Which Elk Grove City Council Member Will Win 'Fundraiser of the Year' Award

January 27, 2016 |

As the end of the first month of the year is quickly approaching, Elk Grove City Council members will be filing their annual California Form 460's - the financial disclosure that reveal who they received contributions from. Although 2015 was not an election year, there was plenty of action that ought to make it a tight three way race.   

Of the five council members, Steve Detrick was the first to disclose all of the 2015 contributions via his 460 filings. Last year Detrick raised $45,444 from 42 contributors. 

Not a bad take for someone who ran unopposed in 2012 and currently has no known opponents. We can only imagine if someone announces their entry into this year's District 3 race that the two-term councilman will be able to fire-up his very well-oiled donation machine given the money he raised during the off-election year of 2015.

Although he was elected to a four year term in 2014, within two months of being sworn-in Councilman Steve Ly raised  $35,735 in the first six months of last year. Ly has yet to file his second half disclosure, so given his dash to fundraising while the ink was still drying on his oath, the first term could be on pace to raise a boat load of money.

Conversely, the council's two longest-tenured members, Mayor Gary Davis and Councilman Pat Hume, were essentially inactive fundraisers last year. Unopposed in 2014, during the first six months of 2015 Hume had no cash contributions as did Davis, who is expected to be challenged this year. 

The most interesting financial disclosures to analyze will undoubtedly be Councilman Darren Suen's. Appointed to the city council, Suen did not have the pressures of fundraising in his accession to the council yet will benefit from contributors in the development community who will probably view him as one of their own.   

Last summer Suen was the beneficiary of a fundraiser organized by Joshua Woods, executive Director of the very powerful Region Business (called Region Builders at the time) developer lobbying and advocacy group. When Suen files his 460's in the coming days, Elk Grove voters will be able to glean what sort of council member he will develop into.

Will he be the Darren Suen who desires an amenity rich, smart growth type of city like Irvine, Calif that he extolled in the Elk Grove Citizen article? Or will he just be another political hack like the Mayor, Councilman Hume and The Steve's scurrying around grubbing for money from the developers who want nothing more than turn what is left of Elk Grove into more of the same soulless car-dependent suburban sprawl filled with rooftops, blinking billboards and fast food joints?

We'll have a pretty good idea in the coming days what Suen's true vision of Elk Grove is, as well as which council member is the contributors BFF.