Caldwell won race on the cheap

Supervisor’s campaign spent $50,000 to Simpson’s $160,000, records show

By KERANA TODOROV
Register Staff Writer

Keith Caldwell spent $50,400 — less than a third as much as his opponent Gary Simpson — in his successful bid to become the member of the Napa County Board of Supervisors representing District 5, final campaign finance records show.

Simpson, the former Napa County sheriff, spent close to $160,000 between July 2007 and December 2008, according to campaign finance reports filed Feb. 2 with the Napa County Clerk’s office. He ended the campaign, which included a June primary and November runoff, debt-free.

Caldwell said he came up a little shy in his fundraising and paid $6,000 to cover outstanding bills.

The former American Canyon fire chief said this week that he tried to run a grassroots campaign that did not require big fundraising.

To put a cap on expenses, he limited the number of mailings of political fliers, each run of which can cost as much as $6,000. Instead, Caldwell said he walked as many neighborhoods as he could. In Coombsville, where houses are often far from the road and pedestrians can only make it as far as the gate, Caldwell scheduled coffee meetings and sent campaign post cards.

For his part, Simpson said he sent six or seven mailers and paid for radio spots and newspaper advertisements.  “Obviously, that was not enough,” he said.

Running in a district where half the votes came from American Canyon was a tough go, he said. “A popular fireman from American Canyon is hard to beat,” he said.

In addition, Democrats turned out in force for Barack Obama in November and the Democratic Party in Napa came out for Caldwell.

“The Republicans didn’t do that for me,” Simpson said.

Mark Joseph, Caldwell’s campaign treasurer and former American Canyon city manager, on Friday said the campaign “didn’t really want to raise so much we would be beholden to anybody.”

Simpson, who ran successfully for sheriff five times, including four times unopposed, has not ruled out another future race. “You never know,” he said.

In the meantime, he has no regrets, he said.  “You just take your best shot,” Simpson said. “I’m not bitter about a thing.”

Both Caldwell and Simpson raised little-to-no money in the waning days of the campaign, finance forms show.

Simpson received no money last quarter. Caldwell raised $150.

According to the campaign finance disclosure forms, Simpson raised about $162,000 in 2007 and 2008, including $4,000 in nonmonetary contributions.

Caldwell reported raising about $44,000 between July 2007 and December 2008, including $5,000 in nonmonetary contributions.

District 2

In the District 2 campaign for supervisor, incumbent Mark Luce won the election in a runoff campaign with 70 percent of the vote over Harry Martin, publisher of the Napa Sentinel and a former Napa City Councilman.

Luce raised about $172,000 and spent about $157,500 between July 2007 and December 2008, his campaign finance forms show. Luce finished the year with about $15,000 in cash on hand.

Martin reported raising about $9,000 and spending about $4,000 in newspaper advertisements in the Sentinel.

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