Money pours in for candidates in Tuolumne County races

Candidates running for the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors and Tuolumne Utilities District Board of Directors in the Nov. 3 general election have raised a combined total of $154,000 and spent about $116,000, according to campaign finance documents that cover up to Sept. 19.

The county supervisor race in District 5 is the most lucrative, accounting for over half of the total amount of money raised. Challenger Jaron Brandon had raised $41,676 between July 1, 2019, and Sept. 19, while incumbent Karl Rodefer had raised $44,573 over the same period.

Rodefer’s campaign is largely self funded, with $37,000 of his total contributions coming from loans to himself.

Brandon’s biggest donor is Valley Vista Property Investments, a Sonora-based limited partnership that’s trying to develop subdivisions in Jamestown and East Sonora, which contributed

$4,700 to his campaign.

Labor unions have also provided support to Brandon, including the Northern California District Council of Laborers in Sacramento, California Laborers for Equality and Progress in Long

Beach and Stanislaus & Tuolumne Central Labor Council in Modesto, which donated $3,500 combined.

Rodefer’s support includes names such as Anderson-based timber industry giant Sierra Pacific Industries, his single largest donor at $1,995; Rucker Construction, a Merced-based company owned by Tuolumne Utilities District Board President Bob Rucker, which donated $1,000; and U.S. Rep. Tom Mcclintock, R-granite Bay, who donated $500.

In the race for District 1, write-in candidate Cody Ritts raised the most amount of money out of any other candidate for the Board of Supervisors or TUD board in the reporting period between July 1 and Sept. 19.

Ritts hauled in $13,039 in cash donations beginning in late August, shortly before he announced he was entering the race in early September. He’s raised a total of $18,448, including loans and in-kind donations, and spent $10,044 all between late August and Sept. 19.

Thomas Crosby, of Sonora, is Ritts’ biggest donor at $2,000, followed by Rodefer at $1,099, Kennedy Meadows owner Matt Bloom at $1,000, Rob Taylor Masonry in Tuolumne at $1,000 and Banks Glass in Jamestown at $1,000.

Stacey Dodge, former campaign manager of incumbent County Supervisor Sherri Brennan before she ended her bid for reelection in mid-august, has also donated $100 to Ritts.

David Goldemberg, the top vote-getter for the seat in the March 3 primary election, has loaned his own campaign $12,660 since he launched his bid last year. He’s raised a total of $30,169 since July 1, 2019, and spent a total of $25,793, according to his documents.

Goldemberg’s biggest single donor was the United Domestic Workers of America, a Sacramento-based union, which has provided $850. He’s also received finan

cial support from the Stanislaus & Tuolumne Counties Central Labor Council and the Teamsters Joint Council No. 7 in Washington, D.C.

Most of Goldemberg’s contributors of $100 or more identify themselves as retirees who live in Sonora.

For the TUD race, incumbent Director Ron Kopf led the pack with a total of $9,621 raised and $6,232 spent. His support donors included companies like the Sonora-based Seith Inc., RWG Enterprises Inc. in Salida, Sierra Pacific Industries, Long Gulch Ranch, LP, in El Dorado Hills, as well as the California Real Estate political action committee in Los Angeles.

Challenger Lisa Murphy was in second with $5,232 raised and $3,202 spent, followed by incumbent Barbara Balen with $2,845 raised and $2,034 spent. David Boatright, a challenger who entered the race on the final day to get on the ballot, had loaned his own campaign committee $2,000 and spent $1,449.

Challenger Jim Grinnell had not filed a Form 460 campaign disclosure report, though it’s only required if a candidate raises or spends more than $1,000 in a calendar year. The next reports are due Oct. 22.