Vas Dupre, Allen far ahead in money race

A longtime Sonoma County labor leader and a former councilwoman are the top fund-raisers among 15 candidates seeking the five Santa Rosa City Council seats up for election Nov. 4.

Michael Allen, president of the North Bay Labor Council and district director for state Sen. Pat Wiggins, and Marsha Vas Dupre, a former council member and current Santa Rosa Junior College trustee, raised $55,238 and $50,996, respectively, through Sept. 30, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday.

The two easily outpaced certified public accountant Gary Wysocky, who raised $38,957.

All three, part of a slate of candidates largely funded by labor, environmental and bicycling advocates and neighborhood groups and their supporters, got an early jump on fund-raising when they announced their joint run 14 months ago.

Allen, the most heavily backed by labor unions, received 20 percent of his funding from 30 labor unions throughout the state, including 12 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers locals.

Among the trio's extensive list of shared supporters are Wiggins, Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, Concerned Citizens for Santa Rosa, the Sonoma/Mendocino/Lake County Building Trades Council and owners of Industrial Carting, SEIU United Health Care Workers West, along with numerous individuals.

All three hold a healthy fund-raising lead over the four incumbents seeking re-election -- Jane Bender, John Sawyer, Carol Dean and Lee Pierce -- whose contributions ranged from $19,896 given to Bender to $11,952 received by Dean.

Bender, Sawyer and Dean, along with police Lt. Ernesto Olivares and certified public accountant Bobbi Hoff, are running as a slate called The Team.

They, too, share many of the same contributors, including a wide-ranging list of business and development interests such as homebuilders, engineers, architects and real estate interests.

Among their lengthy list of shared contributors are the North Coast Builders Exchange, Mead Clark Lumber, downtown property owners Larry and Carol Wasem, homebuilder Joe Keith, Nunley Engineering and Taylor Mountain Development.

Pierce originally won election in 2004 with the aid of hefty contributions from the same business and development industry that supports the other incumbents. However, he's now among the candidates supported by many of the same groups that are behind Allen, Vas Dupre and Wysocky.

His shift in allegiances resulted in a change in contributors. Evans, Wiggins, Concerned Citizens for Santa Rosa and owners of Industrial Carting are among his backers.

The remaining six candidates are far behind in fund-raising.

Medical transcriptionist Judy Kennedy, while she reported raising $11,311, said $9,000 of that is a loan to herself.

She wasn't alone in loaning herself money. Vas Dupre and Bender reported lending their campaigns $6,500 and $6,000, respectively.

Trailing further back were restaurant owner Don Taylor at $11,203, Roseland School District trustee David Rosas at $4,865 and winery bottle supplier Hans Dippel at $4,130. Dippel limited contributions to a maximum of $50 instead of the $500 allowed by city law.

Taylor was among the biggest spenders in the past two council elections, spending $81,000 on his 2004 campaign and nearly $54,000 in 2006, both without success.

Filling out the field are candidates Eddie Alvarez and Lawrence Wiesner, who said they raised no funds.

The next filing deadline, Oct. 23, will cover contributions raised between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18.

This year's election, however, is different than two years ago when the council for the first time imposed a $56,100 voluntary spending limit. It provided that those who agreed to stay under the limit would be granted access to voters on the city's Web site and newsletter to promote their candidacies.

But following the 2006 election, a majority of the council decided to kill the spending cap idea, at least for this election year, in light of what they said were candidate violations and attack ads by independent groups that made it difficult for candidates restricted by the spending limits to respond.

The council, however, agreed to reinstate the voluntary spending limits in 2010 and set the spending cap at $45,000.

That law and the spending cap likely will be reviewed depending on who is elected in November.

You can reach Staff Writer Mike McCoy at 521-5276 or mike.mccoy@pressdemocrat.com.