Menlo Park: Two council candidates run close on donations Menlo Park: Two council candidates run close on donations (October 13, 2004)

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

The race for the Menlo Park City Council is neck and neck -- wallet-wise, that is.

Campaign finance forms submitted last week show that Lorie Sinnott raised $13,694 in monetary donations between July 1 and September 30, and that Ms. Fergusson brought in $13,053 during that time.

Add those figures to the money the two raised during the first half of the year, and that brings the monetary fund-raising totals to $16,644 for Ms. Sinnott and $16,463 for Ms. Fergusson.

The forms for July 1 through September 30 also show that Michael Lambert has raised $5,350 and Andrew Cohen has brought in $3,250.

The two men had not set up their candidacy committees by July 1 and therefore did not file earlier forms.

Interestingly, on the current forms Mr. Cohen also lists $12,000 worth of non-monetary contributions, stating that his neighbor Eric Hughes, who runs a Palo Alto copy shop, donated the copying work for Mr. Cohen's color campaign brochures.

"He says the fair market value is a dollar a side; he made about 6,000 of them," Mr. Cohen said.

Ms. Sinnott and Ms. Fergusson listed no non-monetary contributions or loans received.

Mr. Lambert reported loaning himself $5,000 in addition to the donations he got. His campaign also reportedly received $300.41 in non-monetary contributions from his campaign manager, Mary Gilles. Those paid for food and other campaign event expenses, he said.

Mr. Cohen has asked the other council candidates to agree to a campaign spending limit of $30,000. All have.

The four are competing for two four-year terms on the council.

Big supporters

During campaigns, various political action committees interview the candidates to choose which ones to throw their weight behind. That process netted relatively sizable contributions for Ms. Fergusson and Mr. Lambert.

Ms. Fergusson won union support, receiving $500 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers #617 in San Mateo and $1,000 from Plumbers and Steamfitters #467 in Burlingame.

Mr. Lambert got the nod from the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, who gave him $950; and from the Tri-County Apartment Association in Cupertino, who gave $500.

Other contributions came from Ron Mallia, owner of the Willow Road Gas service station, who is demolishing and rebuilding the station and convenience store, as well as replacing the underground fuel storage tanks. His project has been approved by the Planning Commission and is under construction.

Mr. Mallia gave $1,000 to Ms. Fergusson and $500 to Ms. Sinnott. The two, both planning commissioners, voted in favor of the use permit for Mr. Mallia's project last November along with the rest of the commission (Patti Fry was absent). The commission then approved some changes to the project in February.

Under state law, a public official may not accept a contribution from someone with a financial interest in a permit proceeding's income while that proceeding is going on or for three months after the outcome, City Attorney Bill McClure said.

Menlo Park council members Chuck Kinney and Paul Collacchi, who are not running again, each gave $250 to Ms. Fergusson's campaign.

Campaign finance forms are public information and are filed with the City Clerk's office. For more information, call 330-6620.

Contributors

These are the other donations of $200 or more listed on the four candidates' campaign finance forms filed last week. Following are names, cities of residence, occupations and amount contributed:

** Andrew Cohen: Jim Bramlett, Menlo Park, engineer, $500; Morris Brown, Menlo Park, of the Menlo Park Tomorrow political organization, $300; David Speer, Menlo Park, real estate projects manager, $250; Heyward Robinson, Menlo Park, engineer, $250; Susan Montana, Sonoma, self-employed, $200.

** Kelly Fergusson: Robert English, Menlo Park, technical staff, $500; Melissa Henck, Sunnyvale, facilities engineer, $300; David Speer, Menlo Park, real estate projects manager, $250; Yousef Mardini, Menlo Park, business owner, $250; James Madison, Menlo Park, lawyer, $250; Jordan Gruber, Menlo Park, writer, $250; Gerald Cacciotti, Menlo Park, management consultant, $250; Elias Blawie, Menlo Park, attorney, $250; Irene Searles, Menlo Park, finance, $200; Calvin Jones, Menlo Park, retired former councilman, $200; Nancy Couperus, Los Altos Hills, retired, $200; Charles Brandon, Menlo Park, disabled, $200.

** Michael Lambert: Joe Critchfield, Menlo Park, owner of Critchfield Mechanical Inc., $500; Dan Wilcox, Menlo Park, psychologist, $500; Al and Sarah Filice, Menlo Park, president and CEO/CFO of Vella Corp., $500; Richard Li, Menlo Park, self-employed, $300; Mark Flegel, Atherton, owner of Flegels Home Furnishings, $300; Reginald Rice, Menlo Park, retired, $200; Donald Pollock, Menlo Park, retired, $200.

** Lorie Sinnott: Carol J. Mince, Menlo Park, interior designer, $500; Al Filice, Menlo Park, president and CEO of Filice Lansford Development Inc., $500; Shirley Jorgenson, Portola Valley, retired, $500; Robert W. Harrell, Menlo Park, financial planner, $500; Bruce Felt, Menlo Park, CFO at Integral Development Co., $350; William Patterson, Atherton, general contractor, $300; John Bettencourt, Menlo Park, retired, $300; Anthony M. Draeger, Menlo Park, vice president of Draeger's Supermarkets Inc., $300; John Conway, Menlo Park, owner of the Menlo Chevron service station, $300; John Nelson, Menlo Park, investment manager, $250; Robert Jorgenson, Menlo Park, construction superintendent, $250; Martin McLoughlin, Menlo Park, retired, $250; Robert Anderson, Menlo Park, retired, $250; Michele Musy, Menlo Park, real estate agent, $250; Elizabeth J. Hagman, Menlo Park, homemaker, $250; Randall W. Merk, Menlo Park, investment manager, $250; Arthur Flegel, Menlo Park, retired, $250; Virginia Bell, Menlo Park, homemaker, $250; Donald Lowry, Menlo Park, retired, $250; Jeffrey Child, Menlo Park, financial advisor, $250; Howard E. Dallmar, Menlo Park, real estate sales, $250; Donald Pollock, Menlo Park, retired, $200; Diane W. Savage, Menlo Park, homemaker, $200; Margaret Frick, Atherton, computer programmer, $200.

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