Simon Chips In for Final TV Spots

Far behind in resources needed to broadcast his message to California voters, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon Jr. reported Thursday that he has lent an additional $1.25 million to his financially struggling campaign.

The businessman-candidate’s latest loan brings his personal investment in his candidacy to more than $10.25 million.

Simon made the loan Wednesday, just a day before the filing of final preelection campaign finance reports showed that Gov. Gray Davis had 10 times more money on hand than Simon.

Flush from the fund-raising that has become a hallmark of his governorship, Davis reported having $12.1 million in his campaign treasury at the close of the reporting period Saturday, compared with $1.2 million for Simon.

Davis campaign strategist Garry South said the war chest, combined with additional money the governor has raised since, will pay for television commercials in English, Spanish and Asian languages, plus a direct-mail and get-out-the-vote telephone campaign.

South said the Davis campaign is spending more than $3 million on television commercials this week and may increase that amount before the Nov. 5 election.

Simon campaign spokesman Mark Miner declined to discuss how much broadcast time the GOP contender will buy in the days ahead. “We will be on the air from now until the election,” he said. Miner said there is no way that Simon can compete with Davis in fund-raising. But he insisted the campaign will have the resources needed to communicate with the state’s voters.

Simon, a Los Angeles investment banker making his first foray into electoral politics, is the largest single contributor to his campaign. His loan Wednesday comes atop earlier loans both before and after the March primary.

Simon told reporters Thursday in Long Beach that he had not decided if he will put more money into the campaign.

“We’re happy with where we are right now, in terms of our media buy,” the underdog challenger said.” We think now that we definitely will run a very strong campaign through November the fifth.”

The latest campaign finance reports showed that both candidates spent far more than they raised in the first three weeks of October, as the costs of reaching voters in the nation’s most populous state mounted.

With far more money available, Davis spent $12.2 million compared with Simon’s $5.4 million.

Democrat Davis raised $3.4 million in the first 19 days of the month, while Simon collected $2.5 million.

In addition to $10.25 million in loans to his gubernatorial effort, Simon also reported making $49,380 in contributions to the campaign, in part to pay for chauffeur services and food and beverages at a reception.

Besides Simon, the Republican National Committee topped the list of major donors to the Simon campaign in recent weeks, providing the nominee with $900,000.

Joseph Coors, a member of the Colorado brewing family, gave $100,000 to Simon during the latest period. Stockton developer Alex Spanos made $76,380 in cash and nonmonetary contributions.

Univision Chairman Jerry Perenchio donated $50,000 to Simon’s campaign, along with $100,000 to Davis’. The nation’s largest Spanish language broadcaster, a routinely bipartisan donor, has given substantially more money to Davis over the course of the campaign.

Simon’s receipt of $50,000 from the Firearms Freedom Fund of Fullerton reflects the support the candidate is receiving from gun owner groups.

While the Davis campaign supplied a summary sheet listing its income and expenditures, the complete list of the governor’s contributors was not immediately available.

Based on daily reports of large contributions, it was expected that labor unions will be among the governor’s top donors in this period, as has been the case throughout the campaign.

Communication Workers of America gave $200,000 to Davis in early October. The Democratic incumbent also received $120,000 from the union that represents state engineers. Service employees and ironworkers gave $100,000 each.