Record Spending in Mayoral Race to Exceed $2 Million : Campaign: Susan Golding’s fund-raising is the most impressive ever seen in a local race. More than half of Peter Navarro’s campaign funds came from his own pockets.

Peter Navarro’s personal wealth and Susan Golding’s fund-raising prowess have turned their Nov. 3 race into the costliest San Diego mayoral election in history, campaign finance reports filed Thursday show.

In a campaign likely to have a final price tag exceeding $2 million, Navarro has increased the amount of personal money that he has pumped into his campaign to nearly $390,000, while Golding’s fund-raising operation--arguably the most impressive ever seen in a local election--raised about $40,000 per week in the period covered in the reports.

Including funds spent in the June primary, Golding had spent a total of $674,009, compared to $620,279 for Navarro, as of Oct. 17, the reports show. During the runoff phase of their race alone, Golding has spent $362,414 and Navarro $295,228.

Nearly $6 out of every $10 that Navarro has spent since June came from his own pocket, as he loaned his campaign $169,500 this month to go with the nearly $220,000 in personal money that helped finance his first-place primary finish.

Navarro, whose June primary loan came from a family inheritance, indicated earlier this month that he had obtained a $225,000 line of credit, secured by his Del Mar Heights home, to help finance the closing weeks of his campaign.

“I’m determined not to allow the developers to buy this election,” said Navarro, a UC Irvine business professor who has sharply criticized Golding for her heavy reliance on development-related contributions.

While Navarro charges that nearly two-thirds of Golding’s funds have come from development-related industries, Golding claims that the percentage is only about 25%. A newspaper analysis put the figure at 40%, which, if accurate, would mean that Golding has received more than a quarter of a million dollars in development-related donations.

Golding, meanwhile, argues that Navarro’s reliance on his personal funds demonstrates an “inability to attract support in San Diego, financial and otherwise.”

“Peter likes to say that developers are trying to buy the election, and I agree that someone is trying to buy the mayor’s office,” said Golding, a two-term county supervisor. “It’s Peter Navarro.”

The spending figures on the latest finance reports show that the overall cost of the mayoral contest has risen to nearly $1.9 million, eclipsing the previous record of $1.7 million set in the 1983 race in which Roger Hedgecock defeated Maureen O’Connor.

Beyond the nearly $1.3 million spent by Navarro and Golding, two losing candidates in the June mayoral primary--San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts and businessman Tom Carter--spent more than half a million dollars last spring. In the primary, Roberts raised $339,957 and Carter’s contributions totaled $242,891.

During the Oct. 1-17 period covered in Thursday’s reports, Golding raised $86,585 and spent $172,740, according to the reports. Navarro, meanwhile, reported contributions totaling $203,466--the $169,500 loan and $33,966 in donations from others--and spent $201,191.

As their campaign entered the final 2 1/2 weeks, Golding had a cash balance of $65,323 and outstanding bills totaling $46,526, while Navarro’s cash balance was $10,685.