Will ‘The Mother’s Milk’ of Politics Flow For Hume in 2010 Like it Did in 2006?

If money is the mother’s milk of politics, a question Elk Grove City Council Member Pat Hume has to be asking himself is 2010 going to be a whole-fat sort of year as it was when he first ran in 2006 or will it be a skim-milk sort of year?


When Hume first ran for city council against then-council member Rick Soares, the economic and political environment in Elk Grove was far different. Economically, although the rose of the housing boom was showing the first signs of wilting, there was still a great deal of hubris amongst real estate developers that the housing boom would continue.

Hume was able to tap into that well of percolating opportunism among real estate developers and literally raise tens of thousands of dollars for his campaign. Where do you think all those potholders came from?

Four years later the hubris amongst Hume’s real estate developer patrons has, in at least one case, been replaced by bankruptcy. Consider the case of one of Hume’s most generous patron’s, Reynen & Bardis.

In 2006 Reynen & Bardis was flying high. A few years earlier the local developer has started development of its portion of the now-stalled master planned community, Laguna Ridge.

Times were fat as evidenced by the cash contributions they splashed on Hume. In his 2006 campaign, the company and it two partners, Christo Bardis and John Reynen, gave Hume a total of $22,995.

The world, or at least Elk Grove, was their oyster. Or so they all thought.

Less than two years later, the blossom of the real estate rose had completely wilted and things started to crash. Subsequent to that Reynen & Bardis, the company and the individuals, were financially ruined.

While Reynen & Bardis was one of Hume’s biggest real estate patrons, they weren’t his only one. A review of Hume’s financial disclosures from 2006 show a host of real estate developers and trade groups also gave significant contributions to his campaign.

Fast forward to 2010 and some of those same real estate interests are either bankrupt or seriously hobbled. This is a problem for Hume.

With his campaign mounting no serious fund raising since 2006 and based on the dependence of real estate money in his first campaign, if money does indeed equate victory in politics, Hume appears to have been seriously crippled.

While Hume did receive some labor money in 2006, outside of some likely public safety labor association contributions, it is doubtful he will receive anything close to the labor contributions that fellow council members Jim Cooper, Gary Davis and Steve Detrick have garnered.

In Hume’s favor, with less than nine months to go before the election, he has no announced opponents. Unless a strong candidate enters the race in the next months or so, Hume can hope to play against the clock.

Playing against the clock though is never a smart strategy and with piles of labor money sitting along the sidelines, a strong candidate should be easy to recruit and the race will be on.

If this happens, 2010 could prove to be skim-milk sort of year for Hume.