AGOURA HILLS : Mueller Tops List of Contributions

Six candidates for the Agoura Hills City Council filed campaign finance statements by Thursday’s 6 p.m. deadline, including one incumbent and two others who’ve run as candidates in past elections.

Paul (Gary) Mueller, who owns Gary’s Auto Parts and came within six votes of capturing a council seat in the 1991 election, led all candidates with more than $6,100 in his war chest. He has more than doubled the amount of his closest competitor, although most of it, about $5,300, has come from his own bank account. He’s raised about $1,000 in campaign contributions.

Mueller, 41, who in the past has had the backing of the Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce, which has often been at odds with the Agoura Hills City Council, lost the 1991 election on a slate with Lyle Michelson, 37, another council candidate, against council members Fran Pavley and Joan Yacavonne. In 1991, Mueller and Councilwoman Louise Rishoff ran a close race ultimately decided by six votes in a recount conducted by the county registrar of voters. Mueller spent most of the day hovering around the registrar’s office waiting for the recount, which he paid $625 to have completed.

Councilwoman Fran Pavley, 44, who has held office since the city incorporated in 1982, is running for a fourth term.

Pavley has raised about $1,750 for the upcoming election. She has spent about $1,000, most of it on a $675 loan she made to her own campaign, and the rest in printing yard signs, according to her financial disclosure statements.

Steve Soelberg, a 49-year-old banking executive, has raised $2,900, all from campaign contributors. This is Soelberg’s first bid for public office. He served for eight years on the Planning Commission, an appointed position.

Michelson, a Los Angeles police officer, will run on a public safety platform, he said.

He’s spent about $500 including his filing fees, so far, he said. This is his “second and last” bid for City Council, he said.

Dennis Weber, 50, a vice president with First Interstate Bank, has raised about $1,170, including $375 in loans to his own campaign. Among Weber’s influential contributors are Mayor Louise Rishoff, who donated $50 to his campaign and Les Hardie, president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation.

Ed Corridori, 50, who owns an Agoura Hills printing business, has raised a little more than $1,600, including a $300 loan to his own campaign. Mayor Ed Kurtz and Councilwoman Darlene McBane have contributed to his campaign.