Quick Take
Service Employees International Union Local 521 has spent big in Santa Cruz County supervisor and Santa Cruz City Council races this cycle. Santa Cruz Together and the owner of a local pedicab also jumped into independently advertising local candidates ahead of Tuesday's primary election.
More than any other organization, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties’ labor organization Service Employees International Union Local 521 has made sizable investments in the election of half of its six-candidate city and county slate.
Instead of direct campaign donations (which the union has also made), the investments have come in the form of independent expenditures. These kinds of expenses are made toward promoting the candidate, but do not involve any communication with the candidate’s campaign.
Between mailers and digital advertisements, SEIU spent $74,419.73 promoting District 1 county supervisor candidate Lani Faulkner, District 1 Santa Cruz City Council candidate Dave Tannaci and District 3 Santa Cruz City Council candidate Joy Schendledecker.
Notably, the union did not spend any direct advertising dollars on its other three local candidates: District 2 supervisor candidate Kristen Brown, District 5 supervisor candidate Monica Martinez and District 5 city council candidate Joe Thompson.
Martinez and Brown are each on busy ballots where a runoff election is likely. Although Thompson is in a head-to-head race, their opponent Susie O’Hara did not declare her candidacy until late November, a month after SEIU made its endorsements and election plans.
SEIU did not comment on the story. Ian Newman, SEIU 521’s communication specialist, said via text that commenting on the story would require wrangling “a dozen member leaders” who would then “need to meet and discuss” before the organization could discuss its campaign spending strategy. That process did not meet Lookout’s publication deadline.
Form 496s track only expenditures made within 90 days of the election. At least in terms of 90-day election spending, the $31,820 spent on digital advertisements is a newer strategy for SEIU in local elections. In the 2022 election cycle, the union spent $69,622 promoting supervisor candidates Felipe Hernandez and Justin Cummings, but the 90-day spending was almost exclusively on mailers.
Although SEIU has spent the most on independent advertising for candidates in this election cycle, it is not the only organization to do so.
Santa Cruz Together, the politically influential group that began out of a rent-control fight in 2018, has spent over $19,000 on its position in five local races. The group spent $3,516 each on mailers for Santa City City Council candidates Gabriela Trigueiro and Susie O’Hara, as well on the reelection campaigns of incumbents Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and Sonja Brunner. The group also spent $5,000 fighting Measure M, the ballot initiative that seeks to limit the city council’s ability to increase building heights.
James Aidan Hosler, owner of the Santa Cruz pedicab company Rainbow Rickshaw, spent over $5,550 on 200 T-shirts promoting Faulkner, Martinez and Brown in their respective supervisor races.
__
FOR THE RECORD: This article has been updated to correct Ian Newman’s position with SEIU 521.
__
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.