FUSD campaign donations hit record

$338,000 in contributions have been reported so far in four school board races.

Published online on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006

It was called one of the priciest Fresno Unified school board races in history — $200,000 in a fight to win four school board seats.

That was in 2002.

Those same seats are up for grabs Nov. 7, and donations have already surpassed the $338,000 mark, according to reports filed at the Fresno County Elections Office through Friday.

A large chunk of the contributions — including cash, nonmonetary assistance and loans — has come from a group of business and political leaders and from the Fresno teachers union.

But the top recipient, Bullard High-area candidate Michelle Arax Asadoorian, marshaled the broadest support. Many of her donations came from individuals and businesses that gave fairly small amounts of money.

The Bullard High-area race has become the most expensive area race thus far this year, with four candidates competing for one seat.

Arax Asadoorian collected about $62,850 in contributions, according to campaign finance records. Incumbent Pat Barr is right behind her, with more than $50,600 raised. A third candidate, John Lester, raised about $25,880. The fourth, Jim Barr, wasn't required to file a report because he earlier agreed not to spend or raise more than $1,000. The two Barrs aren't related.

Arax Asadoorian's variety of supporters suggest a "real grass-roots campaign," said David Schecter, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno. He said campaign contributors will get friends and family members to support their candidates.

The bulk of Pat Barr's contributions came from Voices for Excellence in Fresno Unified, a group that opted to support her and three other candidates for the board. Voices members, who include business leaders such as Richard Johanson, chairman emeritus of the Fresno Business Council, and political leaders such as Assembly Member Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, have expressed support for the superintendent and academic reform in the district.

The group gave Barr almost $40,000 in nonmonetary contributions for brochures, advertising, office supplies, campaign consultant fees, postage and office rental, according to campaign finance records.

Schecter said Arax Asadoorian appears to be the new Pat Barr in this race.

When Barr ran for the school board in 2002, she was an outsider with a grass-roots support base and the backing of the Fresno Teachers Association, Schecter said. He remembered Barr outperforming many of her opponents in a debate, but he didn't think she had a chance of winning.

"She should not have won, but she did," he said.

Barr said she hasn't lost many supporters, but she agreed Arax Asadoorian's campaign bears some similarities to her 2002 run. She added that her opponent probably also enjoys support in the Armenian community.

Arax Asadoorian could not be reached to comment Friday.

Although Arax Asadoorian has the endorsement of the Fresno Teachers Association in this race and appears to have grass-roots support, Schecter said a challenger always must battle to unseat an incumbent.

"There'll only be so much anti-Barr vote," he said.

The Fresno Teachers Association Political Action Committee spent about $14,860 to oppose Barr's campaign, according to the campaign finance report. The group spent an additional $65,000 to support its endorsed candidates, either by contributing directly to their campaigns or through other expenditures.

A financial gap exists among the six candidates in the other three Fresno Unified board races, according to campaign finance records.

In the Edison High-area race, incumbent Luisa Medina, a Voices-backed candidate, raised about $58,300. Her opponent, Cal Johnson, reported about $6,300 in donations.

Sunnyside High-area incumbent Valerie Davis reported raising about $4,800, and her Voices-backed opponent, Stafford Parker, reported about $53,500.

McLane High-area incumbent Tony Vang reported raising about $22,000, and his Voices-backed opponent, Julie Hornback, raised about $54,200.

Fresno Teachers Association President Larry Moore criticized the Voices group for injecting more than $160,000 into the race and "attempting to buy an election." He said the union's political committee has spent half of what Voices spent.

Arambula said the union's parent organization, the California Teachers Association, spends heavily in state campaigns.

"If they don't believe spending money in elections makes sense, why do they give so many millions?" he said. "If races cost less, we would spend less."