It’s less than one month away from the Aug. 1 Sammamish City Council primary and fund raising by the candidates ranges from nearly $20,000 to nothing, an examination of filings with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission reveals.

The data below is through June. Each raised more money since then.

Minal Ghassemieh (Position 3) and Rituja Indapure (Position 5) raised the most money, at $17,384 and $19,400 respectively. However, only a small portion of their fund raising came from Sammamish: 26% of contributors totaling $5,050 for Ghassemieh, and 32% of the contributors donating $6,296 for Indapure.

Mark Baughman (Position 1) hasn’t raised any money, but there is no primary for this position. His sole opponent, Jason Ritchie, raised $3,569, who is self-funding most of his campaign so far.

John Robinson (Position 7) raised $1,500, of which $1,000 is from himself.

Local support

The level of local support for each candidate is important, both in numbers of contributors and in the amount raised.

Local support indicates a candidate’s outreach into the community, whether the support is broad-based and how the support spans ideologies and special interests in these non-partisan races.

Examining the PDC filings for the primary races (Positions 3, 5 and 7) shows little in the way of contributors except for Ghassemieh and Indapure.

However, these two show an imbalance between local and outside support so far, with most of their contributors coming from outside Sammamish.

Robinson only has one contributor besides himself, who is from outside Sammamish. Howe so far is entirely self-funded.

Hooshangi also has few in-Sammamish contributors, as does Curtright.

Position 1

Mark Baughman v Jason Ritchie

This position won’t appear on the Aug. 1 ballot because there aren’t three or more candidates running. Baughman and Ritchie automatically advance to the Nov. 1 ballot.

Baughman hasn’t raised any money through June.

Ritchie reported raising $3,569.55, of which $2,456.49 was a personal loan to his campaign.

The labor union SEIU 775 Quality Care Committee donated $500. The balance of the contributions came from in-kind contributions.

Howe v Ghassemieh v Moran

Howe

Howe so far is entirely self-funded.

Ghassemieh

Ghassemieh tops the candidates for Position 3, both in number of donors, total funds and in the number of large donations, with just nine donors having funded over half of the total.

Top Contributors:

ANGOLKAR RAJ	$1,000
KODE RAHUL	$1,000
KODE SEEMA	$1,000
KODE SHAILA	$1,000
KODE VISHAL	$1,000
SHANBHAG DARSHANA	$1,000
THE CHEESEMAN CORPORATION	$1,000
TRIPATHI KEYUR	$1,000
TRIPATHI TARUL	$1,000

Corporate contributor, the Cheeseman Corporation, is a food service distributor in Woodinville owned by Hassan and Hossein Ghassemieh.

Looking at just the 27% of Ghassemieh’s donors that are in Sammamish, the $5,050 total eclipses her opponents’ efforts.

Moran

Moran raised just $950 so far, from six contributors, all of whom live in Sammamish. One of the contributions is from Sheri Valderrama, wife of incumbent City Council Member Ramiro Valderrama. Another is from Lloyd Warren, her co-commissioner on the Sammamish Plateau Water district.

A third contribution is from Nancy Whitten, a former Sammamish City Council member.

Position 5

Hooshangi v Indapure v Ross

Hooshangi

Hooshangi reports raising $5,010 from 17 contributors, including Republican King County Council Member Kathy Lambert ($30). Just $1,850 is from four Sammamish residents. No contribution is from a company or special interest group.

Hooshangi’s top contributors are:

Indapure

Indapure raised $19,400 through June and spent $6,466.

Seventy-nine contributions are reported, including from Democratic State Rep. Judy Clibborn of Mercer Island. Clibborn represents the 41^st Legislative District, which includes the southern half of Sammamish.

Twenty-five Sammamish residents contributed $6,296 to Indapure’s campaign, including Council candidate Jason Ritchie (a Democrat).

Two special interest groups contributed: ATU COPE Voluntary Account of Silver Springs (MD), $1,000; and SEIU 775 Quality Care Committee of Seattle, $500.

Her top contributors to date are:

Ross

Ross reported raising $3,065, of which $2,000 is a personal loan. He reported 10 contributors, seven of which are from Sammamish. Included in the latter is Sheri Valderrama, wife of incumbent City Council Member Ramiro Valderrama, who is not up for election this cycle. She contributed $75. Of the $1,050 that did not come from Ross, $505 came from Sammamish residents.

No special interest group contributed to Ross’ campaign.

Position 7

Stuart v Curtright v Robinson.

Roger Chapanis dropped out of the race last month, too late to remove his name from the ballot.

Stuart

Stuart raised $5,834 through June, including a $1,250 personal loan. There were 21 contributors, including 11 from Sammamish who contributed $1,750. Jason Ritchie, a candidate for Position 1, contributed $100. Marcie Maxwell, a former Democratic state representative from Mercer Island (41^st Legislative District, southern Sammamish), contributed $50, as did current State Rep. Judy Clibborn, also of the 41st (D-Mercer island).

There were no special interest groups.

Curtright

Curtright reported raising $3,971, including a $250 personal loan. Eight Sammamish residents contributed $625.

There were no contributions from special interest groups.

Robinson

Robinson raised $1,500 through June from three contributions, including two $500 donations (as opposed to loans) from himself. Another $500 was contributed from a Washington (DC) resident.

By Scott Hamilton and Jen Baisch.