Race between James Gore and Deb Fudge sets new spending record for Sonoma County election

Editor’s Note:

Clarification published April 1, 2015: Gore incurred about $80,000 in credit card debt and unpaid campaign bills during his successful bid for county office. He has since paid off the debt and outstanding bills. The story below has not been altered to reflect this clarification.

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Record spending by candidates in last year’s contest for 4th District Sonoma County supervisor, coupled with money poured in by outside groups, fueled the most expensive local race in the county’s history, campaign finance reports show.

The $1.3 million battle between Deb Fudge and James Gore shattered the previous mark of $826,000 for total spending in a local race and marked the first time that a contest for county office crossed the much-vaunted $1 million threshold.

It was also the fourth time in six years that a new spending high has been reached in the race for a county seat. The 2012 supervisorial race between Susan Gorin and John Sawyer set the previous record for total spending.

The escalating cost reflects the high stakes involved in battles for open seats on the Board of Supervisors since 2012, including the contest won by Gorin and the race claimed by Gore. In both cases, the swing vote on key issues such as land use and environmental regulation was seen to be in play.

A seat on the Board of Supervisors also has become a coveted political post in California, as counties become increasingly involved in matters once handled by the state, such as incarceration and health policy, and with term limits constantly reshuffling representatives in Sacramento.

Campaigns by outside interest groups, nearly unrestrained in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago, also have stoked the spending trend.

“I’m actually surprised the amount of money spent on (the Fudge-Gore) race wasn’t higher,” said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist.

With the three other supervisorial seats up for election next year, the new spending record soon could be eclipsed, he said.

“I expect to see a lot more money coming in,” McCuan said.

On his way to a surprisingly wide victory in November, Gore raised and spent far more than Fudge.

Recent campaign reports show Gore spent $585,000 while Fudge spent $390,000.

Total spending by outside groups in the race amounted to more than $340,000, with a little more than half coming from two independent campaigns that supported Gore. The other half came from two committees supporting Fudge.

“It shows how competitive that election was,” McCuan said of the outside spending, including real estate and farming groups that lined up behind Gore and labor and environmental groups that supported Fudge.

Gore, a political newcomer and former Obama administration official who grew up in Sonoma County, beat Fudge, a veteran Windsor Town councilwoman, by a margin of 58.8 percent to 40.8 percent.

He drew a large share of his financial support from the wine industry. His top donors included the owners of Alexander Valley’s Puma Springs Vineyards, Tony Crabb and Barbara Grasseschi and the Dutton family, the Sebastopol-based grape growers. Other donors included Duff Bevill, founder of Bevill Vineyard Management, Constellation Brands, the seventh-largest vineyard holder in Sonoma County, and John Balletto of Balletto Vineyards and Winery.

Gore, who made a personal loan of $80,000 to his campaign, likened the race he ran to the high-speed world of a startup company.

“It was an empowering process for me, figuring out how to build that momentum,” Gore said. “But we dominated. I’m proud of that.”

Gore’s campaign focused on nailing down recognition of his name in the sprawling 4th District, stretching from northern Santa Rosa to the Mendocino County border and including the cities of Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale. He spent money on bright orange signs and staked them out along busy rural roads and Highway 101. He paid his campaign workers and outfitted them with T-shirts, buttons, hats and other insignia to get his message out.

Just three months into his first term, the 36-year-old supervisor already has filed election paperwork signaling his intent to hold on to his seat four years from now. The job pays an annual salary of $138,458.

Fudge, who lost her third bid for the north county seat, has said she has no plans to run for public office again.

She ran last year on the strength of her long experience in local politics, including 18 years on the Windsor Town Council, and endorsements from the Sonoma County Democratic Party and most of the party’s top local office holders.

Her top donor, the Service Employees International Union, represents the largest unionized group of county employees. Fudge also received donations from developer William Gallaher and his wife, Cynthia, as well as Margaret Spaulding, a Sonoma Clean Power advisory committee member and former board member for the environmental nonprofit Greenbelt Alliance.

The runoff between Gore and Fudge was the only county contest on the November ballot. Supervisor David Rabbitt cruised to re-election in June, as did District Attorney Jill Ravitch and Sheriff Steve Freitas, who was unopposed.

Next year, supervisorial seats held by Efren Carrillo and Shirlee Zane - the two-term veterans on the board - and Susan Gorin all come up for election. Gorin and Zane already have said they are running for re-election.

Zane launched her campaign last week with an Irish-themed party at her Santa Rosa home that drew about 100 supporters. She said she has $20,000 in the bank right now for her campaign, and plans to raise at least $100,000 by June.

She called the escalating money race unsettling, but said without a clear opponent, she wouldn’t necessarily need to raise as much as Gore and Fudge.

“I don’t have any concerns. I have a broad base of support,” Zane said. “I still think it’s sad that it takes so much money to run for office. At the same time, raising money is a necessary evil for all campaigns.”

Gorin, the board chairwoman, said she plans to formally announce her re-election bid this June. She also set her first fundraising benchmark at $100,000.

“My goal is to raise enough money to stay competitive,” she said.

Carrillo has not announced whether he plans to run for re-election.

You can reach Staff Writer Angela Hart at 526-8503 or angela.hart@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ahartreports.