Wong Leads Candidates in Campaign Cash by Large Margin

Cash is always king, and Mayor Gilbert Wong possesses a pile of cash many times greater than his competitors as he campaigns to retain his seat on the City Council in next Tuesday’s election, documents show.

In addition, Wong has raised double and even triple the amount other candidates have collected. 

As of Oct. 27, Wong had raised $67,748, with $34,309 in cash on hand for the final election week push, according to campaign reporting documents. His nearest competitor, Marty Miller, reported $15,535 in cash available, followed by Homer Tong with more than $10,000, Chris Zhang with about $8,300, and Rod Sinks and Donna Austin with just under $5,000 each.

“Am I going to use all of that money? I hope I don’t have to,” Wong said on Tuesday, just one week before the Nov. 8 election.

He said in a past election he was hit with an anonymous negative mailer near the end of the campaign. Having cash on hand gives him the ability to respond to negative attacks if necessary. Although he noted this campaign has thus far been relatively quiet, and largely positive.

A little less than half of Wong’s donations came from eight developers, landowners, and development interests in amounts between $1,800 and $5,000 (see list below). By comparison, most donations to candidates are in the range of $100 to $500.

Miller and Austin also received large donations from development interests, while the rest of the candidates did not.

When asked if he is influenced by donations from developers and landowners, Wong replied, “Absolutely not.” He said he looks at all facts presented by city staff, takes the general plan and ordinances into account, and listens to community opinions.

“I have a track record of listening to both sides,” Wong said.

He praised the current council for its record of voting independently on development issues.

“If we get money, or we don’t get money, you’re still going to get the same treatment from council members,” Wong said.

In May, Wong and the rest of the council voted in favor of a voluntary campaign spending limit of $28,000. Candidates had the option of agreeing to the limit, which is merely symbolic. Those that signed an agreement are denoted with a black diamond next to their names on the ballot.

Looking at the bottom line, Wong as of Oct. 27 showed expenditures of nearly $33,000, although of that, $8,850 consisted of donations to other political campaigns and civic organizations. Wong donated $3,500 to Miller on Oct. 10, the only other candidate Wong has endorsed.

Subtracting the donations and the city’s $1,960 filing fee, both of which do not count in the voluntary spending cap, Wong spent about $22,000 by Oct. 27 on direct campaign expenses. Most of the other candidates appear to be on a track to spend less than $20,000.

Sinks was the only candidate to not sign the voluntary spending cap agreement. He said he looked at the history of past elections, and saw that not all candidates observed the spending limit.

“I don’t want to handcuff myself,” Sinks said. “As it turns out I will spend a lot less.” He estimates the total will be less than $20,000.

All the reporting documents for the candidates are available from a link on the city’s website.

Below is a summary of each candidate’s filings.

Donna Austin

• Austin raised just over $20,000 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 27, with $10,000 coming from Ron Cali, of Cali Family Land Company in Cupertino; she received $2,000 from Charles T. Munger, a physicist who has backed state propositions
• She loaned her campaign $1,000
• She received just over $1,000 in non-monetary contributions: a $600 advertisement slide from Bluelight Cinemas and $470 earrings from a jewelry designer

Marty Miller

• Miller raised $29,848 in 2011, with most of it, $19,799, coming in between the latest reporting period of Sept. 25 through Oct. 27
• Of the total raised, his wife, Claudette, loaned the campaign $4,100
• Besides $3,500 from Wong, Miller has received donations in excess of $1,000 from the following:

- $5,000 from the Shashi Corporation, which is building a hotel at the corner of Alves Drive and De Anza Boulevard

- $5,000 from De Anza Building and Maintenance, owned by Cupertino developer John Vidovich

- $3,500 from California Real Estate PAC, a real estate political action committee

- $3,000 from Annie M. H. Chan, an owner of the Marketplace Shopping Center

- $2,500 from Sand Hill Property Company, which is developing Main Street Cupertino

Rod Sinks

• Sinks has raised $19,732 this year
• He donated $2,300 to his own campaign
• Over half of his money came from small donations
• Donations of $1,000 or more came from:

- Thorston von Stein, a biotech consultant and his campaign treasurer, $2,000

- Linda Sell, an engineer who is active with Sinks in the Bay Area Clean Environment group, $1,782

- David Tsang, CEO of Oak Technology, $1,200

- Bill Almon, founder of Lehigh watchdog group Quarry No, $1,000

- Richard Lowenthal, former Cupertino mayor, $1,000

- Della Flint, no occupation listed, $1,000

Homer Tong

• Tong has loaned his campaign $15,000, nearly half of the $29,000 he's raised
• His biggest donations include $1,500 from Sue Chang, Councilmember Barry Chang's wife, and $1,100 from Michelle Hu, an individual investment advisor at First Allied Securites

Gilbert Wong (See above for more information)

• Wong's biggest donations:

- $5,000 from Annie Chan (see Miller list above)

- $5,000 from 500 Forbes, LLC in Redwood City; Peter Pau, of Sand Hill Property Company, is listed as a principal officer 

- $5,000 from Prometheus Real Estate Company, which reportedly owns Cupertino City Center Apartments

- $5,000 from Shashi Corporation 

- $5,000 from De Anza Properties, owned by John Vidovich

- $3,500 from California Real Estate PAC 

- $2,500 from Modena Investments LP

- $1,800 from Gay Lim, retired

- $1,000 from C.C. Yin, a founder of the Asian Pacific Islander Public Affairs Association and owner of McDonald's franchises

• Just over half of Wong's donations came from smaller amounts, and from a $1,000 loan from Wong himself

Chris Zhang

• Zhang has raised the least amount of money from only one donor: $2,500 from Sean Zhang
• He has $20,000 in outstanding loans, $7,500 each from Damon Frach, owner of ACM Billing in Santa Clara, and Lin Ye, owner of Ye Lin Acupuncture in Milpitas, with the rest, $5,185, coming from Zhang himself
• Zhang has spent $4,762 on radio advertising to Sound of Hope Radio, KRTY Radio and Sing Tao Chinese Radio
• He spent $311 on Facebook advertising