Menlo election: Two say they have the will, but not the money to run Menlo election: Two say they have the will, but not the money to run (August 14, 2002)

By Pam Smith

Almanac Staff Writer

Stanford graduate student John Haller Jr. said last week that he's decided not to run for Menlo Park's City Council this fall because he can't imagine being able to raise enough money in time.

Just three days before, Belle Haven resident Glenn Lemet told the Almanac in a statement that he had decided not to run because his campaign-committee-to-be "realized that we do not have the necessary finances to effectively run the campaign at this time."

"Getting elected is very much of a money game today ... and it keeps people out" of the race, said Dee Tolles, a former councilman who said he can't remember exactly how much he raised in his two bids for City Council, but he knows it was a heck of a lot of money.

"Running is awful. Serving is easy," he said, later describing the position as "a very thankless job" that can easily consume 20 to 30 hours a week. (For the record, he "really loved it.")
'Intimidating'

"I think it'd be intimidating to [raise] anything above $2,500" by November, said Mr. Haller. He didn't calculate exactly how much a campaign would cost him, but he was expecting something in the tens of thousands, maybe as high as $50,000, he said.

His guesses weren't that far off, based on the last council election. Campaigns for the five candidates who ran in 2000 cost from less than $1,000 to more than $63,000, according to campaign finance forms.

Christina Angell-Atchison and a local political group that endorsed her spent more than $63,000 on her campaign. Incumbents Paul Collacchi and Chuck Kinney spent about $27,000 and $16,700, respectively. Steven Eichler and Greg Spalasso ran word-of-mouth campaigns and raised less than $1,000, according to City Clerk Susan Ramos.

"I think that you probably need about $30,000," maybe a bit less if you run with others on a slate, said Housing Commissioner Mickie Winkler, who worked on Ms. Angell-Atchison's campaign in 2000.

Ms. Winkler, who last week was still considering running for the council this year, said she'd need to have "a pretty good idea" that she'd be a "tenable" candidate before she'd sign up for the race.

Being tenable means either being independently wealthy, or having connections to enough people who are willing to finance your campaign or put their time and effort behind it, she said.

"If you're not well-known, you can't raise money," said Mr. Tolles. "If you don't have the contacts and know where to go for the money, it's just impossible, unless you're going to pay for it out of your own pocket."

Not everyone agrees that big bucks are needed to be a viable candidate, though.

Steven Eichler, who came in fourth in 2000 with 11.6 percent of the vote, said in hindsight that there are some things he'd change about his campaign -- more time going door to door and initiating neighborhood meetings, perhaps -- but that bigger fundraising isn't one of them.

"I think that getting involved in public service at that level should not become a financial commitment of that nature," said the mortgage banker, who moved to Michigan about a year ago. "To me, it's just an expression of not being frugal and mindful" to spend so much money, he said.

Michael Meyer, a Linfield Oaks resident who plans to run for the council this year, said he's not going to take contributions, but is going to rely on word of mouth, knocking on doors, and his Web site to spread his campaign message.

E-mail Pam Smith at psmith@AlmanacNews.com.