HUNTINGTON BEACH : Silva Uses Savings to Fund Election Bid

In an eleventh-hour scramble in his bid for a seat on the Board of Supervisors, Huntington Beach Councilman Jim Silva has dipped into his family savings for a $30,000 loan.

With only a weekend remaining before Election Day, Silva said Friday the loan was necessary to “defend myself against attack mail” being circulated by opponents, specifically Huntington Beach businesswoman Haydee V. Tillotson.

The Tillotson campaign in its recent mailings to the North County district has sought to portray Silva as having supported tax increases as a Huntington Beach councilman.

“My wife and kids have been devastated by these attacks,” Silva said. “We talked it over and decided to use the (family’s) money. Certainly, this will financially affect my wife, Connie, and I for some years to come.”

Silva said his campaign has already spent the money to pay for recent mailings, one of which highlights Tillotson’s ties to retiring Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who made a much-publicized break with the Republican Party to support President Clinton.

Silva’s mailing also makes reference to another opponent, Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton Patterson, and her affiliation with the Democratic Party, a minority political organization in Republican-dominated Orange County. In a separate mailer, Silva claims he is the only supervisor candidate working to “stop our tax dollars from going to illegal aliens.”

“When we realized what was happening in the mail, we just had to fight back,” Silva said. “We had to provide a response.”

Christopher D. St. Hilaire, Tillotson’s campaign manager, said Silva’s recent cash infusion was an offensive--not defensive--tactic, decided well before Tillotson’s mailer appeared on the streets.

“I think he’s desperate,” St. Hilaire said Friday. “It’s the last act of a dying candidate. I don’t think the money is enough to get him into a runoff.”

With five candidates in the hotly contested race, it is likely that Tuesday’s primary will force a runoff between the two highest vote getters. The other candidates in the race are Huntington Beach businessman John A. Thomas and former Garden Grove Councilman Raymond Thomas Littrell.

All but Littrell have committed considerable amounts of the money to the race. Silva has struggled to keep up financially in a race where Tillotson has set the fund-raising pace, loaning her own campaign $342,000. In the past, Silva has criticized Tillotson for making large loans to herself, saying she is trying to “buy the election.”

According to campaign reports filed last week with the county registrar’s office, Silva reported having only $5,142 remaining.