Real Estate, Unions, Women Donate Big to Goleta Elections

The Goleta elections sweepstakes have netted more than $145,000 in the campaigns for mayor and city council. If the amount of money given indicates a party’s interest in the race, most interested so far have been real estate concerns, unions, and women in the political world.

Roger Aceves, a 14-year councilmember seeking the mayor’s post, holds the lead with $70,822 raised, about $20,000 of that coming from his previous council war chest. His single biggest donor is Aied Abdullatif, who gave Aceves a total of $10,000 through four stores Abdullatif owns: Hi-Time Liquor on Fairview, the Hi-Time Stop & Shops in Goleta and Isla Vista, and Stop & Shop Gas on Milpas Street.

Aceves also received about $17,000 from real estate interests ranging from the California Real Estate PAC and the Towbes Group to John and Janna Price. The Prices gave Aceves a total of $4,000, including through two businesses, Goleta Properties and Fairview Car Wash. Campaign signs also festoon most of Price’s properties. Aceves was the only Goleta candidate to receive money from the Santa Ynez Chumash tribe, getting $3,000 altogether.

Paula Perotte, who has been Goleta’s mayor for the past four years, received a total of $37,373 as of early October. Her big donors were unions representing electrical workers, plumbers and steamfitters, and journeymen and apprentices; they gave Perotte a total of $7,000, not uncommon for a candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party. Perotte has not only the party nod but also that of the county’s Democratic Women, Planned Parenthood, and Women’s Political Committee. About $8,000 of her funds came from a constellation of female movers-and-shakers from Hannah-Beth Jackson to Luz Reyes-Martin, with individual donations averaging about $300. The generous exception was her mother-in-law, Jean Perotte, who gave her $2,000.

Council Contenders

Newcomer Justin Shores, who is running for the first time for one of two seats open on the Goleta City Council, has raised the largest sum among the five council contenders — a whopping $20,517. Among the incumbents, Kyle Richards raised $12,856 from among the usual Democratic supporters, and Stuart Kasdin reported less than $4,000 in an apparent effort to lose this fundraising sweepstakes, as of mid-September.

Shores works at the Toyota dealership in Goleta, and his friends and coworkers are rooting for him, giving his campaign more than $3,000. Like Aceves, Shores is supported by the California Real Estate PAC, also known as CREPAC, which donated $2,000 to his cause. As they did for Aceves, Fred Hitchcock of the Hitchcock Auto Group and Mary Anne Wolfington, the owner of Payroll Systems Plus, each gave $5,000 to Shores.

Richards and Kasdin are both endorsed by the Democratic Party, and each received $500 from the Santa Barbara Women’s PAC and Democratic Women, $250 from Planned Parenthood, and $200 from Fermina Murray, but the similarities end there. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers gave Richards $500, and he received sums ranging from $500-$100 from about 50 other people, including Lauren Hanson, who is an incumbent running for Goleta Water Board, and Max Rorty, a first-time candidate for the Goleta Unified School Board.

Kasdin said he’d been campaigning, if not fundraising, but he’s been a little distracted by organizing video lectures for his City College classes and having an elementary-school-aged child at home. He’s getting into the full swing now, he said, sending emails, making phone calls, and diving back into politics.

Council candidates Bruce Wallach and Blanche “Grace” Wallace posted no fundraising information in the latest reporting cycle.

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