Candidate Funding

Candidates must file funding reports three times during a campaign.

     1) About a month before the election (9/29/2022 for the 11/7/2022 General Election)

     2) Two weeks before the election (10/27/2022)

     3) Final report (1/31/2023)

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Below is a summary of the first reports for the three MOFD races and the Orinda City Council race.

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The MOFD Board represents the best interests of the residents of Orinda, Moraga and Canyon.  The Orinda City Council represents the best interests of the residents of Orinda.  To the extent that any of the candidates are heavily supported (financially) by entities outside of Orinda (and Moraga for the MOFD Board candidates) there is a potential conflict of interests.  Obviously, there are exceptions, namely friends and relatives from out of town.  But there are also four red flags and in this year's races.

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Three red flags are in the races for the MOFD board and they are the same three that appeared four years ago.  Three candidates are receiving 100% of their funding from a "local" employees union based in Sacramento.  Each of the three candidates have received $1,700 in funding to date.  Four years ago these candidates had received only $1,000 funding from the employees' union by this first reporting period but by the end of the campaign that funding had totaled $10,000 for each; out-funding the competition by a significant amount and winning all three races by small margins (in aggregate, less than 2% of the vote). 

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The opponents are funding almost completely from local donations, with one candidate getting some money from individuals from out of town but they look like relatives and friends.

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The fourth red flag is in the race for Orinda City Council where six contenders, all non-incumbents, are running for three seats on the council.  One candidate, Brandyn Iverson, has received almost $11,000 from real estate interests from outside of Orinda.  Ms. Iverson has been a member of the Planning Commission and one of her prime concerns is the development of downtown Orinda.  Being supported by outside development interests raises eyebrows.

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We hope voters will take these facts into account when deciding who will best represent local concerns.