Costly kickoff to race for west county seats

The race for the west county seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is off to an expensive start with almost a quarter of a million dollars raised by the major candidates seeking to replace incumbent Mike Reilly.

Jim Maresca, a retired technology company executive living in Guerneville, leads the pack of 5th District money raisers, but only by virtue of his wife, Sandra, having loaned his campaign $100,000 of his $104,179 in contributions.

County Planning Commissioner Rue Furch of Sebastopol reported receiving $67,428 in contributions, and state legislative aide Maddy Hirshfield of Forestville said she collected $52,417, including a $5,000 loan to her own campaign. The campaign of Tom Lynch, a Guerneville builder, received $19,059, including a $5,000 loan from the candidate, and Dan Kahane, a Sebastopol area vegetable grower and Water Agency program specialist, reported receiving $3,325 in donations.

Furch reported 17 contributions of $1,000 each, including funds from Argonaut Constructors, Global Materials Recovery owner Curtis Michelini, Sebastopol Water Information Group leader Jane Nielson, and Sebastopol Councilwomen Linda Kelley and Sarah Glade Gurney.

She also received $2,000 from Dennis Hunter, a real estate investor who last year loaned her $120,000, most of which she used to pay off five years of delinquent property taxes on her home.

Although Reilly has not made an endorsement in the race, the Friends of Mike Reilly group gave Furch $1,000.

Hirshfield's campaign reported $1,000 contributions from Santa Rosa school board member Jim Leddy, the Organic Cannabis Foundation of Santa Rosa and campaign organizations affiliated with Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and her employer, Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka.

Most of the candidates for three supervisorial seats in the June 3 election had their campaign finance reports filed early with the county elections office.

In the 3rd District race, which encompasses central Santa Rosa and parts of Rohnert Park, Shirlee Zane, director of the Council on Aging, was tops in fund raising, followed by former Santa Rosa Councilwoman Sharon Wright.

Wright reported collecting $52,417 in contributions, while Zane's campaign had $63,313, a tally boosted by a $55,000 loan from the candidate. Rohnert Park Councilman Tim Smith reported contributions of $13,342.

Smith reported six $1,000 contributions, including from Codding Enterprises CEO Bradley Baker, Greenwaste Recovery of San Jose and Brookfield Bay Area Builders of Danville. Wright reported more than two dozen $1,000 contributions, including several from members of the Ghilotti construction company, Coombs Development of Windsor, Rohnert Park broker Jimmie Rogers, Jackson Family Wines executive Barbara Banke, investors Larry and Carolyn Wasem, the North Coast Builders Exchange and the Sonoma County Alliance.

The seat is being vacated after 20 years by Tim Smith, no relation to the Rohnert Park councilman.

In the 1st District race, incumbent Valerie Brown reported having $47,317 on hand from previous fund-raising efforts, while challenger David Reber, a former Sonoma Valley school board member, reported collecting $11,891.

You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.