Candidates Offer Glimpse of Campaign Balance Sheets

It was show-your-cards time Thursday in California’s gubernatorial and U.S. Senate contests, as the candidates revealed their campaign balance sheets for the first half of the year.

The collective statements affirmed this truth: If you’re not rich, it helps to be unopposed.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer reported $2 million in the bank for her reelection bid, more than any of her GOP challengers. Republican state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren had $2.56 million stashed toward his run for governor.

Neither Lungren nor Boxer faces serious primary opposition.

In the Democratic contest for governor, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis reported $3.8 million in the bank. Businessman Al Checchi reported $2.4 million. But unlike Davis--or, for that matter, any other candidate on the horizon--Checchi has a net worth of roughly $550 million and has professed a willingness to dig deeply to self-finance his campaign.

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Similarly, car alarm magnate Darrell Issa has vowed to tap his $250-million fortune to finance a bid for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. He reported $1.8 million in his campaign’s account.

With little to go on at this early stage of the political season, the financial statements released Thursday offered a modest gauge of each candidate’s potential viability going into the 1998 election year. The reports reflect contributions and expenditures for the first half of 1997.

At the same time, however, the money figures are hardly a flawless forecaster. Six years ago, the two U.S. Senate candidates who had the most cash at this stage of the race--Democrat Mel Levine and Republican Tom Campbell--both lost in the June primary.

The winner on the Democratic side was Boxer, who at this equivalent point in 1991 had collected the fewest contributions among the three major contestants.

This time, Boxer demonstrated the advantages of incumbency. She reported raising $1.76 million in the first six months of the year and spending $767,975, leaving her roughly $2 million after carrying over $1 million from last year.

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On the Republican side, state Treasurer Matt Fong raised $953,231 and spent $404,970, leaving $548,261 in the bank. San Diego Mayor Susan Golding raised $341,651 and spent $109,812 in the first half of 1997, leaving $231,839.

Issa contributed $2 million to his own campaign. After raising $15,483 and spending $247,677, he reported about $1.8 million on hand after the first six months of the year.

In the governor’s race, candidates are operating under the new restrictions of Proposition 208, the voluntary spending-cap initiative approved by voters last fall.

Lungren and Davis have both agreed to abide by its provisions, which limit contributions to $1,000 and hold spending for the primary to $6 million. Additionally, the measure prohibited candidates from raising contributions until June 2, one year before the 1998 primary.

Lungren began the year with $2.5 million in the bank and now has roughly the same amount after raising $550,000 in June to cover most of his spending during the first six months of the year.

On the Democratic side, Davis reported $3.8 million in the bank after carrying $3.9 million into 1997. He raised about $200,000 in June and spent roughly that amount in the first half of the year.

Checchi, who will probably exceed the Proposition 208 limits, donated $3 million to his campaign in December and has done no fund-raising since. He reported $2.4 million in the bank after spending about $650,000.

Two other potential Democratic candidates for governor--U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and former Monterey Rep. Leon Panetta--had no financial activity to report.