Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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Cooley, Kelly Lead A.G. Candidates in 2010 Fundraising
By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer
Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley and former Facebook executive Chris Kelly outraised their primary opponents for California attorney general during the first reporting period of the year, records show.
Cooley, a Republican, reported raising nearly $400,000 between Jan. 1 and March 17 and having nearly $300,000 of it still in the bank. Another GOP contender who entered the race late, conservative legal scholar John C. Eastman, reported raising nearly $200,000 and having about $150,000 on hand.
Sen. Tom Harman, R-Costa Mesa, who began exploring the race in 2008 and had the field to himself until Cooley and Eastman jumped in, raised a relatively small $111,000 in the first 76 days of the year. He spent nearly $170,000, leaving him with less than $240,000 on hand.
On the Democratic side, Kelly, who put $2 million of his own money in the race last year, pumped in another $2 million and raised over $100,000 from other sources. He spent more than $750,000, but still had nearly $3.5 million on hand.
His nearest competitor in the fundraising department, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, raised over $400,000 and spent nearly $300,000, leaving her with nearly $1.4 million on hand.
Three other Democrats—former Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, Assembly Majority Leader Albert Torrico, D-Newark, and Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, also had more than $1 million in the bank.
Delgadillo has raised more than $120,000 and spent more than $180,000 this year, leaving him with more than $1.1 million on hand, while Lieu raised more than $400,000 and spent nearly $170,000, leaving him with nearly as much as Delgadillo. Torrico said he had raised more than $140,000 and spent more than $380,000, leaving him just behind Lieu in cash on hand with slightly over $1 million.
Trailing badly in the financial department was Nava, who also trailed last year. He reported raising only $36,000 in the current year, while spending more than $350,000, draining his account down to $43,000.
Cooley’s report showed that his financing came largely from the legal and business communities in Los Angeles County. Among those who donated the maximum of $6,500 were attorney and former state GOP Chair Shawn Steel, Bell Gardens City Manager—and former chief of investigations for the District Attorney’s Office—Steve Simonian, attorney Gavin H. Wasserman, Beverly Hills attorney—and son of the chief justice of California—Eric George, developer and former Los Angeles Police Commission President Rick Caruso, attorney Stephen Delguercio, and JAMS mediator Charles Bakaly.
Eastman’s financing came largely from Orange County and from out-of-state sources, including a $6,500 donation from The Judicial Confirmation Network, a Virginia-based organization that backed judicial nominees of President Bush and opposed President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
He also received a $6,500 donation from another Virginia-based group, the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company