ELECTIONS : Farmers Contribute $42,872 to Campaign : Fund-raising: Nearly half of amount to defeat two land-use measures is supplied by Farm Bureau. Council candidates also file disclosure statements.

Farmers have pumped $42,872 into a campaign aimed at defeating two restrictive land-use initiatives on the November ballot that would hamper their ability to sell property for development, according to campaign finance reports filed Thursday.

The Ventura County Farm Bureau provided nearly half of that war chest with a $20,000 loan--the largest single campaign contribution reported between July 1 and Sept. 23.

Candidates for Ventura City Council and other races and issues were required to file financial disclosure forms by 5 p.m. Thursday. But the biggest bucks were with the twin green space initiatives.

With potentially millions of dollars in development profits at stake, farmers in Ventura and beyond have launched an aggressive campaign to defeat Measures I and J on the city’s Nov. 7 ballot.

Donations ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 from various Ventura County farming families more than doubled the amount of the Farm Bureau’s loan, dwarfing donations reported by a rival citizens’ group.

Supporters of the so-called Save Our Agricultural Resources, or SOAR, measures raised $8,282, mostly through small donations and fund-raisers.

“We don’t have the big hitters,” Councilman Stephen Bennett said. “We just have a whole lot of people giving us $50 and $75.”

Initiative backers say the measures are needed to preserve the city’s rapidly vanishing farmland, but farmers say the initiatives are an attack on their property rights.

Although the farmers outpaced their rivals’ fund-raising efforts, initiative supporter and former Ventura Mayor Richard L. Francis remained upbeat.

“David and Goliath,” he said of the financial difference between the two campaigns. “Money is important in an election but it doesn’t win them all.”

Ventura farmer Bob Tobias said his committee’s finances look bigger than they are because the farmers plan to pay back the $20,000 loan.

But if the amount of financial support the fledgling committee has received in its first month is any indication, the farmers will continue to pull down big dollars. “It is going to be a very expensive issue in my opinion,” Tobias said.

Both measures would require voter approval to allow residential, commercial or industrial development on farmland in and around the city.

In the City Council race, 11 of the 12 candidates vying for three open seats had filed their campaign finance reports, with pro-growth candidates backed by the Chamber of Commerce emerging as the top money raisers.

Chamber President Jim Friedman reported $14,690 in contributions--about $6,000 more than the next candidate, Stephen L. Hartmann, a marketing manager for a food-supplement company, who raised $8,706.

Friedman reported $5,632 in contributions less than $100, which do not have to be itemized, a $5,000 personal loan and $2,435 in non-monetary gifts, such as window painting and photography.

He also received donations ranging between $100 and $500 from various Ventura businesses and individuals, including $110 from Mayor Tom Buford.

Hartmann reported a $8,206 personal loan and a $500 gift from his father, Ojai elementary school teacher Larry Hartmann.

College administrator Ray Di Guilio reported raising $7,833, which included a $5,550 loan to himself and a $1,000 discount on office space rent from the owners of a Ventura real estate company.

Councilman Jack Tingstrom, the only incumbent in the race, reported raising $6,040, nearly all of which were in contributions of less than $100.

Property manager Craig Huntington reported funds of $4,132. Attorney Donna De-Paola Peterson reported $3,898. Restaurant owner Charles (Buster) Davis reported raising $2,018.

Software consultant John S. Jones and business consultant Brian Lee Rencher reported receiving and spending less than $1,000 each. Writer Keith Burns reported $550. Manufacturing engineer Carroll Dean Williams reported no contributions.

Recycling supervisor Christopher T. Staubach’s campaign finance statement was not received by the city clerk’s office by 5 p.m. Thursday, but officials said it would be accepted if postmarked by midnight.

Three measures on the November ballot are aimed at bailing out the struggling county Library Services Agency, and the Save Our Libraries committee reported $9,390 in campaign contributions.

The Friends of the Ventura Library donated $2,000. Library Services Agency Director Dixie D. Adeniran also gave $2,000. Library boosters donated $384 in support of Measure L at the Ventura County Fair as well.

In the Ventura Unified school board race, Trustee Diane H. Harriman reported raising $735. Trustee Jim Wells reported funds of $550 and private school educator Jeffery McCann reported $897.