Shriver Shatters Fundraising Record

By Jorge Casuso

February 3 -- Bobby Shriver spent $373,000 on his successful City Council bid, shattering all previous records by an individual candidate in a local race, according to an analysis of the campaign finance statements filed with the City Clerk this week.

Shriver, who had raised a total of $316,611, also a record, finished with $38,345 on hand and a campaign debt of $92,657, according to the disclosure statement, which covers the period between October 16 and December 31.

Shriver’s war chest -- which included a $100,00 loan to himself -- counted on donations from hundreds of contributors, among them Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Michael Douglas, as well as the heads of half a dozen movie and television studios.

Shriver’s campaign expenditures surpassed the quarter of a million dollars spent by Council member Herb Katz in 1988, which spurred changes in the City's campaign laws. And it dwarfed the $97,218 spent in 1996 by former council member Paul Rosenstein, the most that had been spent under the current $250 limit for individual contributions.

"Shriver's spending was huge," said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and an expert on campaign finance reform. "But you need to look at SMRR's (Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights) spending for its candidates in Santa Monica. They spend so candidates don't have to."

But Shriver’s expenditures not only far exceeded those of any other individual candidate -- the second largest amount, $93,000, was spent by former council member Michael Feinstein -- it was more than double the $164,916 spent by SMRR, the powerful tenants group that has run City government for most of the past 25 years.

And the amount spent by Shriver’s campaign doesn’t include the $189,440 spent on his behalf by Santa Monicans for Change, an independent expenditure committee funded by the owners of Hotel Casa del Mar and Shutters on the Beach Hotel.

The committee, which spent $354,529 on the council race, also backed Katz, Mateo Dinolfo and Kathryn Morea, who along with Shriver were backed by the Chamber of Commerce.

Feinstein’s total expenditures -- largely bankrolled with a $64,756 loan to himself -- were followed by Katz’s $74,821 and Dinolfo’s $61,257. Morea spent $24,673.

Unlike fundraising frontrunners Shriver and Feinstein, Katz did not lend his campaign money.

“Some people spend their own money,” said Katz, who is serving his fourth term on the council. “I don’t believe in that, but if someone wants to do it, if they have the money, that’s okay.”

In addition to the money spent by SMRR, the four candidates backed by the tenants’ group also counted on contributions to their individual campaigns.

Council member Ken Genser spent $37,562, followed by Council member Richard Bloom with $36,527, Patricia Hoffman with $22,571 and Maria Loya with $18,473.

The Police Officers Association for a Better Community also spent money on behalf of Genser, Bloom and Hoffman, as well as Shriver. The police spent $10,489 on behalf of each of the candidates.

Independent candidate Bill Bauer raised a total of $7,699, according to the statement. By closing time Wednesday, the clerk had not received statements for the other four candidates -- David Cole, Jonathan Mann, Leticia Anderson and Linda Armstrong.

Shriver, who led all candidates with 23,260 votes, spent about $17 per vote, compared to second place finisher Bloom, who spent about $2.20 for each of his 16,710 votes.

A member of Kennedy family, Shriver relied on an extensive network of contributors largely comprised of powerbrokers from outside Santa Monica. Of the 356 contributions received by Shriver during the latest filing period, 97 were made by local residents.

In addition to big name stars and studio heads, Shriver received donations from William Hearst III, heir to the newspaper tycoon; Barry Diller, the former studio mogul and head of USA Interactive; Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Steve Soberoff, president of Playa Vista.

Shriver also received donations from major Santa Monica stakeholders, including officials of the Macerich Company, which plans to redevelop Santa Monica Place. Four of company’s top-ranking officials and their attorney contributed a total of $1,200 to Shriver’s campaign.

Robert Maguire, whose company Maguire Partners recently purchased Lantana, and the heads of Douglas Emmett Realty, the city’s largest residential landlord, also contributed to Shriver’s campaign.

Jonathan Stroud contributed to this report