenditures, leaving her with an ending cash balance of $21,739.91 for the last two month of April’s race.

There was also an outstanding debt of $3,750 from a campaign loan in 2012 on her last Form 460.

9. Gloria Mercado-Fortine raised $7,905 in the most recent filing period, putting her year-to-date total at $23,174, including $7,000 in loans.

Her total contributions were reported as $30,174. The total expenditures amounted to $15,939, and she had an ending cash balance of $14,235.

Mercado-Fortine reported a $1,000 for GROW Elect GROW; she reported a $1,000 donation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in a previous report.

In her previous filing, Mercado-Fortine received a total of $22,269 in contributions, with $7,000 coming in the form of a loan. There was $2,859 in expenditures, placing her ending balance for the last reporting period at $20,410, according to city records. Her campaign had outstanding debts in the form of $7,000.

10. Incumbent Laurene Weste reported $7,146 contributions; she also noted $14,150 in payments made.

Weste has a beginning cash balance of $35,159.84. Her ending cash balance was $28,155.94, with an outstanding debt of $3,000 from a campaign loan.

Weste received $1,000 from Thomas Clark; The Conservation Station also donated $1,000; Boorkfield Los Angeles Builders gave $1,000.

Barry Lee King, who’s listed as a self employed real estate investor, gave $1,000. Louise Arkin gave $500; Charlie Rasmussen of C.A. Rasmussen gave $1,000. The Sanddes Family Trust gave $500, as did local landscape developer Stay Green, and Pacific Coast Civil Inc, an Agoura Hills-based land surveyor.

Weste also received $1,000 from the California Real Estate PAC. 


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Santa Clarita City Council Race ’14: Candidates Report Contributions

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.