The eight candidates for Burbank City Council received a total of roughly $191,000 in campaign donations by mid-October, according to final pre-election disclosures.
According to publicly available filing records, donations, during Burbank’s 2017 primary election, which also featured eight council candidates, totaled less than $81,000.
Two council seats will be decided in the election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Though contributions wound down across the board during the most recent reporting period, from Sept. 20-Oct. 17, real estate broker Paul Herman again raked in the most money — more than $16,600, bringing his total to nearly $52,700. He spent nearly $14,500 during that reporting period, making his total expenditures through Oct. 17 more than $46,600.
Nearly 120 named entities donated to Herman’s campaign by that deadline; donors are named in contribution statements if they gave $100 or more.
Committees that contributed included the Los Angeles County Business Federation, Burbank Firefighters, the California Apartment Association, the California Real Estate Action Committee and the Glendale Republican Assembly.
Receiving roughly $11,700 during the recent period, disability services provider Konstantine Anthony had the second-highest donation total as of the reporting deadline, at more than $43,300. He spent about $15,700 during that period, and a total of about $32,400 by Oct. 17.
Anthony also received donations from about named 120 entities, including committees representing Democrats for Neighborhood Action, a branch of the Unified Food and Commercial Workers union and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
State Deputy Attorney General Nick Schultz, whose campaign had the most contributions earlier in the race, received less than $5,800 during the reporting period, bringing his total to around $38,400 — ranking him third among the eight City Council candidates as of Oct. 17. His campaign also spent about $10,800 for that period, bringing his total expenditures by the reporting deadline to just over $30,000.
Schultz had about 110 donors who gave $100 or more, with nearly 20 being political action committees or other groups. Those included Burbank Firefighters, the California Apartment Association and Democrats for Neighborhood Action, as well as a number of unions and Democratic candidate committees for other elections.
Tamala Takahashi, owner of High Bridge Solutions in Burbank, received a little over $18,000 through mid-October, including about $3,300 during the most recent reporting period. Her campaign has spent nearly $3,000 during that same period, or roughly $16,000 overall as of the deadline.
About 120 named entities, including the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters, donated to Takahashi.
Councilman and attorney Timothy Murphy had the next highest total for donations at less than $15,400, receiving about $3,400 of that total between Sept. 20 and Oct. 17.
His exact spending amount is unclear, however. His reported total through Oct. 17 was about $10,600, but when the Leader added together the expenditures from the most recent period with the previous periods, the total was only about $8,200. Murphy said in an email that he was working on submitting a new filing with the city clerk.
Nearly 70 named entities donated to Murphy’s campaign. The three committees that contributed were the ApartmentAssociation of Greater Los Angeles, the Burbank Realtors’ Association and the California Apartment Association.
Retired claims analyst Linda Bessin was not far behind Murphy in donations received, with a total of nearly $14,800; her campaign received almost $1,000 during the most recent reporting period. No political committees were counted among her roughly 30 named donors.
Actor and screenwriter Michael Gogin received $354 in donations between Sept. 20 and Oct. 17, though that amount was reported after his campaign used $1,000 of the period’s contributions to pay part of a $4,000 loan Gogin had issued to it.
The total of contributions to his campaign was about $8,100.
However, while his campaign reported having spent $8,800 through Oct. 17, adding together the expenditures from the period with that of previous periods produces a total of nearly $9,600. Gogin said in an email that he was looking into the issue and would let the Leader know when he had more information.
Gogin’s campaign received donations from about 20 named entities, including from the Glendale Republican Assembly.
Finally, substitute teacher Sharis Manokian confirmed in an email that she continued to expect less than $2,000 in contributions during the race, exempting her from having to submit a more detailed report.
Voters have been casting their ballots throughout last week — and potentially longer ago, if by mail. Burbank voters will help decide who serves as the nation’s president and weigh in on a variety of state elections and propositions.
Besides choosing two council members, Burbank voters will also elect three Burbank Unified School District Board of Education members and a city treasurer.
