The candidates for office. Clockwise from top left: Abigail Strickland, Blase Bonpane, Kimberley White, Reese Halter, Dan Shahin, and Genevieve Serna.
PREVIOUSLY
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What did Arcata’s city council candidates spend their money on from September 20 to October 17? There’s only two days left in the month, which leaves only a smidgen of time for a classic October surprise — but if you’re looking for one here, you’re only in for a letdown. Arcata’s city council candidates didn’t disclose anything too interesting since the last time we wrote one of these in September. (Note the italics. Be civic-minded and continue reading, won’t you?)
Reese Halter, Blase Bonpane and Kimberley White
They all filed a Form 470 last month, meaning they don’t expect their campaigns to earn more than $2,000 — that includes money they’re lending themselves. Their situations seem to be the same a month later.
Dan Shahin
Yes, the man’s out of the race, but the powers that be still compelled him to file a 460. He touched very little of his campaign coffers, which he built himself when he loaned his campaign $7,000. He was the only person to give any money at all to his campaign. The only things he spent money on this last month were candidate filing fees ($463) and website analytics ($15). He has $2,250.12 left over, just in case he feels like turning the campaign machine back on.
Abbie Strickland
Strickland’s a little better off. One person donated enough money to her campaign that it warranted a disclosure — $250. She made another $175 from contributions less than $100. She spent almost $30 paying for a donation-processing company. Her only other expense was $8 for a Coast Central Credit Union monthly fee.
Genevieve Serna
Serna’s crushing it. She’s the only one candidate that big organizations have deemed worthy of spending on; last month, she was given money from the local chapter of the AFL-CIO, the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee, the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 5 union, and campaign funds for state politicians Damon Connolly and Chris Rogers. All of these sundry entities gave her $250.
What’s she spending it on? Her expenses were so small — only $13.87 — she didn’t even have to itemize them. She has another $1,955 to blow through should she so desire.