The Oakland mayoral race is barrelling ahead with frenetic fundraising among four candidates who have already squeezed donors for nearly $600,000 through 2013, according to campaign finance reports filed this week with the Oakland City Clerk.
While money does not immediately translate into votes, the California Form 460 reports provide new and fascinating insights into the mayoral contest with election day still nearly 10 months away. They show that challengers Bryan Parker and Joe Tuman have matched or exceeded incumbent Mayor Jean Quan's ability to raise substantial campaign contributions this early in the race.
Parker, the port of Oakland commissioner, topped the field with more than $175,000 raised in 2013, plus $9,641 in non-monetary contributions. Joe Tuman, who started his campaign mid-year, raised $145,000, all of it in last six months of 2013 alone, plus a $10,850 loan. Incumbent Mayor Jean Quan's $129,000 in campaign contributions came in third overall, plus her own $30,000 personal loan, and City Councilmember Libby Schaaf raised $124,000 to round out the well-heeled field.
Quan trailed two of her challengers in funds raised overall, and as campaign fundraising took off in the last six months, the mayor raised only $63,000 in that period, the least reported by the four major candidates. In the same period, Tuman raised $145,300, Parker raised $76,000 and Schaaf raised $124,000.
Earlier on Friday, before Parker's year-end report was filed at the City Clerk's office, Tuman took an early lead in the campaign reports filed. Parker had raised $108,000 in the first half of 2013, a surprisingly large showing for the first-time candidate. Later in the day, his report added $76,107 in new contributions from July 1,2013 to year-end, about half the amount Tuman raised.
Tuman, a political science professor at San Francisco State and former journalist, has not been in the news much, but apparently has been busy quietly holding fundraisers for his second mayoral campaign in Oakland. In a mayoral poll [http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_24798629/poll-shows-jean-quan-leading-oakland-mayors-race] in December, Tuman placed second to Quan, 32% to 22%, but ahead of District 4 Councilmember Schaaf, 16%, and Parker with 10%.
These fresh contribution results must surprise some political pundits with Parker leading well-known elected officials like Quan and Schaaf, and Tuman raising more than anyone in the past six months. His Form 460 report showed that he loaned his campaign $10,850 and ended the year with $131,142 cash on hand.
By comparison, the Re-Elect Mayor Quan committee raised $63,636 in the same six-month period, bringing her total contributions in 2013 to $129,494. In addition, she made $30,000 in personal loans to her campaign. At year-end her cash on hand was $120,255.
Schaaf, who announced her mayoral campaign late in the year, raised $124,210, including a small personal loan of $1,050 from herself to her campaign, and she had $119,838 in cash on hand at the end of 2013.
Parker ended the year with $140,706 in cash on hand.
Matthew Artz, reporting in the Oakland Tribune, wrote: "While the major candidates appeared on track to hit the $405,000 campaign spending cap, veteran political consultant Larry Tramutola said it is rare for an incumbent not to be in a more dominant position.
"'It shows there is a lot of money out there from people who would love to beat Quan,'" he quoted Tramutola as saying. 'And it's not just fat cats.'"
These reports show that as the campaign gathers steam, the four major candidates have more than a half million dollars to throw into the fray, and who knows what sort of campaigns will take shape with these funds. As for the Form 460 reports, there is lots of detail to run through in identifying exactly which business interests have contributed to each mayoral candidate, and don't be surprised if some of the bettors put their money in more than one campaign. Watch this space.
