Self-funding shapes Manhattan Beach council race spending
Mark Burton has put more of his own money into the Manhattan Beach City Council race than the other three candidates combined have raised from donors. Burton lent his campaign $39,500. Through Oct. 17, the close of the last reporting period before the Nov. 3 election, donors had given him $6,375. His own loans account for 86 percent of everything his committee has taken in. The filings, made with the City Clerk under state law, show a race shaped by the city’s $250 cap on individual contributions, and particularly by the one exemption to that rule. The cap does not apply to a candidate’s own money. Two of the four candidates, Burton and Planning Commissioner Joseph Ungoco, have leaned into that exemption. The other two candidates, incumbent Amy Howorth and former councilmember Richard Montgomery, have run primarily on donors, though both also made loans to their own campaigns, $2,156 from Montgomery and $2,000 from Howorth. The four candidates are competing for two seats. Montgomery leads in donor money with $15,931 from 65 itemized contributors, followed by Howorth with $14,235 from 52. Burton’s $6,375 came from 24 donors and Ungoco’s $4,100 from 19. Counting loans, Burton’s…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com