The official filing period for Santa Barbara County supervisor candidates doesn't begin until Monday, but the announced competitors in the sprawling 3rd District have been battling for campaign bucks for months.

Newly filed finance statements list total contributions between $23,464 and $95,339 received through Dec. 31 by four people vying for that highly coveted seat. It is currently held by Supervisor Brooks Firestone, who's not running for re-election.

The top money gatherer in that race so far is Doreen Farr of Solvang, a former Santa Barbara County planning commissioner who began her campaign for supervisor in earnest last summer.

Between July and December, she received $75,783 in cash contributions, swelling her 2007 total to $93,408, plus $1,931 in non-monetary contributions. She had spent $40,179 on campaign expenses, leaving her with $54,936 in the bank, according to her campaign finance statement through Dec. 31.

That's almost the same amount of campaign cash reported on hand by the man who is arguably her chief rival, David Smyser, another former county planning commissioner and ex-mayor of Solvang.

Smyser didn't publicly announce his candidacy until a month ago, but had already raised $54,894 in cash contributions and spent $1,945, leaving him with $53,677 in the bank at year's end, his finance statement shows.

Two others running for that seat in the June 3 election - Dr. David Bearman of Goleta and businessman Steve Pappas of Los Olivos - had raised $23,464 and $21,000, respectively.

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Fourth District Supervisor Joni Gray and 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal are also up for re-election in June, but no one has yet disclosed plans to run against either of them.

Nonetheless, Carbajal has already received $395,683 in campaign contributions, primarily through a fundraiser held at a Montecito home in early December. In comparison, Gray had raised $21,025 as of Dec. 31, according to her finance statement.

Carbajal said Thursday he's getting a big campaign war chest ready in case someone decides to run against him, which he considers likely.

“This seat has never gone uncontested” in recent decades, he noted. “When you consider that, it's very likely someone will come forward (as a challenger). I have to be ready to maintain a vigorous, grassroots campaign.”

The supervisor said he's “very humbled and honored that I have received broad support from 1st District constituents, both through endorsements and financially.”

In the 3rd District battle for bucks, Smyser's biggest benefactor has been Firestone, who donated $10,000 to his campaign in mid-December. Smyser was appointed to the Planning Commission by Firestone in 2006, after working as the supervisor's executive assistant.

Among his other big contributors are four firms listing San Francisco addresses, each of which donated $5,000: Western Mart Co., Stevenson Street Associates, G&G Marco and hotel company Cathedral Hill Associates.

Smyser said he doesn't know anyone connected with any of those firms, or what kind of companies they are.

“I don't know who those folks are,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I'm not familiar with those companies.”

Smyser added: “Candidates don't pick their contributors. It's the other way around.”

He also got a big boost from two New Yorkers associated with the Bacara Resort and Spa in Goleta, Alvin Dworman and B.J. Hoppe, who contributed $5,000 apiece.

Farr's biggest contributor in 2007 was Richard Whited of the Santa Barbara investment firm Quicksilver Trading Inc. He donated $16,600 to her campaign, most of it since October.

She received $2,500 cash, and $1,362 worth of donated food and drinks for a campaign event, from Santa Barbara attorney Allan Ghitterman. She also got $2,500 apiece from Sara Miller McCune of Montecito, owner-publisher of Sage Publications, and from retirees Lillian Lovelace and Jon B. Lovelace, both of Santa Barbara.

Pappas' campaign received $10,000 in November from financial analyst Teresa Harmon of Santa Ynez. He also got $5,000 from Jon Bowen of Santa Ynez, one of the most vocal critics of the Chumash Casino, and $5,000 from Bowen's company, Noosa Corp.

To date, the biggest contribution to Bearman's campaign is $3,600 from Peter B. Lewis of Ohio, who owns Progressive Insurance.

“He's a big supporter of drug policy reform,” Bearman explained Thursday. “I believe we need dramatic drug policy change, and that (drug use) should be treated medically, not criminally.”

Chuck Schultz can be reached at 925-2691, Ext. 2241, or at cschultz@santamariatimes.com.

February 10, 2008