Acosta, Smith trade shots on fundraising
Numbers show Dante Acosta ahead of opponent Christy Smith
The numbers for the 38th Assembly District election cycle so far show Assemblyman Dante Acosta, R-Santa Clarita, taking the lead with $169,646 from Jan. 1 until April 25. His ending cash total is $265,682.
His opponent, Christy Smith, raised $79,827 from the period of Jan. 1 until April 25. Her ending cash total is $58,141.
Acosta’s donors include a number of individual contributors and local businesses. Some are larger corporations, such as $2,400 from Chevron, and Philip Morris, where he took the to-date maximum donation allowed, which is $4,400.
When asked about the donations, Acosta said that his contributors are a “combination of local supporters and organizations that represent business owners and employees throughout California.” “It’s hypocritical of my opponent (Christy Smith) to complain about the broad base of my support when her last campaign was almost exclusively funded by liberal special interests and public employee labor union bosses, and no doubt will be again this time,” he said. “The difference is as clear today as it always has been. She will work for those same unions and liberal special interests -- I’ll work for the middle class.”
Smith had largely individual contributors and small contributor committees. Her larger donations included $4,400 from the Planned Parenthood Advocacy
Project LA County Action Fund and the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West PAC.
“I’m really proud that I have a broad base of support from folks who are willing to contribute whatever they can afford,” she said. “If elected, my goal is to be a representative of the people. That speaks to that desire, that’s the way I’ve been campaigning.”
Smith had pledged to not take fossil fuel money because of the aftermath of the Aliso Canyon leak on the community, she said. She also expressed disapproval of Acosta’s donation base.
“I find it particularly troubling that somebody would still be taking money from the tobacco industry,” she said. “The political action committees and folks that are supporting me tend to be reflective of what my values are, and that is putting working class and families first. This is a grassroots constituency.”