Holbrook, Dinolfo, McKeown Continue to Lead Fundraising Race

By Jorge Casuso

Oct. 29 -- Incumbent Bob Holbrook continues to lead the fundraising race among the nine City Council hopefuls with $55,383 in contributions of $250 or less, an amount bolstered by another $28,799 pumped by living wage foes into his reelection bid, according to the latest campaign financial disclosure statements.

Challenger Matteo Dinolfo raised a total of $40,880, followed by incumbent Kevin McKeown, who reported $38,342 in total contributions ($10,000 of it in the form of a loan) and challenger Abby Arnold, who raised $30, 411, according to the statement, which covers the period between October 1 and October 19.

Holbrook raised $23,477 during the latest filing period, while Dinolfo raised nearly half of his total -- $19,960 -- during the same period. After a slow start, incumbent Pam O'Connor raised $13,885 during the first 19 days of October, bringing her total to $15,960.

McKeown raised $10,324 during the latest period, while Arnold raised $7,013. Challenger Josefina Aranda raised $3,374, bringing her total to $8,282.

Challenger Pro Se, has raised $1,000, all of it in the form of a loan reported during the latest filing period, while Chuck Allord, who had raised $2,050 during the previous period, reported no contributions. Allord noted in an attachment that his checkbook and all the receipts for expenditures had been stolen.

The nearly $29,000 spent on Holbrook's behalf by CW Hotels Limited Partnership, which owns Le Merigot Hotel, paid for a flyer urging voters to oppose Measure JJ and to support Holbrook, the only incumbent who opposes the living wage measure on the November 5 ballot.

Unlike the two other incumbents, Holbrook cannot count on the backing of Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights, the city's most influential political organizations. SMRR, which has endorsed McKeown, O'Connor and Arnold, raised a total of raised $143,706, bringing its total cash on hand as of October 19 to $42,033.

Most of the candidates had about half of their total funds on hand for the final two and a half weeks of the campaign. Holbrook reported a cash balance of $22,970, with $2,356 in outstanding debts.

He was followed by Dinolfo, who reported an ending cash balance of $22,001 (with $11,950 in outstanding debts), followed by McKeown, with an ending balance of $18,479 ($10,000 in debts) and Arnold, with an ending cash balance of $15, 895 ($619 in debts).

O'Connor reported a cash balance of $9,237 with no debts and Aranda had $4,520 as of October 19.

The current candidates' fundraising efforts, and especially the amount pumped by living wage foes into council campaigns, pales in comparison with the 2000 race for four council seats,
when record amounts were spent to elect two hopefuls.

In that race, Rob Ross and Councilman Herb Katz were the beneficiaries of a combined total of $138,081 spent by this time on their campaigns by a Political Action Committee set up by the owners of three luxury hotels.

When added to the amount spent by the two candidates from their own war chests, the PAC money made Katz and Ross' campaigns the most expensive independent bids since Katz raised a quarter of a million dollars in 1988, spurring changes in the City's campaign laws.

By October 21, 2000, a combined total of $111,611 had been spent to elect Katz to the seven-member council and $109,307 had been spent on Ross' bid, surpassing the total of $97,218 spent by Councilman Paul Rosenstein in his 1996 independent reelection campaign.