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Lisa Henry has raised the most money in her campaign for a seat on Mountain View Whisman’s school board, leading the pack in a race where only three of eight candidates have raised enough to even have to report their donations at all, according to campaign finance disclosures.
Henry’s campaign has brought in $8,770 in donations – including $1,500 that she contributed herself. She also loaned her campaign another $1,500.
Christine Case-Lo’s campaign has raised the second largest amount, with $6,149 in monetary donations – including $250 she contributed herself – and another $457.25 in non-monetary contributions. Charles DiFazio’s campaign has raised $3,423 – including $750 that he contributed himself. These totals cover the year through Oct. 19.
The other five candidates in the race – Erin Davis-Hung, Shawn Dormishian, Nancy Mize, Ana Kristina Reed and Raymond White – have all filed paperwork indicating that they plan to raise and spend under $2,000 this year. That puts them under the limit where it becomes necessary to disclose more specific campaign finance information.
The eight candidates are vying for three open seats on the Mountain View Whisman School District’s board. No incumbents are running. Laura Blakely and Laura Ramirez Berman both opted not to run for reelection, and Chris Chiang departed this summer after announcing in May that he planned to move to Redwood City.
To learn more about the race, check out our profiles of each candidate, as well as a Q&A comparing the candidates side-by-side on major issues. The Voice is also covering a range of other local races, including for Mountain View City Council and the Mountain View Los Altos High School District’s board.
Lisa Henry
Henry has brought in $10,270 in total contributions this year. That includes $1,500 in loans she made to her own campaign and another $1,500 that she donated.
Her other donors include Leadership for Educational Equity California, a committee that contributed $1,000. Democratic Activists for Women Now also pitched in $500.
Henry has also gotten contributions from local elected officials and candidates, including $200 from current Mountain View Whisman school board member Laura Blakey, $250 from Los Altos School District board member Jessica Speiser (who is running for Santa Clara County Board of Education), $100 from Mountain View City Council member Lucas Ramirez, $250 from City Council candidate IdaRose Sylvester and $200 from Palo Alto City Council candidate Cari Templeton.
She also received $250 from the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund. Henry has volunteered since 2018 with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group that is part of Everytown for Gun Safety. She co-led Moms Demand Action’s California chapter for over two years.
Christine Case-Lo
Case-Lo has raised $6,606.25 – $6,149 of which was in monetary contributions and the remaining $457.25 from non-monetary contributions. This includes $250 that Case-Lo contributed to her campaign.
Her largest donors include Mountain View residents Jeremy Manson and Deborah Henigson, who pitched in $1,000 and $500, respectively. Henigson is the treasurer of Case-Lo’s campaign. Case-Lo also received $500 from Democratic Activists for Women Now.
Contributions from local elected officials and candidates include $200 from Blakely, $250 from Speiser, $200 from Sylvester, $250 from Mountain View Los Altos High School District board member Thida Cornes and $200 from Mountain View City Council candidate and former Mountain View Whisman board member José Gutiérrez.
The $457.25 in non-monetary contributions cover a range of items Case-Lo bought for her campaign, including web address domain names, thank you cards and items to give away at ice cream socials. Her father Richard Case also bought printer paper and toner for the campaign, according to the disclosures.
Charles DiFazio
DiFazio has raised $3,423, all in monetary contributions, including $750 that he contributed to his campaign.
His biggest donors include San Jose resident Greg Grothaus, who donated $525, and Mountain View resident Pardis Beikzadeh, who contributed $500. Henigson, Case-Lo’s treasurer, also donated $500.
As for local elected officials and candidates, Ramirez donated $250 and Sylvester contributed $100.
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Top three look like the most capable of the lot. Not exactly an inspirational group of people that have done much at the district level to-date, but I’ll take it for now.
Haven’t Nancy Mize and Shawn Dormishian dropped out of the race?
Yes. They are out.
@Ramirez – uh? I see their names on my ballot!
// And for Mize, I see her Candidate Qualification Statement in my official Voter Information Guide while I do not see Dormishian’s. // and nether has been reported by The Voice as withdrawing, have they?
Seems there are 6 ‘somewhat active’ candidates out of 8 ‘on-the-ballot’.
You are both right. They are on the ballot and they ‘dropped out’, as in they explicitly said they don’t want to be elected.
The Voice did report vote (it’s not easy to find, it’s a small line in each of their profiles)
1/2 right? I sure did find a Shawn Dormishian withdrawal comment added to the Profile article!
I sure did not find such a withdrawal comment on Mize in that Voice article. Or any active web-site of hers to add ANY INFORMATION. She might have been an OK / no-one else is interested fill-in.