Money went mostly to winners

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Chris Steel came on strong.

In the home stretch of the November City Council race, the new

councilman raised almost $10,000, bringing his total to $25,002, the most

of any candidate.

By Oct. 26, he had raised just $15,559.

Steel ended up winning 10,664 votes -- the most of any candidate.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan, who was reelected after receiving the

second-highest number of votes, 10,276, was third in the money race with

$20,292, although she spent only $15,129.

But in comparison to Steel, she raised just $4,000 in the closing days

of the campaign.

“I think [the amount I raised] shows I had a lot of support in the

community from people who were willing to write me checks for my run for

City Council,” she said. “But while I raised that much money, which shows

support, I did not spend it all.”

Cowan spent less money than Planning Commissioner Tom Sutro, for

instance, who raised $20,611 and spent $18,128.

Sutro, however, didn’t have the luck of Cowan and Steel, coming in at

eighth place of the 11 candidates vying for the three council seats.

In the tight race for the last council seat, which Councilwoman Karen

Robinson won over former Councilwoman Heather Somers by just 32 votes, it

is still unclear whether money played a crucial role: Robinson has yet to

turn in her latest campaign financial statements, covering the last two

months last year, to the city clerk.

Robinson had raised $9,228 by Oct. 26. At that point, Somers had

brought in $4,425.

Somers went on to raise a total of $8,857. She spent $6,777.

Dan Worthington, a Costa Mesa Sanitary District board member who ended

up in sixth place, raised and spent $3,500. William Perkins, a retail

salesman at In-N-Out Burger Corp. who received 1,845 votes to come in at

last place, raised $1,390 and spent $1,022.

The other four candidates -- Joel Faris, Rick Rodgers, Ron Channels,

Michael Clifford -- who placed fifth, seventh, ninth and 10th,

respectively, were not required to file final financial statements

because they spent less than $1,000.

During their campaigns, all four said they were not accepting money.