Some Merced council candidates raise big money as election nears. How do they stack up?
The races for three seats on the Merced City Council are shaping up to collectively become some of the costliest campaigns in recent memory.
Of the seven candidates running for City Council on the Nov. 8 ballot, campaign finance statements filed through Oct. 27 show that almost $200,000 has been contributed to five candidates in Council Districts 2, 4 and 6.
The Merced candidate with the highest total in contributions and campaign spending to date is District 6 incumbent Delray Shelton, whose finance reports indicate contributions of more than $76,000 and expenditures of almost $40,000 in his re-election bid. Challenger Fue Xiong’s campaign reports show contributions of almost $36,000, while the campaign had spent more than $15,000 through Oct. 22.
Fifteen contributors to Shelton’s campaign have donated at least $2,500 or more. The maximum donations, at $2,867 each, came from TransCounty Title Company, the Merced City Fire Fighters Political Action Committee, Merced Booster Club, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 442 PAC, UA Local 246 Plumbers and Pipefitters COPE Committee, and Lorenzi Steward & Larson.
None of the contributors to Xiong’s campaign have donated $2,500 or more.
The District 4 race has three candidates vying to replace Kevin Blake. Shane Smith leads the fundraising in that contest, pulling in more than $46,000 in contributions.
Smith reported expenditures of almost $19,000 as of Oct. 22. Several of the major donors to Shelton’s campaign have also contributed the maximum figure of $2,867 to Smith’s effort, including TransCounty Title, Merced City Fire Fighters PAC, and the Merced Booster Club.
Another District 4 competitor, Casey Steed, reports about $11,300 in contributions and $7,827 in campaign spending so far. A third candidate Javier Fuentes, filed paperwork earlier this year declaring his intention to neither raise nor spend more $2,000 on his campaign. No donors to the Steed campaign have contributed $2,500 or more.
In District 2, incumbent Fernando Echavarria reports that his re-election campaign has taken in no money in campaign contributions, nor do his finance statements indicate any expenditures. His challenger, Ronnie De Anda, has received $29,643 in donations, of which $7,344 has been spent.
Like Smith and Shelton, De Anda received the maximum contribution of $2,867 from TransCounty Title, the Merced City Fire Fighters PAC, and the Merced Booster Club, as well as the Merced Police Officers Association.///
The figures for campaign contributions include not only cash from donors, but also donations of goods or services to the campaigns as well as loans from the candidates themselves.
