POLITICS ASIDE:PACking in campaign contributions

Among my many illnesses is this: I love campaign finance reports.

I’ve written in the past about the reports, whether at the level of school board or Congress.

There are plenty of ways to read the import of these reports. The amount of money raised is the obvious one. (As Newport Beach council candidate Barbara Venezia says in a commentary on today’s Forum page, the amount of money does not necessarily indicate voter support, however. Which candidate has more support? One who has raised $20,000 all from $100 donations or one who has raised $40,000 in donations from $249 to $5,000, including from PACs and other special interest groups?) How candidates spend their money is one that’s more complex and can show opponents where the focus is: mailers, TV or radio, or even just holding out for a last-minute push.

Another straight-forward item, but slightly more useful than simply looking at how much has been raised, is checking candidates’ “ending cash balance.”

That number demonstrates better than just about any what the candidate can do from this point on. If candidates have money to spend, they can get mailers out, get on slates (if they choose), advertise in their favorite local paper and otherwise get their name recognition high. If they don’t have money, well … they can do an awful lot of walking?

For the five people running for the two seats in this fall’s Costa Mesa City Council election, the “ending cash balance” item is eye-popping.

By this measure, Mayor Allan Mansoor and planning commissioner Bruce Garlich are in the driver’s seat.

At the end of June, Mansoor reported having $29,500 cash to spend. Garlich was not too far behind with $24,300.

But from there the numbers drop dramatically.

Former parks commissioner Mirna Burciaga was the strongest financially with $4,100 in cash.

The other two, former councilman Mike Scheafer and parks commission (and former school board member) Wendy Leece, had next to nothing: $48.89 for Scheafer and, literally, nothing for Leece.

Wow.

Now, these reports are a month old, and since then much can have happened (and has, given the rise of the Return to Reason group that is backing Garlich and Scheafer), but Burciaga, Leece and Scheafer are in a huge hole compared to Mansoor and Garlich, who -- just by the money alone -- have to be considered the front-runners. (They also have to be considered the front-runners because Mansoor is the incumbent and Garlich narrowly lost two years ago.)

We’ll see what the next reports show.

Get your politician in the parkHere’s a perfect reminder of the power of incumbency:

At this past week’s Shakespeare by the Sea performance at Grant Howald Park, Corona del Mar’s councilman, Dick Nichols, got his named mentioned for helping to support bringing the performance (this was Saturday night and “Hamlet”) to town.

If there were people in the audience who don’t read the paper or follow the news, that might be a key to their vote this fall.

Nichols’ opponent, Nancy Gardner, didn’t get a mention.