HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council Candidates File Finance Reports

Three City Council candidates backed strongly by pro-development supporters have received the bulk of campaign funds, with less than two weeks left before the Nov. 6 election, according to mandatory campaign finance reports filed at the city clerk’s office.

The top fund-raisers are Planning Commissioner Ed Mountford, former police chief Earle Robitaille, and former mayor Jack Kelly. The three men have emphasized their support for downtown redevelopment projects.

Three other candidates endorsed by environmental and slow-growth groups have received less money for their campaigns, according to the campaign finance reports. Those three candidates are incumbent Councilwoman Grace Winchell; Mark Porter, a former planning commissioner, and Linda Moulton-Patterson, president of the Huntington Beach Union High School District Board of Trustees.

Thursday was the deadline for mailing or hand delivering the campaign reports for the period from Oct. 1 through Oct. 20.

The state-required reports also disclose cumulative fund raising and spending for the entire campaign.

Reports received by 5 p.m. Thursday showed that Mountford’s total is $46,574.71 so far, Robitaille has raised $41,220, and Kelly has garnered $39,795. The documents show that Winchell has raised a total of $23,717.61, Moulton-Patterson, $30,689, and Porter, $15,501.

There are 10 candidates running for four seats on the City Council in the Nov. 6 election. The other four City Council candidates are Tony Passannante, a pharmacist; Dirk Voss, a marine patrol officer; George Arnold, a self-employed businessman, and Steven J. Roy, a carpenter.

Voss filed a report showing no contributions received so far during the campaign. Arnold’s and Passannante’s latest campaign finance report was not filed by 5 p.m.

Roy has not filed a report and missed last month’s deadline for the first mandatory disclosures, officials said.

In the city attorney’s race, the reports showed that incumbent Gail C. Hutton has raised a total of $21,802 and her challenger, Paul Eugene Mann has raised a total of $2,500.