Money for nothing

This is about the time that the primary-election campaigns really begin to heat up. But many local races are already over. Important elected posts like district attorney are going uncontested. And a third of the Sacramento City Council members will retain their seats with no challengers at all. That hasn’t stopped them from raking in the cash, however. Meanwhile, some of us still have to work for a living.

Roger Dickinson, running for re-election to the County Board of Supervisors, has drawn heavily from local developers and construction unions. His $84,191 wad seems to have scared off any competitors.

Kenneth Stieger has no competition either for county assessor. It’s a fairly obscure position. But Stieger’s taken no chances, and he had $23,818 on hand according to the most recent campaign reports.

Jan Scully is running for her fourth term as district attorney. Scully raised a whopping $64,475 in 2005 and as of March 17 still had nearly $40,000 to play with. Should be a hell of victory party.

City-council members Ray Tretheway and Robbie Waters never had any competition. In fact, the Sacramento City Council even considered canceling elections for their seats and appointing the two incumbents outright. That would have made it impossible for any late opponents to run a write-in campaign. The council ultimately decided that wouldn’t be very democratic. Yet, they’ve got $68,061 and $113,972, respectively, to do with as they please.

And finally Steve Cohn, running to retain his city-council seat, can coast to re-election now that challenger Bruce Pomer has stopped campaigning. Cohn’s $100,176 is just so much gravy.