Two Palm Springs City Council candidates have massive fundraising leads
The first two candidates to announce their plans to run in this fall's Palm Springs City Council election have also been by far the biggest fundraisers so far.
Campaign financing disclosures covering the first six months of the year, which candidates had to file last week, show District 2 candidate Jeffrey Bernstein and District 3 candidate Ron deHarte each with a commanding fundraising advantage over their competition.
Bernstein took in just short of $75,000 while deHarte took in about $52,000, according to the filings. Both their fundraising totals were far greater than the next highest grosser: Incumbent District 1 councilmember Grace Garner, who took in about $30,000.
Along with the most money, all three have gotten endorsements from high-profile political and business figures, including CEOs, downtown restaurant owners and some of the current council members.
Garner's competition in District 1, TV personality Scott Nevins, donated about $4,000 to his own campaign, which did not take in any other donations. Incumbent District 2 councilmember Dennis Woods, who has been publicly silent about his plans to run but recently picked up papers that suggest he's considering it, did not take in any donations.
Nor did another District 2 candidate, Renee Brown. However, forms she filed since then show she has taken in six donations in July, including $4,900 each from noted Palm Springs philanthropist Harold Matzner and Gene Autry's widow, Jackie Autry. That is the most a person can donate to one candidate. In total, Brown has taken in about $13,000 in July.
Kenneth Connors and Joy Brown Meredith, who had said they plan to run in Districts 2 and 3 respectively, did not launch campaigns until July. Three other residents who have also filed paperwork to run, but not yet picked up petition forms to gather voter signatures, also did not file forms. Candidates must file the forms only if they have raised at least $2,000.
Bernstein had received dozens of donations, including $4,900 from restaurateur Chad Gardner and $2,500 from Hilton Palm Springs General Manager Aftab Dada. Bernstein is the owner of the Destination PSP store in downtown Palm Springs, and several fellow business owners were among his contributors. They included Tac/quila owner Mark Ostoich, who gave $1,000, and Chillbar owner Wolfgag Giesecke, who contributed the $4,900 limit. Matzner also contributed $4,800.
deHarte had received donations from many of the same people, including Dada, Giesecke and Ostoich. Outgoing District 3 councilmember Geoff Kors' campaign contributed $2,500, while Kors' husband, political consultant James Williamson, gave $1,000. Kors announced earlier this year that he would not be seeking re-election and would instead be endorsing deHarte.
Other contributions to deHarte included $100 from Bernstein's campaign and $4,900 from Wintec Energy CEO Fred Noble, who owns land off of Interstate 10 that is the proposed site of a major warehouse.
Garner also received contributions from Matzner and Dada. A large share of her haul was also made up of donations of $100 to $200.
Bernstein and deHarte have also been the biggest spenders so far, with $13,000 and $11,000 in expenditures respectively. Garner spent about $370 during the period while Woods spent about $100 and Nevins and Brown did not spend anything, according to their filings.
Bernstein leads the candidates in terms of unspent cash with about $62,500. deHarte is next with about $46,000, followed by Garner with $30,000 and Woods with $7,000. While Woods raised nothing in the first six months of the year, his campaign had money left from earlier periods.
Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Top Palm Springs council fundraisers: Jeffrey Bernstein, Ron deHarte
