Candidates’ finance reports highlight war chests

EL CENTRO — Running for local office often is not cheap, though a few candidates running for a seat on the Imperial Irrigation District board of directors and the Imperial County supervisor position are not spending or receiving a lot of contributions.

Two candidates running for the IID Division 2 director seat have received well in excess of other candidates to assist their campaign efforts.

Ryan Childers, a local attorney, received $21,400 in contributions, with most of it being in the form of money. Through Jan. 18, he had spent $15,448 of the $21,400 he received.

According to county Elections Office campaign financing reports, Vessey and Company Inc., Joe Heger Farms LLC and Lantana Farms LLC each contributed $5,000 toward Childers’ campaign.

John Hamby, also a candidate for the division 2 director position received more than $23,600 in contributions, though only half that was in the form of monetary contributions.

Hamby took out a loan of almost $1,000 to help his campaign, but said he will be getting the money back.

Horizon Farms LLC was Hamby’s biggest donor at $10,000, while J.R. Jordan of Big Heart Seed contributed $2,000.

He also has spent $2,865 on social media advertisements and $868 for yard signs.

Incumbent Bruce Kuhn, who is seeking re-election for the Division 2 IID seat, received no contributions except for the $100 he gave to himself, according to campaign statements.

Dilda McFadden, a candidate for the Division 2 seat, has not received any contributions and has signed the termination requirements that state the committee has no funds and does not anticipate receiving contributions or making expenditures in the future.

IID Division 4 incumbent Erik Ortega, according to campaign statements, has received $10,000 in monetary contributions with Chandi Person chipping in $4,000 and MT Refrigeration adding another $1,000 to the campaign.

Of the $10,000 Ortega received, he has spent $7,274 toward his campaign.

Javier Gonzalez, a candidate for the IID Division 4 director, has received no contributions.

He signed the statement under the threat of perjury that to the best of his knowledge he anticipates he will receive less than $2,000 and will spend less than $2,000 during the calendar year, which results in him not having to list contributors or expenditures.

Joong Kim, who is also seeking the Division 4 director position, received $986 in monetary contributions in which $853 has been spent for fees from the elections department related to him running

for the position.

In the Imperial County District 2 Board of Supervisor’s election, Claudia Camarena also signed the verification waiver for receiving or spending less than $2,000 in the campaign.

District 2 Supervisor incumbent Luis Plancarte received no

contributions, but listed $1,812 in expenditures, most of which was spent to obtain the District 2 voter file, marketing and communication services and booth space at the Tamale Festival.

He also spent a little more than $300 on campaign paraphernalia.