Campaign Spending Reaches New Highs

November’s election broke fund-raising records in two supervisorial districts, one city council race and in the battle over a local measure aimed at shifting control of tobacco settlement money.

Community Memorial Hospital shelled out almost $2.7 million on an avalanche of mailers, public relations firms and consultants in its effort to transfer control of $260 million in tobacco funds from county government to private hospitals.

By contrast, the grass-roots Coalition Against Measure O prevailed and spent just $202,611, with $88,397 of that coming in the last few months. The previous record for spending in a local measure was also by Community Memorial, when it spent $1.3 million on a 1996 initiative that successfully halted renovations to the county’s public hospital.

In the race for two Thousand Oaks City Council seats, celebrity trial lawyer Ed Masry spent $185,000 of his own money--far more than any of the other six candidates and a record for a city office in Ventura County.

Masry said he now believes he didn’t need to spend as much as he did to win because his polling data showed that he consistently drew more support from voters than his opponents.

“I would have won anyway . . . and I would rather have given it to a needy charity or my church,” he said. “Nobody likes to throw away money.”

Spending was also big in the contests to fill two seats on the county’s governing board.

In the District 1 race covering Ventura and Ojai, school administrator Steve Bennett and longtime Ventura City Councilman Jim Monahan raised a combined $427,500, far outstripping the previous record of $254,000 raised during the 1994 contest between Supervisor Frank Schillo and his defeated opponent, Trudi Loh. Bennett won with 63% of the vote.

Supervisor Kathy Long and her defeated challenger for the District 3 seat, Camarillo Councilman Mike Morgan, spent a combined $259,000. That compares with the $180,000 the two candidates spent in 1996 in their first matchup.

Bennett said campaigns in general are becoming more expensive and uses that point to underscore the need for campaign contribution limits. Since he limited himself to $500 contributions, Bennett said he had to start early and get as many contributors as possible.

“It’s how wide your net is, not how long you had it in the water,” he said.

Bennett noted that his campaign cost so much because he and Monahan were battling for an open seat and the issues involved, such as development, attracted big money interests. He said he plans to push for campaign reform while on the Board of Supervisors.

Community Memorial’s bruising fight isn’t over yet. Lawyers who represented the anti-Measure O coalition in a court fight over the wording of the initiative are seeking legal fees of about $35,000 from Community Memorial, saying they are entitled to the money because they won the case. But the hospital’s attorneys have responded by demanding that their legal fees of about $37,000 be paid by the other side.

Neal Andrews, spokesman for the anti-Measure O campaign, said if Community Memorial prevails, his committee will likely have to pay the legal expenses as well as deal with a $9,700 debt.

“We will have to go begging,” said Andrews, a health care consultant who volunteered his time heading up the committee. “We have experience at that.”

A hearing on the matter is set for Monday.

In the hard-fought race for District 1 supervisor, Monahan raised $207,450 and Bennett collected $220,130.

The race left Monahan with a $11,600 debt, which he hopes to pay off by soliciting donations from supporters. He finished the race with $259 in the bank.

In the other supervisor’s race, Morgan collected $69,689 and spent $68,675. While Morgan finished the race with no debt, Long owes $23,708.

“The first thing I am going to do is hold some events and to celebrate victory and pay off the debt,” Long said.

In the county’s most expensive contest, Community Memorial Hospital spent $722,527 in its last reporting period in an all-out media blitz to convince voters that they were best qualified to use the tobacco funds for health care. Altogether, the hospital spent $2,698,384, records show.

The Coalition Against Measure O countered with its own much smaller mailing blitz, spending $88,000.

“The mailings put us into debt but it was critical at the moment and I don’t regret it,” Andrews said.

Community Memorial spokesman Mark Barnhill said the campaign, while costly, helped make health care a serious issue in Ventura County.

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Correspondents Katie Cooper and Jenifer Ragland contributed to this report.