Motts shows strong lead in fundraising, spending in Antioch School Board race
She, Terry, Navarro are only candidates to raise or spend more than $2,000
By Allen Payton
Only two of the seven candidates in the Antioch School Board race filed financial campaign reports on time, for the latest period that ended Saturday, September 24th and were due on the 29th. Former school board member Joy Motts turned in her report to the County Elections Office on Monday, which shows she has raised and spent the most.
When asked about her report, Motts explained in an email on Tuesday, “460 was filed yesterday. I had a fundraiser last Monday so did not get all info to my Treasurer (Don Freitas) until Tuesday. He completed 460 late Friday and I drove it to Martinez yesterday.”
Her reports, including one from the semi-annual reporting period ending June 30th, show Motts started the year with $1,522.30 cash on hand and has raised a total of $6,593 this year. That gave her a total of $8,115.30 to spend on her campaign. To date Motts has spent $6,914.57 this year. Attempts to obtain her 2015 reports were unsuccessful as of publication time. Once that occurs we will know if there were any additional expenditures, last year.
Her largest contributions were $2,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 302, $1,000 from the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association Local No. 104, $503 from the Antioch Education Association, which is the local teachers’ union, $500 each from Delta Schools Political Action Committee, former Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan and Republic Services, the garbage company for Antioch.
Besides her filing fee, Motts’ largest expenditures were $2,500 for her Walnut Creek-based campaign consultant Cliff Glickman, $500 for a Latino voters’ slate mailer to a southern California company, $436 on signs to Belleci Design in Pittsburg and $321 for a fundraiser at Southern Café in Antioch.
She had an ending cash balance of $1,200.73 for the latest reporting period.
Terry
Appointed incumbent Alonzo Terry raised $3,286 and spent $3,046.07 during the period and for his campaign. His largest contributions were $500 from himself and $250 each from Odessa Lefrancois and Trinity Tomsic. Besides his filing fee Terry had to reportable expenditures were $2,061.07 to Francisco Rojas in Sacramento for signs and $345 to The Print Club in Antioch.
Navarro
The other appointed incumbent, Fernando Navarro raised $2,450 and spent $1,803 for his campaign. His largest contributions were $1,000 each from himself and Grow Elect, a Sacramento-based political action committee. Besides his filing fee Navarro’s largest expenditures were $700 for ads in the Herald and $400.58 for road signs from Fast Signs in Antioch. His forms show he filed the 497 form for contributions of $1,000 or more received after August 10th, before he received them. He actually spent the $1,000 out of his own pocket on August 11th, the day he filed his papers to become a candidate. Navarro said he would file amended forms showing that as a non-monetary contribution to his campaign and on the actual date it occurred.
Other Candidates
None of the other candidates, Mike Burkholder, Diane Gibson-Gray, Gary Hack, nor Crystal Sawyer-White, filed financial reports, because none of them has yet reached the $2,000 threshold in either campaign contributions or expenditures. Each of the five candidates were asked via email if that was because they haven’t yet raised or spent $2,000 in their campaign or if it is late, and if they plan on spending more than that amount in their campaign.
Sawyer-White responded with, “I filed a 410 on September 21, 2016. I have a small campaign team. I have been financing my campaign primarily on my own. I have only received $225.00 in donations thus far. I do not plan to go over $2,000. I plan to have a fundraiser event soon.”
Hack responded to the questions, with “I filed a Form 470 prior to the deadline – no committee and below $2,000.”
Burkholder’s treasurer Martha Parsons responded, stating he “did not file because he had not raised $2,000, yet. But, we have it now. We will be filing the next cycle.”
Gibson-Gray did not respond to the emailed questions.
See the financial reports for Motts, Terry and Navarro, below. To see all the documents and forms submitted by candidates in the school board race, click here.
The next filing period ends on October 22 and the second pre-election campaign finance reports are due on the 27th.
The election is Tuesday, November 8th.
the attachments to this post:
motts-460-092416
motts-460-092416
motts-460-0101-063016
motts-460-0101-063016
terry-460-092416
terry-460-092416
navarro-460-092416
navarro-460-092416
navarro-497-082016
navarro-497-082016
Since when do we turn our 460’s in to Martinez? Is that new this election or is the candidate mistaken? This is a very disappointing group of candidates and they have, for the most part, taken care of these reports before.
Julio,
They handle school board races.
City Clerk only handles city elections.
Allen Payton, Publisher
Thanks. One gets an education every day.
What is needed and wanted in the Antioch Unified School District is change and not more of the same. Navarro and Terry seem to represent change. Voting for a former school board member would be a vote for more of the same. This election should not be about who can raise the most money or who knows whom in the community. Just a suggestion—place new people on the school board if you do not want more of the same. Go figure!