MISSION VIEJO : Candidates Hold Off Fund-Raising Push

In a council election that political observers say will cost $25,000 or more to win, most candidates have yet to make their major fund-raising push, according to mandatory campaign finance reports filed Friday.

Only two of the 14 candidates for three council seats in the Nov. 6 election have collected more than $10,000 and those campaigns are being bankrolled by personal loans from the candidates themselves.

Susan Withrow, an municipal employee of Dana Point, has raised $28,275 with all but $775 coming out of the candidate’s pockets. David Holbert, who works for the Orange County assessor’s office, has loaned his campaign all $10,866 shown in his financial statement.

Gary Manley, a real estate agent, loaned himself $4,200 of the $7,704 his campaign has raised while Marilyn MacDougall, a Lake Forest teacher, has backed her council bid with a $3,800 loan to bring her total contributions to $5,522.

No other candidate listed more than $5,000.

Holbert has spent the most so far--$8,266. Withrow follows closely with $8,179 in expenditures while Manley spent $7,211.

However, several candidates have major fund-raisers planned this month and most are expected to wait until a second deadline for filing campaign finance statements in late October.

“What you will see is that everyone holds back from showing major fund-raising and expenditures,” said Councilwoman Victoria C. Jaffe. “(Candidates) will even hold off beyond the second reporting date by getting pledges and make expenditures off those pledges.”