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Joe Simitian’s quest to retake his former seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is benefiting from a strong lead in cash raised, newly released campaign-finance documents show.

Simitian, a former Palo Alto mayor who is now in the final year of his term in the state Senate, has raised more than $96,000 as of the end of 2011, compared to about $55,000 raised by his rival, Kathleen King. Simitian and King were vying for the seat currently held by Liz Kniss, who is termed out and is seeking to return to her former seat on the Palo Alto City Council.

King confirmed Wednesday, Feb. 1, that she is withdrawing from the race due to her son’s medical issues.

Simitian’s campaign funds came from a broad range of contributors, including local developers, businesses, labor unions, individual donors and other political campaigns. The campaign of Alan Lowenthal, Simitian’s colleague in the state Senate, gave Simitian’s campaign $500, as did the Senate campaigns of Juan Vargas and Kevin de Leon.

Former Palo Alto Mayor Gary Fazzino contributed another $500 to Simitian’s campaign, while Councilwoman Nancy Shepherd gave $100.

Simitian also drew $500 contributions from various unions, including the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the California Nurses Association and the California Professional Firefighters. He also received $500 contributions from several major companies, including Applied Materials and Union Pacific Railroad.

Palo Alto developers also chipped in. Charles “Chop” Keenan and Roxy Rapp each donated $500, while Jim Baer gave Simitian’s campaign $300.

Simitian also loaned $10,000 to his own campaign.

King, a former Saratoga mayor who now serves as executive director of the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, drew much of her campaign cash from health-care professionals, businesses and residents in the central and southern parts of the county, including Saratoga, San Jose and Campbell.

She received $500 contributions from top executives at various Saratoga companies, including ME Fox and Co., PMG and Cirrus Logic. Michele Bolton, owner of Executive Edge Consulting in Campbell, contributed $500, as did the company’s chief operating officer, Lloyd Bolton.

Nutritionist Nancy King contributed another $500, while Paul Taylor, chief executive officer of Momentum for Mental Health gave $100.

The campaign-finance documents also show Simitian outspending King by a two-to-one margin. He had spent $14,924 as of Dec. 31, compared to King’s $7,471.

Gennady Sheyner covers local and regional politics, housing, transportation and other topics for the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Online and their sister publications. He has won awards for his coverage...

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21 Comments

  1. Update:

    King dropped out yesterday (Jan. 31) and there are three other challengers – Jay Cabrera, Barry Chang, and Kris Wang.

    I hope someone beats Simitian.

  4. I will not be voting for Smitian. I generally agree with his positions, but I don’t like career politicians. They should go back to private life and let someone else have a chance.

  5. In his “There ought to be a law” competition, Simitian also asks people for laws that should be taken off the books — and I think several have been over the years.

  6. Career politicians like Joe are bought and paid for by developers, business and unions.

    No one represents the taxpaying middle class.

    Now Mountain View has a new apartment developer on the scene, Prometheus, and has political “friends” that will be beholden to its contributions.

    Democracy is dead

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