Financial Reports Show Record Fund-Raising

A dozen candidates running for City Council seats in the April 9 election appear poised to spend record amounts on the campaign, according to financial reports filed Thursday.

One candidate has already shattered the last election’s spending record, even though candidates still have more than a month to raise money.

Frank Ferry, 30, a teacher at Valencia High School, has raised $21,404, surpassing the $19,000 mark set by unsuccessful candidate Fred Heiser, an aerospace engineer, in the 1994 race.

Ferry said he began raising money last year because as a political unknown, he thought he would have to raise a substantial amount of money to get his message out. Most of his cash came in contributions of $25 or less, he said.

“I’m not Steve Forbes, here,” Ferry said.

Gary Johnson, a prominent business leader and member of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, has raised $7,120.

In third place was Laurene Weste, 47, a parks commissioner and full-time volunteer, who has raised $4,168.

First-time candidate Kevin Keyes, 38, the director of international operations for a computer software company, has raised $4,000. City Planning Commissioner Louis E. Brathwaite has raised $3,928.

Former mayor Jill Klajic, 49, a recycling manager at Cal-Coast Recycling in Canyon Country, raised $3,640, and Larry Bird, 48, a property manager, raised $3,390.

Well behind in the fund-raising contest is incumbent council member Jan Heidt, who raised $775 during the reporting period, which began Jan. 1 and ended Feb. 24.

Some candidates expressed concern that Ferry’s substantial war chest would virtually exclude others from the contest.

“It puts the whole City Council race in a different light,” Klajic said. “It becomes a more political ball.”

Others seemed unperturbed.

“Candidates who raise the most money don’t always finish first,” Bird said.

A handful of candidates who have raised less than $1,000 each also filed shorter disclosure forms, but were not required under the city’s rules to make a more detailed report: Paul Bond, James Rose II, Timothy Ben Boydston and Reinhardt J. Schuerger.

Andy Martin failed to file the report by the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline.