Candidates rake in big funds

A few weeks of strong fundraising from Costa Mesa City Council candidates Jim Righeimer, Gary Monahan and Eric Bever have solidified them as the top three fundraisers through Oct. 18, knocking Katrina Foley down to fourth place.

While the three raised between $13,000 and $20,000 each during the first 18 days of October, Foley raised less than $4,000.

“It’s not for lack of trying. I don’t have big developer friends writing me $5,000 checks,” Foley said.

Foley, however, has the support of the police and fire department unions — she is the only candidate they endorsed this election — and they have spent more than $30,000 on her behalf to pay for mailers.

Righeimer’s total is just shy of $58,000, which is $15,000 above his nearest competitor, Gary Monahan. His recent fundraising has been fueled in large part by big donations from billionaire real estate mogul George Argyros.

“I’m very excited and thrilled that so many of my friends supported me,” Righeimer said.

Bever was the strongest fundraiser since the end of September. He raked in about $20,000 in less than three weeks, $10,000 coming from a single source: William Broza.

Broza, who is listed as working for Wachovia Bank, has also given a combined $10,000 to Monahan.

The top three candidates also have support from their political party. The Republican Party has sent out fliers on behalf of Righeimer, Bever and Monahan.

Candidates Lisa Reedy, Chris McEvoy and Nick Moss still report total donations less than $1,000.

Bill Sneen and Chris Bunyan each tacked about $1,000 onto their totals, but both have only a small fraction of the money available to the top four earners.

Neither are sending out mailers, but both have few campaign signs scattered around the city.

Thursday’s filing deadline was the last time the candidates will have to report campaign contributions to the public before the election, except in the case of contributions of more than $1,000, which have to be reported within 24 hours of receipt.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].