Features

In the race to succeed Don Perata in State Senate District 9, candidates Loni Hancock and Wilma Chan are virtually dead even in large campaign contributions in the last month and a half. 

But in the four-way race to succeed Hancock as State Assemblymember from District 14, Berkeley physician Phil Polakoff is pulling in three times the large contributions of rivals East Bay Parks District Director Nancy Skinner and Richmond City Councilmember Tony Thurmond, while Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington is reporting no large contributions in recent weeks. 

That is the result of a Daily Planet analysis of large contributions in the Senate 9 and Assembly 14 races posted on the California Secretary of State’s website since the last campaign reporting period ended March 17. The postings show contributions of $1,000 or more since that time, and the totals do not reflect the total amount of contributions made to each campaign. 

In the Senate District 9 race, Hancock pulled in $60,050 in large contributions in the last month and a half to $50,340 for former District 16 Assemblymember Chan. 

More than $22,000 of Hancock’s large contributions come from individual businesses or business political action committees (PACs), with another $16,400 coming from labor organizations and $12,100 coming from individual donations. Hancock’s largest single donations were $7,200 apiece from the California Real Estate PAC and from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Educational Committee of Washington, D.C. 

For Chan, $12,000 of her large contributions in the last month and a half came from individual donors, with another $10,840 coming from businesses or business-related PACs and $7,600 coming from medical-related PACs. Like Hancock, Chan’s largest contribution came from a labor organization: $6,700 from the Service Employees International Union United Health Care Workers West PAC of Sacramento. 

In the Assembly District 14 race, Polakoff brought in more than $34,000 in large contributions since mid-March, Skinner $11,428, and Thurmond $11,100. 

Of Polakoff’s contributions, $24,350 came from individuals, with another $6,000 coming from medically-based PACs. Polakoff’s largest contribution was a $3,350 donation from Thomas Williams, an executive with Integrated Health Associates. 

Skinner received $5,428 from labor organizations, the largest a $2,928 donation from AFSCME Local 2428 East Bay Parks(she’s on the regional parks board), and $5,000 in individual contributions, including $1,000 from Hancock, whom Skinner is trying to succeed. 

Thurmond received $4,600 from campaign committees of other candidates, $3,600 alone from the Re-Elect Fiona Ma committee of San Francisco, and another $2,500 from developer Stan Davis of Pittsburg. 

Both Thurmond in the Assembly 14 race and Hancock in the Senate 9 race received $1,500 contributions from the powerful OAKPAC political action committee of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. 

A listing of the top contributions for each candidate: 

Chan 

SEIU United Health Care Workers West PAC $6,700, California State Council of Laborers PAC $3,600, Californians Allied For Patient Protection PAC $3,600, Re-Elect Russo For City Attorney $3,600, The MICRA California Pac of Norcal Mutual Insurance $3,600, Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association PAC $3,600, AGI Capital Group $2,000, Kaiser Permanente physician Timothy Batchelder (Kentfield) $2,000, California State Council of Unite Here $2,000, Construction & General Laborers Local Union 304 PAC $2,000, retired investor Jonathan Frieman (San Rafael) $2,000, Mike Honda For Congress $2,000, Medjool Restaurant $1,640. 

Hancock 

California Real Estate PAC $7,200, Carol Liu For Senate $3,600, IBEW Educational Committee $7,200, retiree Tony Suh (Lafayette) $3,600, California State Association of Electrical Workers $3,000, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council $2,700, lighting designer Carolyn Herst Ross $2,500, Bayer Corporation $2,000, Kavah Massih Architects $2,000, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council $2,000, retiree Karen Perkins (Oakland) $2,000, homemaker Sharon Simpson (Lafayette) $2,000, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company $1,500, CA/NV Conference of Operating Engineers PAC $1,500, Holland & Knight LLP CA Committee For Effective Government $1,500, Johnson & Johnson Services (New Brunswick, NJ) $1,500, OAKPAC Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce $1,500, State Coalition of Probation Organizations PAC $1,500, Solario For Assembly 2008 $1,250. 

Polakoff 

Integrated Health Associates executive Thomas R. Williams $3,350, Bingham McCutchen attorney Steven Machinger (Tiburon) $3,000, Spacex executive Eldon Musk (Hawthorne) $3,000, Farallon Capital investment professional Thomas Steyer $(San Francisco) 3,000, California Medical Association $2,000, Californians Allied For Patient Protection PAC $2,000, The MICRA California Pac of Norcal Mutual Insurance $2,000, Wells Fargo Bank vice president Christopher Lirely (Occidental) $1,500, consultant Michael Samuel (San Francisco) $1,500. 

Skinner 

AFSCME Local 2428 East Bay Parks $2,928, Local 18 Water and Power Defense League (IBEW) $2,500. 

Thurmond 

Re-Elect Fiona Ma $3,600, developer Stan Davis (Pittsburg) $2,500, Laborers International Union of North America Local 324 $1,500, OAKPAC Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce $1,500.