Money Money Money

Heather McClure, Excel Story

In the end, it was the campaign contributions that spoke loudest in the San Diego City Council elections of 2000; the candidates with the highest campaign contributions, not shockingly, came out with the victory.

With three spots to fill, six candidates were vying for their spot on the city council. The top three, not shockingly, were those with the highest expenditures—expenditures of more than $8 million for the total campaign. Adams, McDonald and Peterson won the candidacy. Each had significant contributions from the Teachers’ Union and the Save Our Planet Organization, which had the largest donations for the entire election, with $32 million in total giving.

The Teachers’ Union gave a hefty $12 million for which close to half was given to McDonald’s campaign. The Save Our Planet Organization gave the largest donations, accounting for a total of $20 million for which the largest portion was given to Peterson. Both McDonald and Peterson won.

While each of the winning candidates accumulated more than $8 million individually, the bottom three candidates each raised less than $4 million each. Peterson had the most funding, with $11.3 million. Next in line was McDonald with $9.3. The third highest contributions came from Adams, who brought in $8.6 million in funding. Johnson, Smith and Thurston—the bottom three candidates—accumulated a combined $7.4 million.

When compared to the previous election period in 1996, two of the most significant changes were the vast increase in overall donations and the overall use of money donated. While direct mail pieces were the most popular form of advertising for candidates in the 1996 election, television commercials proved quite beneficial to the victors in the 2000 race.

Each of the three winners spent more than half of their total funds on the pricey production of television advertising, for a total of $20 million in costs. More so, more than half of all the campaign funds of all six candidates—approximately 56 percent in total—went to television marketing. Smith’s decision to spend only $1.2 million on such advertising may have had an impact on the final results, for which he did not prove victorious. And for Thurston and Johnson, who did not use television advertising at all, the same might also be true.