Last Financial Update For Council
In Which: Councilmembers take Realtor PAC money, Zermeño mails direct to you, and Goldstein is doing something, I'm sure.
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City Council Election Updates
We just passed the final Campaign Finance Reporting Deadline last week, so we can dig into who has been donating to the City Council candidates and what they’ve been spending their money on. With only 7 days until Election Day, this will probably be the last financial update until long after the election.
California Real Estate PAC (CREPAC)
Councilmembers Andrews, Bonilla, and Goldstein received $1,743 each from the California Real Estate PAC. Notably, Councilmember Zermeño did not receive a CREPAC donation.
The Real Estate lobby, which includes CREPAC, is one of the most powerful interest groups in the entire state. CREPAC alone has given almost $2,000,000 to the California Democratic Party and over $500,000 to the California Republican Party. They’re also tied to the California Apartment Association—more on them in a second—and the prison guard lobby.
The Real Estate lobby has been working for years to undermine any legislation that will improve the housing situation in California. After all, real estate agents earn a percentage of whatever the home sells for, so anything that lowers the cost of a home directly hurts their pocketbooks. That’s why they have such close ties to the Apartment Association—landlords can charge more rent if property values are high.
It’s possible that Andrews, Bonilla, and Goldstein won’t be swayed by such a donation, but it’s telling that Angela Andrews returned a $200 donation from PG&E in June. One can only assume that Andrews didn’t want to be seen as cozy with PG&E—a widely disliked corporation that shouldn’t exist—and yet she’s fine taking money from CREPAC.
Although Building and Construction Trade Unions have donated far more, accepting CREPAC money should be something we’re all aware of when Councilmembers discuss affordable housing: Andrews, Bonilla, and Goldstein have taken money from a trade group that is completely opposed to that.
Angela Andrews
$26,453 Spent in 2024
$22,714 Available
The reporting period happened just before Andrews held a big fundraiser this past weekend, so this information is definitely going to be dated—though what she’ll do with the extra money is anyone’s guess this close to the election.
Andrews finally resolved a set of reporting errors between her campaign and Greg Melancon. According to the September filing, Melancon transferred almost $4,000 into Andrews’s campaign in error—at one point they were listed as loans, at another they were listed as donations—but the issue seems to have been resolved. $3,775 was repaid to Melancon on October 5th.
The majority of Andrews’s money has been spent on campaign consulting this period. $4,595 was paid to The Next Generation in Oakland to cover campaign consulting, website development, and organization software. Andrews has spent at least $10,000 to The Next Generation for campaign consulting since August, which would be about half of the money she’s spent this calendar year.
Andrews seems to have placed a lot of her bets on Downtown business owners. She’s been the only sign up in the windows of Downtown businesses that I’ve seen. It was a strategy I remember her using in 2020, along with then-City Council candidate Elisa Marquez. But this year, it’s not a strategy other candidates have really embraced.
Ray Bonilla also dropped a big $1,000 donation for Andrews just before her big Halloween fundraiser. It was a personal donation—not from his campaign—so this feels a bit like monetary musical chairs. It feels like more of a way to solidify a political alliance than to have any material impact on Andrews’s campaign—especially this late in the season.
Ray Bonilla Jr
$30,875 Spent in 2024
$18,005 Available
This was another quiet fundraising period for Bonilla—he definitely front-loaded his fundraising. Other than the big CREPAC donation, he received just under $1,000 from the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club PAC and $1,000 from IFPTE #21, plus a big donation from the Teamster’s union.
For his spending, the majority of it went to printing—over $12,000 in printed literature—with some more going to political data and texting from Scale To Win (a little over $1,000). The lit is likely going to pay off because the Democratic Party office’s canvassers have been dropping flyers like no tomorrow—but you have to have something there to drop off.
Dan Goldstein
$10,15 Spent in 2024
$12,660 Available
Dan Goldstein has not been a prolific fundraiser or spender. He’s spent less than half of what Andrews has spent and 1/3 of what Bonilla has spent, and still has less on hand than either of them. His fundraising this time was equally small, mostly small donations with a $1,100 donation from the NorCal Carpenter’s Union. He also got a donation from Julie Roche for $100—also likely to solidify a political camaraderie.
He must be hoping that the incumbency is worth a lot of money, because in 2022 he spent over $47,000—mostly on literature and mailers. This year has been much more quiet. He’s spent less than $500 on literature.
It’s difficult to know if Goldstein is phoning it in this time around. The redistricting has made sure he’ll be out of office in 2028, so he may be just riding things out to see where they land. We’ll see if he can coast his way to victory this time around.
Francisco Zermeño
$29,362 Spent in 2024
$9,040 Available
Zermeño continues to primarily court small individual donors—though he got a $500 contribution from the East Bay Animals PAC. Even with his birthday event, it’s only added up to a little over $2,500. Notable donors include Ron Meyers and a non-monetary contribution from Alejandro Gamarra—restauranteur and owner of Buffalo Bill’s.
Gamarra’s non-monetary donation was a donated campaign event, but the total of donated events by Gamarra have been estimated at $1,500 this year—making him one of Zermeño’s top donors.
It’s easy to speculate that Ron Meyers is cozying up to Zermeño in a potential bid for the 2028 District 4 seat. Zermeño is currently living in that district, but after this campaign will have been in office for 20 years. Between Meyers’s seat on the Planning Commission, his trunk at Trunk or Treat, and his frequent attendance at City Council meetings, it has all the hallmarks of a long-term play for a Council seat.
For spending, Zermeño dropped over $12,000 on mailers and a further $500 on flyers. I know I received a mailer from Zermeño, so that kind of money is presumably hitting a lot of homes.
What About The Others?
Tom Wong, Joe Ramos, and Tom Ferreira all filed a Form 470—if they filed anything at all—saying that they took in and spent less than $2,000 for that filing period. That means they’re relying entirely on non-monetary means of getting the word out. Goodness knows Tom Ferreira has been using the same banners for the last 3 elections and a few months ago I got a 2022 flyer on my doorstep.
I still think they rely on an underground network of conservative Facebook and church groups as well as a healthy dose of Identity Voters—I like Tom Wong because I’m Asian and so is he—to get their votes. Aside from a few visits to City Council public comment, Tom Wong has been quiet. I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of Joe Ramos aside from HUSD Board meetings. And other than his usual presence on Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force, I haven’t seen much of Tom Ferreira beyond word of him chumming it up with Ron Meyers at Trunk or Treat.
So What’s Happening?
Not a whole lot, in all honesty. The strong campaigners are campaigning strong—Andrews and Bonilla are getting and spending money at a rate of knots. Zermeño, and presumably Goldstein, are relying on incumbency and name recognition to carry them. Zermeño can probably carry that, it’s less certain if it’ll be enough for Goldstein.
Again, this election is the local calm before the big storm in 2028. With at least 2 seats completely vacant that year, who knows what’ll happen—Bonilla and Zermeño will be the only incumbents that cycle.
But even if the incumbents all sail to an easy win, it’ll still be up to you to keep an eye on them and hold them accountable to their campaign promises. No matter who is in office, they should answer to you. I’ll keep an eye on Council so you can keep them in line.