HUNTINGTON BEACH : Silva Is Top Spender in November Race

Councilman Jim Silva spent $86,237 in the November election, outspending the 13 other candidates in the race for three council seats, according to final campaign finance reports.

Silva won reelection Nov. 3, but the second- and third-highest spending candidates lost. They were former Planning Commissioner Susie Newman, who spent $79,583, and former Councilman Don MacAllister, who spent $68,098.

The final campaign-finance reports tally the cumulative spending of the 14 candidates who ran for the council in the Nov. 3 election.

The seats were won by Silva, Victor Leipzig and David Sullivan, who finished in that order. Newman came in a close fourth in the election. MacAllister, who lost his bid for reelection to another four-year term, finished sixth.

Leipzig and Sullivan had low-financed, low-expenditure campaigns, finance reports showed. Leipzig spent $14,755 and Sullivan spent $8,189.

Both were backed by a coalition of environmental and neighborhood-association groups. Their victory over the better-financed candidates was widely regarded as a political upset. The result of their election changed the makeup of the City Council, giving it an environmentally oriented majority.

Former Planning Commissioner Mark Porter, who finished fifth in the election, spent $25,180, according to the final reports.

The finance reports showed that George Arnold, who finished eighth, spent $3,200 and that William Moore Thompson, who finished 10th, spent $2,344.

All the other council candidates reported spending less than $1,000 in the campaign and were not required to detail their expenditures, officials in the city clerk’s office said.

The other council candidates in the election were Vida Louise Martin, Brian R. McAneny, Scott A. Borzi, Thomas Hyatt, Bob Stuart and Dan Traxler.

In the race for city clerk, incumbent Connie Brockway spent $8,159 in her successful bid for reelection. Her challenger, Mark Steven Miller, spent $2,435, according to the finance reports.

Council members are paid $2,100 in salary and $9,588 in allowances annually. The city clerk is paid $74,796 a year.