UPDATE, 4:44 p.m.:

After this post was published, Eureka City Hall received the latest campaign fundraising form from the “Yes on F” campaign, and it showed yet another six-figure donation tally from Security National, the real estate servicing firm founded by semi-local tycoon Robin P. Arkley, II.

This latest Form 460 reports three donations for the reporting period, which covered the dates of Sept. 22 through Oct. 21. One, which we already reported, was a donation of $363,517.11 made on Oct. 7. Since then, on Oct. 15, Security National dropped another $30,738.76. And back on Nov. 27 the company chipped in $90,333.

What does that bring the company’s total spending on Measure F to? Well, add the $314,415.27 from last year to the $1,303,777.51 it has donated this year, then subtract the $600 that came from other donors and you get $1,617,592.78. That’s how much Arkley’s company has spent trying to pass Measure F.

You want a graph of the “Yes on F” versus “No on F” fundraising? Okay, here:

(Tap each bar or hover over it with your cursor for dollar amounts.)

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Original post:

Holy smokes, folks: We’re just 11 days from Election Day 2024. While many of us may be painfully preoccupied with the (somehow) deadlocked race for president, let’s not take our eyes completely off of the local elections.

Here in the Humboldt County seat of Eureka, the final pre-election campaign finance reports were due yesterday, and the numbers in the city council race reveal a clear fundraising frontrunner: Ward 2 challenger Kenny Carswell has brought in more than double the amount of any of the other four candidates running for the two available seats.

The money race in Ward 4 is tighter, though that’s only because challenger Thavisak “Lucky” Syphanthong has loaned his own campaign nearly $3,000. (He has only raised $100.)

Below, we examine those numbers in a bit more detail and take a look at how that money is being spent.

Ward 2

Carswell

Carswell is a project manager for Security National, the real estate servicing firm that has dumped more than $1.6 million into the Measure F campaign (see below).

Through Oct. 19 (the cutoff date for the latest reporting period), Carwell’s campaign had raised $9,160.35, including a $1,253.35 loan from himself.

The campaign contribution limit in City of Eureka races is $500 per donor, and in this latest period Carswell obtained max donations from Eureka-based Wahlund Construction, ACGC Construction owner Will Adams, property managers Larry & Lisa DeBeni and Kramer Investment Corp.

Through Oct. 19 his campaign had spent $6,576.24 of that tally, leaving more than $2,500 still in the bank. The expenditures were largely for campaign literature and other materials, including more than $1,000 spent with Eureka-based Times Printing and $1,263.13 spent with Arcata’s Visual Concepts.

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Carswell.

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Moulton

Moulton, artistic director of the nonprofit Ink People Center for the Arts who runs a nonprofit creative reuse center in Old Town, brought in $2,473 through Oct. 19, most of it coming via donations of $100 or less. 

During this latest reporting period, she landed max, $500 donations from Operating Engineers 3 District #40 PAC, AFSCME (presumably the Local #1684 PAC) and Eureka property manager David Bruce Mulhern. She also got a $100 donation from the Chris Rogers for Assembly 2024 campaign.

Moulton’s campaign had nearly tapped out its bank account, spending all but $82 through the reporting deadline. Expenditures included $1,000 on radio ads, nearly $500 for a DJ and snacks at a candidate block party and $234 on yard signs.

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Moulton.

Ward 4

Syphanthong

As noted above, Syphanthong, owner of Lucky Star Realty, loaned his campaign all but $100 of its $3,082.35 total thus far. That $100 came back in September from Chuck Ellsworth, the retired former owner of AllPoints Signs.

Syphanthong loaned his campaign $1,672.68 during the previous campaign reporting period and dropped in $1,309.67 this time around. 

The campaign spent all but $547.15 of his mostly self-loaned war chest, with about $440 going toward a campaign kickoff event and $1,139.09 spent at Staples for yard signs.

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Syphanthong.

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Bauer

Bauer, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, raised $4,213 through the latest deadline.

That includes max, $500 donations from five labor unions:

• Central Labor Council of Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties AFL-CIO,
• Operating Engineers 3 District #40 PAC,
• United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5,
• AFSCME Local #1684 PAC and
• Building and Construction Trades Council of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

Somewhat strangely, Bauer’s campaign had spent only $415.92 through Oct. 19, leaving almost all of that fundraising amount — $3,847.08 — yet to be spent. 

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Bauer.

Measure F

Why didn’t we make a graph for the Measure F pro/con fundraising? Well, because the “Yes on F” campaign had yet to file its latest Form 460 by the time this post was published.

Does that mean the campaign blew the deadline? Not necessarily. If the paperwork was sent in the mail and postmarked by yesterday’s date, it will still be considered “on time.” Eureka City Clerk/Assistant City Manager Pam Powell said that’s exactly how the “Yes on F” folks did it in the last reporting period. If we hear back from anyone at the city before the end of business hours Friday, we’ll update this post.

In the meantime, we can report that on Oct. 15, Measure F sponsor Security National Master Holding Company tossed another $30,738.76 into the campaign, bringing its total up to a whopping $1,618,192.78, with all but $600 of that coming directly from Security National.

Obviously, there are no campaign contribution limits on ballot measures, and as previously reported, Security National’s spending has made this the most expensive ballot measure in Eureka history.

If we did make a “Measure F” graph, that sucker would be laughably lopsided. The latest campaign finance report from the “No on F” campaign brings its total raised to $22,140.38, or 1.37 percent of the “Yes on F” campaign.

The top donations this reporting period include $1,000 from SEIU Local 2015 Issues PAC and $500 from Eureka retiree George Ellinwood.

The “No on F” campaign also received a non-monetary campaign donation from self-employed artist Jennifer Catsos valued at $250 during this latest period. She has donated $900 worth of services to the campaign this year.

This campaign still had $7,360.63 in the bank as of Oct. 19, though it also reported having $4,350.01 in outstanding debts. Most of the money the campaign has spent ($4,350.01) went to Times Printing for campaign literature.

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[CORRECTION: This post has been corrected from an earlier version to reflect that Syphanthong is running against Bauer in Ward 4.]