Notes, quotes and dust motes

It is a small mistake, seemingly, but all the reports, which are supposed to disclose address and occupation, have a surprising number of unemployed or retired people making donations of $1,000, $2,000 or $5,800.

CORPUS V. BOLANOS: By the deadline for last week’s masterpiece, the spending report had not turned up for Sheriff’s Capt. Christina Corpus, challenger to incumbent Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. The report turned up a few days later. Apparently, her campaign opted to mail the report.

She reported raising $100,014, including an $11,000 loan she made to her campaign. She began 2022 with $75,408 in cash on hand. Remember, Bolanos reported raising more than $300,000 and began the year with $377,619 in cash on hand.

Corpus raised $5,150 from law enforcement, including $2,550 from people who work in the Sheriff’s Office.

OTHER OFFICES: Incumbents in most of the other countywide offices are running unopposed for reelection and their fundraising efforts reflect this.

The only other contested race, so far, is David Pollack’s challenge to incumbent Assessor-Clerk-Recorder and Chief Elections Officer Mark Church. Pollack reported raising $20,708 in 2021, which probably is not enough to unseat the longtime incumbent. Church confirmed he is running and will file his papers next week.

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has said he will run for another term, but he seems more interested in campaigning for Bolanos. And we still haven’t heard from county Coroner Robert Foucrault.

Others who are running, and the amounts they raised in 2021: Treasurer/Tax Collector Sandie Arnott ($7,273) and Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee ($25,573). Controller Juan Raigoza reported raising $77,600. But $70,000 are loans he made to his campaign — $27,000 in 2017, $50,000 in 2021. None of it has been repaid. Prompting the question: Huh?

THE OTHER SEAT: In the 16th Congressional District, which now includes the San Mateo County coastside, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo raised $1,075,213 and began 2022 with $1,073,987 in cash on hand. Her opponent, Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar, raised $147,060. He also is carrying a debt of $140,000 in loans he made to his campaign in 2020. The absence of Kumar in a previous reference to Eshoo prompted some squawking, but it is worth noting that, in that 2020 race, Eshoo defeated him 63.2% to 36.8%. I have been told this is a landslide.

GET GOING: Sifting through the campaign websites for the three leading candidates in the 15th congressional district race to replace Jackie Speier, it is hard not to notice that none of them has a listing for Issues. I assume they will — it is early in the campaign and I suspect they are all working on what they want to say and how they want to say it. I do not think it is my place to tell them what the issues are or should be, despite what a local hobbyist seems to think.

But the June 7 election is only 117 days away and ballots will be mailed on May 9, only 88 days off. Voters will want to know how the candidates differ.

Perhaps more significantly for the actual campaign, independent expenditures — the biggest of big money — must be reported starting March 9, a mere 27 days. Expect the campaign to go into overdrive right around then. … I visited the other day with Gus Mattamaal, the lone Republican running in this district. He is not a Trumper; indeed, he is something even more rare in these environs — a moderate Republican. He also is acutely aware of the dismal voter registration numbers the GOP posts around here, and is looking for a long-term rebuilding of the party.

CORRECTION: Given the sheer bulk of last week’s report on campaign funding, it was inevitable, I suppose, that there would be a mistake. I misstated the cash on hand with which Mueller and San Carlos Councilmember Laura Parmer-Lohan began the year. The correct numbers are Mueller $158,693, Parmer-Lohan $129,999.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.