Campaign Season Spending
In Which: Unions splash big cash on incumbents, Cops rent a building from a church, and Former Foster Youth get rental assistance to keep them on track.
City Council Campaign Updates
The September Campaign Finance deadline recently passed, so let’s take a look at the money that City Council Candidates have been raising.
Union Wallets Are Strong
In Hayward, the biggest money in town is from building and construction unions. With so much development on the horizon—not to mention those sweet Measure C contracts—the trade unions have a vested interest in City Council races. The biggest beneficiaries in the last reporting period were Councilmembers Angela Andrews and Dan Goldstein.
Andrews got big donations from the Public Employees Union Local 1 (not a building trade), the Alameda County Labor Council, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 595, totaling over $4,000. But Dan Goldstein went big, getting donations from Laborers Local 304, Sprinkler Fitters Local 483, IBEW Local 595, Alameda County Labor Council, and UA Local 342—the Plumber’s union—for a total of almost $8,500.
Weak Fundraising Times
In contrast to the large cash injections to Andrews and Goldstein, Ray Bonilla Jr and Francisco Zermeño took in modest amounts of money. Zermeño only received $2,400 and Bonilla only a little over $2,000. But this isn’t to say either is suffering from a lack of funds.
Ray Bonilla spent the first half of 2024 pulling in more money than any other candidate in that time period—even with minimum fundraising, he still has $29,000 on hand. He doesn’t seem to be making big efforts to court trade unions, though he did get a $1,500 donation from the Alameda County Labor Council. His early fundraising means he can focus on securing endorsements and other soft-power plays.
Francisco Zermeño has never been a stellar fundraiser, but his name-recognition has always been an asset. But Zermeño still has over $20,000 on hand to fund flyers and door hangers, plus he’s well connected with the Eden Area Democratic Club. Combined with his 40 years of former students, it’s unlikely that Zermeño has to worry about buying his way into name recognition.
The Time To Spend Is Now
Now is the time to spend all that money. Zermeño spent about $700 on postcards and flyers. Meanwhile Goldstein spent $2,200 on PDI for “Voter contact software” which he’ll presumably use for phone banking and text banking.
Bonilla also, presumably, bought the same software—he spent the exact same amount at PDI. But he’s also bought some literature ($437) and other promotional material ($670). Most of his money has been spent on political consulting, though—over $4,000 on Eldridge Political Partners LLC. Jordan Eldridge is listed as Bonilla’s Treasurer and Eldridge has also been a part of other establishment campaigns.
Andrews also spent big on consulting—$7,500 to The Next Generation. Bear in mind, this was only between July 1 and the end of September. She’s also purchased stickers, flyers, and even trading cards to the tune of over $1,400. The Hayward Politics Trading Card Game may not be a crazy idea after all.
What About The Other Guys?
The other three running for City Council—Tom Ferriera, Joe Ramos, and Tom Wong—filed a Form 470 which means they’re alleging that they haven’t raised more than $2,000 nor spent more than $2,000 during the reporting period. But that means they won’t have a candidate statement in the County Voter Guide, which costs over $3,000.
Although I’ve seen some of Tom Wong’s door hangers around town, from what I’ve seen from everyone else’s filings it can be pretty cheap so long as you’re not mailing them. And Tom Ferriera has been using the same banners around town for 6 or 8 years, but they’ll be at a big disadvantage not having a statement sent to every voter in the City.
What’s This All Mean?
Each candidate has their own campaign strategy and fundraising can hint at who they want to align with politically. For example, Dan Goldstein has leaned into the building trade unions, so maybe they’ll expect to be kept in mind during the next round of construction projects. But Ray Bonilla has barely courted any unions at all aside from the Labor Council, so maybe he isn’t as politically aligned with them.
On top of that, what they spend their money on is an indication of how they approach the community. Zermeño is pretty clearly presenting a “man of the people” vibe—he made a big loan to his own campaign, hosts community parties and events, and is cozy with local business owners. But Andrews is spending big on political consultants who are likely going to push for a different approach—though I can’t imagine what advice is worth $7,000.
We All Deserve Consent… Items
The following are Consent Items on the city Council agenda. That means that the Council probably won’t be saying much about them, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important. Let’s see what’s being approved without discussion this week.
HPD Extends Lease With Baptist Church
For the last several years, the Hayward Police Department (HPD) has been renting out a facility from Palma Ceia Baptist Church for their “South Resources Center.” It’s unclear what this building is used for beyond “building trust between HPD and the community,” according to the Staff Report. But it seems to be working out well for both of them, as the City will enter into a 3-year lease with the Church for $54,000 per year.
It’s an interesting situation to have a church tied so closely with HPD like this, especially considering Jesus was killed by law enforcement. It’s also another reminder of how much of your tax dollars are going toward burnishing the image of HPD when it could be used to directly address the problems our community is dealing with, instead.
Rental Assistance For Former Foster Care Youth
The City of Hayward will use over $400,000 in Alameda County HOME funds to pay for rental assistance for emancipated and former foster care youth. This money supports young people who are sometimes still in High School, but don’t have a home to live in once they age out of the system.
According to the staff report, in order to qualify, participants need to be “either fully emancipated youth or 18 years or older and have aged out of the foster care system, experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness, and demonstrate the ability to enter housing, including signing a lease agreement, abiding by the rules, and agreeing to pay the $75 deposit and first month’s rent.” And once they’re in, they have to come up with a goal-setting plan and pay either $75 or 30% of their adjusted income in rent—whichever is more.
Although this seems like a lot of support, these are some of our most vulnerable young adults. The program allows them to finish their education, enroll in vocational training, and overcome their psychological traumas all while living independently. It’s also a homelessness reduction strategy—paying their rent is a lot cheaper than supporting them on the street. I only wish there was more money to fund programs like this, especially when they seem to be working.
District Voting Gets Final Vote
This will be the last time I dedicate a session to this because it’s getting the final vote tonight. It’s all been settled—you can read about that below, if you missed it—but this will make it law and set our course for 2026. It’s going to be a wild one.
Battery Backups for Street Lights
You know how sometimes the power goes out and then the traffic lights go out and there’s a ton of traffic because nobody knows what they should do at a complicated intersection that we’re supposed to treat like a stop sign? I mean, we muddle through, but it’s usually worse than if the lights were there. Well the City is going to buy some battery backups for traffic lights at 9 major intersections.
It’s unfortunately going to cost more than $500,000 over a 3-year contract—which makes it sound like it’ll have to be renewed regularly and cost even more—but this also feels like something that we should have had ages ago. With the increasing climate breakdown—and all the power outages that come with it—this is a good bit of infrastructure that will help make emergencies a little more manageable.