Candidate nets $12,000

Jim Moreno, a two-time Huntington Beach City Council candidate, is leading the pack — overwhelmingly — in campaign funds this fall for the Coast Community College District board of trustees.

By Thursday, the second deadline to file finance statements with the county Registrar of Voters, Moreno had declared $12,081. The candidate with the second-most funds, incumbent Mary Hornbuckle, had $600.

Moreno, 61, benefited from campaign contributions from congressional candidate Steve Young, former Orange Coast College President Gene Farrell and current trustee Jerry Patterson, as well as a number of businesses. He is running for the spot to be vacated this fall by trustee George Brown, who has served on the board since 1998.

“I think that reflects the work we’re putting into this and the seriousness with which I take this position,” Moreno said about his campaign support. “The supporters that I have really see me as a candidate.”

Moreno, who has netted endorsements from Huntington Beach Mayor Dave Sullivan, Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley and many others, has an extensive background in public service. A former budget advisor for the supervisor of Los Angeles, he also sat on advisory boards for the city of Huntington Beach and the California Highway Patrol.

By Oct. 21, he had spent barely one-third of his campaign funds but said he planned to do a final push in the next two weeks.

“We’re going to be getting out the vote,” he said. “We’re going to be walking. There are some fliers that are going to be done. Basically, that’s what we have to do, the final touches.”

Moreno is running against three contenders — law librarian Lu Tuan Nguyen and educators Tom Hermstad and Carl Hendon — and is the only candidate in the group to declare a fundraising total. Nguyen and Hermstad both issued forms to the registrar saying they would raise less than $1,000, while Hendon’s filing declared that he had received no monetary contributions.

The other race for the college district board, which governs three community colleges including Orange Coast College, pits Hornbuckle against challengers David Boyd and Reuben Ross, both of whom also declared less than $1,000. Hornbuckle’s small sum includes donations by fellow trustees Patterson and Armando Ruiz.