Donors spending big dollars on Fresno ballot measures. How’s the money stacking up?
Voters across Fresno County are facing several sales tax measures on the Nov. 8 midterm ballot, including a hotly-battled contest between supporters and opponents of Measure C — a 30-year extension of an existing half-cent tax for road and transportation improvements in the county.
Through Oct. 27, the official Yes on Measure C committee had raised more than $304,000 to campaign for passage of the ballot measure, and spent almost $234,000. Measure C will require “yes” votes from two-thirds of voters to pass.
The No on Measure C campaign, through Oct. 27, reported more than $277,000 in contributions, but so far had spent less than $40,000 on their campaign.
The Yes on C committee, officially known as “Fix Fresno Roads, sponsored by California Alliance for Jobs and Fresno Chamber of Commerce,” has collected more than $245,000 (more than three-quarters of its contributions) from donors outside of Fresno County.
The largest out-of-county contributions reported so far include a political action committee of Alameda-based Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3; a Los Angeles-based political action committee of the California Association of Realtors, pitching in $50,000; and $50,000 from the Building and Construction Trades Council of California in Sacramento.
Local contributions to the Yes on C campaign amount to less than $71,000. The largest local donors are the Fresno Chamber of Commerce PAC, at $20,000; Vulcan Materials, $10,000; Cornerstone Main Company, a real estate firm, $10,000; developer Farid Assemi, $5,000; and Joseph Kalpakoff, owner of Mid-Valley Disposal, $5,000.
The No on Measure C committee, in the meantime, has garnered its share of contributions from out-of-area donors as well, including $100,000 from the Oakland-based Northern California Carpenters Regional Council Issues PAC and $10,000 from California Environmental Voters Issues Committee in Oakland. The out-of-area donations to the No on C campaign represent about 42% of the contributions to the committee.
The largest local donors to the No on C effort include the Assembly re-election campaign committee for Dr. Joaquin Arambula, $50,000; Amelia Arambula, $25,000; $25,000 each from a pair of advocacy organizations, Fresno Building Healthy Communities and Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability; $12,500 from the Sierra Club’s Fresno-based Tehipite Chapter; and $5,000 from the campaign committee for Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias.
Fresno State facilities, scholarships tax
The contributions to the Measure C clash pale in comparison to what’s been collected and spent on Measure E — a 0.2% sales tax to support facilities improvements and scholarships at Fresno State.
There is no formal or organized opposition to Measure E. But the “Yes on Measure E, Good to Great for Fresno State” committee has taken in more than $1.5 million in their efforts to achieve a simple majority of 50% plus one vote on Nov. 8.
And all but $5 of that money has come from Richard F. Spencer & Affiliates. Spencer is the head of Harris Construction and Spencer Enterprises, both of Fresno.
Through Oct. 27, the Yes on E committee had spent almost $1.3 million on the campaign.
Veterans support
In the city of Fresno, voters are being asked to decide the fate of Measure M, a 0.125% sales tax intended to support facilities and services for military veterans in the city.
Like countywide Measure C, the proposal requires a two-thirds majority to pass. Unlike Measure C and E, however, only voters who live in the Fresno city limits will get to vote on the measure.
There are no organized campaign committees mobilized on Measure M, neither in support nor opposition.
In September, the Fresno City Council approved spending $450,000 with consultants to educate voters about the measure. But in October, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association sent a letter to the city warning that the education effort could run afoul of laws that forbid spending public funds on political campaigns.
Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White subsequently terminated the voter education contract, as well as a similar agreement on Measure C. “With many pressing city issues, we decided to go in a different direction,” White told The Fresno Bee.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
