Ely Collects Record Fund for Simi Race

Tom Ely, a candidate for mayor of Simi Valley, has amassed $32,347 in campaign funds--more money than anyone else who has ever run for office in the city, and three times the amount raised by his chief opponent.

With less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election, Ely, president of the Ventura County Community College District Board, has collected $22,366 in contributions and has another $9,981 in loans, according to campaign statements filed with the city clerk last week.

‘More Than I Need’

Ely, locked in an increasingly bitter contest with City Councilman Greg Stratton, acknowledged being in the enviable position of having “more money than I need.”

He said he had planned to raise and spend about $19,000 when he began his campaign.

Despite his seven years as a city councilman, Stratton’s statement showed only $9,269 in contributions.

Two other candidates are in the mayoral race. One of them, Wilburn Owens, a retired plant operations employee at California State University, Northridge, has raised $1,330, which includes a $700 campaign loan. The other candidate, Gene Baker, an engineering designer, filed a statement earlier this month declaring that he will spend less than $500 in the election.

Battle of Barbs

The contest has focused on Stratton and Ely, who have recently begun trading barbs at every opportunity.

Stratton, who expressed concern that Ely’s campaign funds may buy his opponent a blitz of media exposure in the final days of the campaign, nevertheless predicted that money will not be a deciding factor with the voters.

“I don’t think you can buy an election in Simi Valley,” he said. Stratton said he believes that most of Ely’s money has come from developers in a city where controlling growth is the dominant election issue.

Ties to Developers Disputed

Ely said that, by his own calculations, only a third of his funds can be traced to contributors with ties to development. He said he believed that developers’ contributions made up more of Stratton’s funds than his own.

Among the contributions listed on Ely’s statement were donations from several developers, including six donations totaling $2,500 from officials at Calmark Properties, a West Los Angeles development firm that has built homes in Simi Valley. Stratton received $250 from the same firm.

Most of the 39 contributors on Ely’s list are property and business owners in Simi Valley. The donations range from $50 from an administrator at Moorpark College, to $1,000 from a local artist. He also received loans from Vincent P. Nowell, the owner of a word-processing firm in Simi Valley, and Larry Yasman, a Simi restaurant owner.

‘An Incumbent’s Advantage’

Besides Calmark, Stratton listed other developers and corporations among his 13 major contributors, including $500 from Union Oil and $1,000 from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee. “One of the advantages of being an incumbent is they donate to you,” he said.

Mayor Elton Gallegly, who is stepping down to run for the 21st Congressional District seat, held the previous record in a mayoral election when he spent about $13,000 in 1984. The record for the most spent in a council election goes to Bill Baker, a candidate in 1982, who spent $19,454 on his election bid--and lost.

“There may be a few more people to reach now than in 1984, but I think $30,000 is an awful lot of money for a mayor’s election in this city,” said Gallegly, who has endorsed Stratton.