With the retirement of councilman Max Anderson, and fellow councilman Laurie Capitelli’s decision to run for mayor, there are two open seats on the Berkeley City Council this fall, which may explain the heavy fundraising going on.
Read more on the Berkeley 2016 election.
Below, a round-up of how the different candidates are doing in terms of raising those campaign funds.
District 5: Sophie Hahn / Stephen Murphy
Sophie Hahn, a lawyer, who has twice run unsuccessfully against Laurie Capitelli for the District 5 seat, and who has high name recognition because of those races and her position on the Zoning Adjustments Board, raised the most among her fellow District 5 candidates in the first six months of 2016. Hahn is seen as a progressive who would be closely aligned with City Councilmen Jesse Arreguín and Kriss Worthington, and many of her donors are also their supporters.
Hahn raised $45,244 in this last campaign cycle, spent $6,437, and has $49,427 cash on hand — an amount significant enough for her to to do a number of district-wide mailings.
Hahn’s donors include Carole Kennerly, a former city councilwoman; Alejandro Soto-Vigil, a Rent Board commissioner and aide to Kriss Worthington; Michael and Becky O’Malley, owners of the Berkeley Daily Planet; Gina Moreland, director of Habitot Children’s Museum; Jacquelyn McCormick, who ran for mayor in 2012 and who has been closely involved in trying to save Berkeley’s Main Post Office; Joan Blades, the founder of MoveOn.org and MomsRising; Daniel Knapp, owner of Urban Ore; Gene Poschman, a planning commissioner; Michael and Janet McCutcheon, the owners of a construction company; and Patricia Wall, the executive director of the Homeless Action Center.
Stephen Murphy, the associate director of the Alameda County Family Justice Center, and chair of the Berkeley Planning Commission, has raised $16,084, spent $4,107, has $27,961 in cash. (He had raised 15,979 in 2015).
Murphy’s donors include many who are backers of the current council majority, which is considered more moderate than the trio 0f Worthington, Arreguín, and Max Anderson. The donors include Nancy Skinner, the former Assemblywoman now running for the State Senate seat held by Loni Hancock; David Trachtenberg, an architect; Debbie Sanderson, a former Berkeley city planner; Lars Skjerping, an aide to Linda Maio; Jim Novosel, an architect and planning commissioner; Ali Kashani, a developer; Patrick Kennedy, a developer; Erin Rhoades, co-founder of Livable Berkeley, and Mark Rhoades, who currently helps developers navigate the city planning process. Three sitting city councilmembers — Susan Wengraf, Linda Maio, and Darryl Moore — are also supporting Murphy.
District 3: Benjamen Bartlett / Deborah Matthews / Mark Coplan / Al Murray
In leaving his seat, Anderson has endorsed Benjamen Bartlett, an attorney, former café owner, and planning commissioner whose father, Dale, was once an aide to City Councilwoman Maudelle Shirek.
In the first six months of 2016, Bartlett raised $26,788, which includes a $10,000 loan to his campaign by his wife, attorney Yelda Bartlett. Ben Bartlett has spent $4,847, leaving him with $21,942.
His donors include Max Anderson; Jesse Arreguín; former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris; Sophie Hahn; Leah Wilson, a former Berkeley Unified School District board director; Jacquelyn McCormick; Boona Cheema, the former director of BOSS (Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency); James McFadden, a research physicist at UC; Daniel Knapp; Gene Poschman; and the Berkeley Firefighters Association, among others.
Deborah Matthews, a realtor, the vice-chair of the Planning Commission, and a former Zoning Adjustments Board commissioner, has raised $12,801 and has spent $5,520, leaving her with $7,532 on hand.
Matthews’ donors include City Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli, Susan Wengraf, and former Councilman Gordon Wozniak. Others include Michael and Lisa Alvarez-Cohen; David Trachtenberg and Joe DeCredico, both architects; Darrell De Tienne, who helps developers though the city planning process; Debby Goldsberry, a medical cannabis advocate who now works with Magnolia Wellness; Barbara Hendrickson, who works at Red Oak Realty; Steven Smith of Norheim & Yost, a commercial real-estate company; Julie Holcomb, a printer who serves on the board of the Berkeley Public Library; and the developers Chris Hudson, Patrick Kennedy and William Schrader.
Mark Coplan, the former spokesman for the Berkeley Unified School District, has raised $400, according to campaign finance records. He has spent $55.24. His donors include Sheila Jordan, the former superintendent of the Alameda County School District.
Al Murray, who serves as the chair of both the Berkeley Energy Commission as well as the Personnel Board and once served on the Fair Campaign Practices Commission, did not file a spending report. He only took out papers for the seat in July.
District 2: Darryl Moore / Nanci Armstrong-Temple / Cheryl Davila
Darryl Moore, who was first elected to the Berkeley City Council in 2004, has raised $17,699. He has spent $4,132, and has $14,466 on hand.
His donors include State Senator Loni Hancock; City Councilmembers Lori Droste and Laurie Capitelli; Susie Medak, executive director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Helen Meyer, c0-founder of Meyer Sound; Chris Barlow and Rich Robbins from Wareham Development; David Mayeri, director of the UC Theatre; and Glen and Diane Yasada, owners of Berkeley Bowl, among others.
Nanci Armstrong-Temple has raised $2,078, has spent $111, and has $1,967 on hand. Her donors include the Berkeley Progressive Alliance, which gave her $250; Fred Dodsworth, who is running for council in District 6; and Charlene Woodcock.
Cheryl Davila has raised $4,511. She repaid a $200 loan and spent $2,207, leaving her with $2,104. Her donors include Prof. James McFadden; Andrea Prichett of Copwatch; and Henry Norr, a former San Francisco Chronicle reporter.
District 6: Susan Wengraf / Isabelle Gaston / Fred Dodsworth
Susan Wengraf is running for her third term on the City Council and she raised $23,723 in the first six months of 2016. She spent $11,177 and has $23,110 on hand. Her donors include Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates; Councilman Darryl Moore; the Berkeley Firefighters Association; David Hochschild, the vice-president of Solaria; author Michael Lewis and photographer Tabitha Lewis; Berkeley Rep Executive Director Susie Medak; Peter Calthorpe, an architect; former City Councilman Gordon Wozniak; UC Theatre’s David Mayeri; and Marilyn Rinzler, owner of the restaurant Poulet.
Isabelle Gaston, a medical writer with a PhD in cancer biology and the president of the North East Berkeley Association, has raised $5,040, including a $250 loan she made to the campaign. She has spent $2,394 and has $2,896 on hand. Her donors include Jacquelyn McCormick; Gene Poschman; Zelda Bronstein, a former planning commissioner; and Barbara Gilbert, a neighborhood activist who has written extensively about Berkeley’s unfunded liabilities.
Fred Dodsworth, a poet, former journalist and publisher, (and father of Rent Board Commissioner Asa Dodsworth) has raised $4,560 and has $4,457 on hand, according to campaign filings. His donors include the Berkeley Progressive Alliance, Erick Bjerkholt, the husband of Sophie Hahn, John Selawsky, current rent board commissioner and former BUSD board member, and Jacquelyn McCormick, among others.
Editor’s note: Photos of some candidates were not supplied by candidates.
Related:
And the mayor’s race is off and running: Where do campaign coffers stand? (08.04.16)
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