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Supervisor Race Campaign Donations
(June 11, 2009) Races for County Supervisor for Mendocino County are becoming increasingly expensive. While the contributions and expenditures may seem trivial compared to a State Assembly or House of Representatives race, they are becoming more of a factor in who gets elected.
Here are the numbers for the 5th District Supervisor race. The vote tally and percentages are preliminary, as of June 9; final results have not been released. You can get updates at the Mendocino County Elections page. In every case the loans are from candidates themselves. It is common practice for candidates to start a campaign with a loan and hope to backfill with donations. Money data is from FPPC forms 460 filed for the period through May 22, except De Vall's is through June 3.
| Candidate | Votes | % of total | Expenditures | Donations | Loans |
| Dan Hamburg | 1029 |
34.1 |
$9,161.85 |
$10,151.25 |
$9,161.85 |
| Wendy Roberts | 908 |
30.1 |
$18,843.55 |
$14,776.00 |
5,000.00 |
| Jim Mastin | 644 |
21.3 |
14,987.00 |
15,540.00 |
0.00 |
| Normal de Vall | 430 |
14.2 |
4,550.00 |
1,652.00 |
3,148.00 |
For the 3rd District Supervisor race, where we don't yet know if Mardrigal and Pinches will be in a runoff.
| Candidate | Votes | % of total | Expenditures | Donations | Loans |
| John Pinches | 1517 |
49.9 |
$1,412.62 |
$3,059.00 |
$0.00 |
| Holly Madrigal | 1170 |
38.5 |
$9,304.00 |
$10,730.00 |
$0.00 |
| Tony Orth | 344 |
11.3 |
$4,322.00 |
$2,840.00 |
$2,068.00 |
It is expensive to reach rural voters. Few people read the Ukiah daily, not that many people go to the web pages of the candidates, and even radio coverage is fragmented by the hilly domain. Most of the money spent seems to have been for printing "mailers," which usually have minimal information about the candidates. The main notable difference between the 5th and 3rd districts is that 5th district incumbent David Colfax retired. It is remarkable that John Pinches raised and spent so little money in the race to keep his seat.
