Dublin mayoral candidates Sherry Hu and Jean Josey have each collected tens of thousands of dollars more than mayoral candidates Tom Evans and Shawn Costello, according to recent campaign disclosures.
Uneven distribution was also apparent in funding on Measure II — “Dublin Traffic Relief, Clean Air/Open Space Preservation Measure”, which was weighted in opposition to the measure.
As for Dublin City Council, Dublin Unified School District and the Dublin San Ramon Services District, contributions were nearly equal among candidates.
Monetary figures for these campaigns and others were made public by Sept. 26 for the first of two pre-election filing deadlines. They offer voters insight into donor names and expenditures for the period of July 1 through Sept. 21.
During this period, Vice Mayor Hu collected $17,547 for a year’s total of $34,332. More than $4,000 has come from contributors in the real estate and construction industries this year.
Individual contributions to Hu ranged from $100 to $500 this period. Only eight of the 72 contributors were based in Dublin, according to the reports. Another eight were from other parts of the Tri-Valley and the remaining 56 contributors were almost all from the wider Bay Area.
Political contributors to her campaign included “Haubert for Supervisor 2024” (of Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert, a former mayor of Dublin) and 2026 candidate for lieutenant governor Fiona Ma, both of whom gave $500 each this period
Hu also received $500 from the International Association of FireFighters Local 55 PAC.
As for the real estate and construction industries, four leaders at AlphaX RE Capital, a Bay Area real estate investment group, each contributed $500 to Hu’s campaign between Jan. 1 and June 30: sales director Jiayu Lin from Chino Hills, developer De Nguyen from San Carlos, architect Vice President of construction Kaifeng Zhang from Brisbane and project manager Peng Du from San Jose. In the filing, the stated location of employment varies as “Alpha x capital”, “AlphaX RE”, “ALPHA INC.” and “AlphaX Re Capital.”
Councilmember Josey, who is also running for mayor, raised $23,666.29 from Jan. 1 to Sept 21, $6,466.29 of which she raised this period.
Similar to Hu, individual contributions to Josey’s campaign ranged from $25 to $500 per donation.
This period, she received $150 from outgoing college board Trustee Tim Sbranti, $250 from the Committee To Elect Kristin Speck in Dublin, and $500 from the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 104 in Livermore.
Of the 29 contributors this period, 20 are from Dublin, two are from Pleasanton, two are from Livermore and the remaining five are from out of state.
She also received $500 of support from Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund in New York, a gun violence prevention organization according to the group’s website.
Prior to this period, she took out a loan for $5,000 to fund her campaign. She has not paid the loan back yet, according to the financial reports.
Also prior to this period, Josey received support from Dublin City Council candidate Razi Hasni, San Ramon Councilmember Scott Perkins, San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Board Direcror Michelle Lee, Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local No. 3 PAC from San Leandro, Steve Glazer for Senate and Haubert for Supervisor 2024.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 595 PAC gave her support last period too.
In terms of the real estate industry, Josey has received $600 this year. A project manager at A Good Lender, a mortgage banking and lending company, according to its website gave $100. And the California Real Estate Political Committee from Los Angeles gave $500.
A third mayoral candidate, Evans, collected $8,186.00 this year through Sept. 21, all of which he gathered during the reporting period.
All of his contributors were from Dublin and their individual contributions ranged from $100 to $500. CEO Puran Moorjani and vice president Purnima Moorjani from DPP Tech, a technology consulting company, each contributed $500.
Evans and his wife Jeanine Gillengerten also loaned $3,490 his campaign this period
Evans spent the majority of those funds, $7,053.93 on flyers, during this period too.
Costello, the fourth candidate on the mayoral ballot, did not file financial statements by the Sept. 26 deadline.
For Dublin City Council District 1, Michael McCorriston is the only candidate in the running. He took out a loan for $5,500 in January 2022 and another $600 in November 2023 to finance his campaign. These have been his only reported funds.
In District 3, newcomers Hasni and John Morada report similar contributions, but Hasni’s campaign has been entirely self-funded and Morada’s has received outside support.
Morada raised $2,026.00 in contributions between July 1 and Sept. 21. During that same period, he spent $3,576.64, throwing the campaign into slightly over $1,500 in debt.
But in Morada’s disclosure statement, many of the expenses are listed twice at the exact same price. For example, purchases of $107.18 for shirts, $71.66 for lawn signs and $500 for a Dublin city fee are all listed twice.
For each item, one of the payees is listed as his own campaign and the other is the business receiving the payment.
His only funding and expenditures were from this period.
Hasni’s campaign was entirely self-funded as of Sept. 21.
He received a $4,000 loan from ATG Fitness, Inc in September 2020, a business he owns. The loan was due later that year, but has not been repaid yet.
Of this, he has spent $1,335.59 on “campaign paraphernalia/misc.”, which was paid for this period.
Also during this reporting period, over $80,000 poured into Dublin campaigns centered on Measure II.
This measure asks voters if council can assume the power to approve limited commercial development on a future extension of Dublin Boulevard. Included in the potential development area is the Crosby property, owned by Livbor-Manning LLC.
In support of Measure II, “Livbor-Manning LLC (Harry Crosby)” from Carson City, Nev., contributed $20,000 to the Keep Dublin Moving – YES on II 2024 committee during the reporting period.
Of these funds, $10,000 went to The Lew Edwards Group, a consulting firm for ballot measure preparation and communications services, according to its website. An additional $559.86 went to office expenses and “staff/spouse travel, lodging, and meals”.
The majority of contributions, $61,031.22, were given to a committee in opposition of the measure.
Walnut Creek-based nonprofit Save Mount Diablo led in this effort, giving $30,000 to the committee “Save Dublin Open Space, No on Measure II” during this period. The next highest contributor was Livermore resident Jeanette (Jean) King, who gave $25,000 to the committee. Lastly, Diana Hanna from Castro Valley gave $2,000.
Save Mount Diablo also contributed staff time valued at $3920.22 in this period.
This year so far, the committee has paid $23,892.35 for direct mail for the campaign.
Financial records for Measure JJ: The Government Accountability Act are not available online.
DUSD Areas 1, 3, and 4 all feature low campaign contributions, while Area 1 stands out as the only competitive race.
In Area 1, Kristian Reyes has garnered $2,742.71 for his campaign, almost 1.5 times the amount raised by Ramnath Shanbhogue.
Dublin Teachers Association PAC has contributed voter data and campaign literature valued at $2,406.72 to Reyes’ campaign.
His opponent Shanbhogue has gathered a wider audience of financial supporters in Dublin, each giving between $100 and $250 for a total of $1,901.
Both Jeff Clark of Area 3 and Gabi Blackman of Area 4, neither of whom were contested, each expect to raise less than $2,000 and spend less than that amount this year.
The races for the DSRSD Board of Directors also feature low-figure contributions.
Those expecting to receive and spend less than $2,000 this year include Division 1’s Dinesh Govindarao, Division 5’s Arun Goel and Division 3’s Richard Halket — each an incumbent. In Division 3, former candidate Javier Lopez Rivero did not file his statement by the deadline and is no longer eligible for office because he moved out of the area.
City-based filings for Dublin are available to the public at public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=DUB. Those in Contra Costa County are on public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=CCC. And those in Alameda County are on netfile.com/agency/coa/.
The next deadline to file campaign finance disclosures is on Oct. 24. These statements will account for contributions and expenditures from Sept. 22 through Oct. 19.
