

As we roll into the Memorial Day weekend, we took a look at the campaign cash race in the 69th Assembly District contest. The reports provide detailed insight into who supports who, and how much money is being tossed in the direction of the candidates. The major players in this contest are OC County Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly, Santa Ana Council member Michele Martinez, and Labor activist Julio Perez.
The Pre-election reports show Julio Perez in the lead with cash on hand at $70,835, Michele Martinez follows Perez with $34,187 on hand. Tom Daly has the least of the top three on hand at $12,224. Cash on hand shows the strength of each individual campaign to control and deliver their message to voters in the final two weeks before election day.
But cash on hand is only part of the story.

The big story is the amount of independent expenditure dollars pouring into the race for the 69th AD. Most of this money is benefiting Tom Daly. By our count, nearly $625,000 has been spent to support Daly by independent expenditure PACs funded by big business interests. This is more than three times the roughly $200,000 in independent expenditures from pro-labor committees in support of Julio Perez.

Councilwoman Michele Martinez has benefited from just under $5,400 spent to date by an IE committee set up by a Santa Ana developer. There is still roughly $10,000 in that committee account available to spend on her behalf. We note that Ms. Martinez has yet to post any expenditures related to her documented fundraising excursions to Sacramento and other locations throughout the state. we know she traveled to generate support and raise money for her candidacy, she just refuses to show the expenditures. Candidates Daly and Perez have meticulously documented all of their fundraising expenditures.
There are no reports of note for Republican Jose “Joe” Moreno and Santa Ana activist Francisco Barragan.
Please feel free to review the reports yourself, and let us know what you find. Click on this link and scroll down to the 69th Assembly Race and follow the links to the candidate reports.
Dan, when you talk about BIG BUSINESS interests supporting Daly you should note it is tobacco, Chevron, Chamber of Commerce and insurance money. These groups are not friends to the people of the 69th District. Why oh why do they love Tom so much? I wonder when the few Dems that support him will wake up and jump ship.
Jose Moreno is more of a Democrat than Tom Daly ever was. Why would anyone vote for someone who is paid for by JOBSPAC, which advocates for child labor, the elimination of the the 8 hour work week, protect polluters and cut taxes on the rich. Tom Daly has no Democratic values. That’s why they love him.
Just reporting the facts. I believe Martinez got Chevron and Insurance money too, plus a lot from gambling interests in Indian Tribes but no IEs from Pala…..
Dan,
I think that the IEs supporting Daly are by now well over $625,000. Count again. And I think one might want to add in the $40,000 or so of IEs against Perez that have come from direct contributors to the Daly campaign.
Since I fact checked the figures used in the story I’ll weigh in here.
The figure of nearly $625,000 was as of 5/22/2012. An additional $64,540 has come in since then.
Sorry there was any confusion. Any way you look at it, it’s a boat load of cash being spent on Daly’s behalf.
I think people are waking up and jumping ship by not voting for Michele and Julio. Neither one of them should be in politics. Make Michele find a real job.
Tom Daly has gorged at the public trough his entire life, with Big Business and the Chamber repeatedly footing the bill for his elections. The idea of him “cleaning up Sacramento” is a sick farce. If you want to elect a representative for Chevron, Big Tobacco, The Insurance Industry and the Chamber, and could care less about having someone in office that even relates to or understands the people of the district, vote for Tom Daly.
The assembly is the common people part and the senate is the wealthy peoples (special interests) part. (kind of)
There should be a prerequisite that bans all non-common people money from local and assembly races.
cook – That’s a joke, right …… ?
Cook,
This is wishful thinking!
10% of our society is well represented by narrow special interests.
Neither the Assembly nor the Senate represent the interests of 90% of working families and small and medium sized businesses. And this is specially bad when you consider that 90% of jobs are created by small and medium sized businesses.
Francisco “Paco” Barragan
http://www.franciscoforassembly.com
Well something needs fixing to insure citizen involvement in the process.
The current 22% average voter turnout only lowers the purchase price paid by the special interests
So true!
In June 2010’s primary only about 12% total registered voters voted in the 69th AD.
Francisco “Paco”
Help! I am covered under an avalanche of Daly mailers.
And everything there in those nice glossy mailers, it’s all true . . . right?
Expect more of the same, when over $1.2 million is being spent by the other special and narrow interests moneyed candidates in the 69th AD.
Julio spent $20,000 on a poll that was supposed to show the vast amount of money and man hours his campaign has spent is making an impact. A little bird told me that it shows he’s still between 5 – 10%. Sounds like that was a great use of resources.