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Funk takes San Luis Obispo County fundraising lead

February 4, 2024

Atascadero Councilwoman Susan Funk

By KAREN VELIE

Susan Funk has blown past her rival Heather Moreno in the fundraising battle for the District 5 San Luis Obispo County Supervisor seat, according to the SLO County Clerk Recorder’s Office.

While there are three SLO County Board of Supervisor seats up for grabs, incumbent supervisors John Peschong and Dawn Ortiz-Legg are running unopposed. Even so, both have raised a significant amount of money.

Campaign finance reports show Atascadero Councilwoman Funk has outpacing her opponent Atascadero Mayor Moreno in fundraising for the District 5 race. Funk collected $304,693 in donations while Moreno raised $264,889 in monetary and non-monetary donations.

District 5

The district includes Atascadero, Santa Margarita and portions of Templeton and San Luis Obispo. District 3 leans conservative, with 1,113 more registered Republicans than registered Democratic voters.

Moreno, a Republican, and Funk, a Democrat, are vying to fill the seat currently held by Supervisor Debbie Arnold, who elected not to run for reelection.

Through Jan. 20, Funk raised $304,693 in cash and non-monetary donations. Multiple unions donated $5,500 to Funk along with two Cambria residents, Michael Armstrong and Cynthia Steigel.

Notable donors include SLO County Supervisor Bruce Gibson at $3.437, Assemblywoman Dawn Addis at $5,500 and Don Ernst, an attorney who has secured lucrative contracts from the county, at $4,000.

Through Jan. 20, Moreno raised $264,889 in cash and non-monetary donations.

Two contractor and builder unions each donated $5,500 to Moreno. She also received $5,500 donations from business woman Noreen Martin and Brandi Dicker, a homemaker from Arizona.

Tom Madden, an attorney with Adamski, Moroski, Madden and Green – a law firm that represents multiple county government bodies, donated $2,500.

District 1

The district runs inland from the Monterey County line to Templeton and includes Paso Robles, San Miguel, Shandon and part of Templeton. Peschong raised $104,308 in cash and non-monetary contributions through Jan. 20

Noreen Martin, a Paso Robles based business woman, donated $3,000 to Peschong, the largest of his campaign during the past seven months,

Homemaker Gina Boneso donated $2,550 while real estate agent Diana Cassidy donated $2,050.

District 3

When former District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill committed suicide in 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Ortiz-Legg to finish his term. Even though she won the 2022 battle to finish Hill’s term, that term ends in Dec. 2024.

The district includes Grover Beach, Pismo Beach and a portion of San Luis Obispo. Ortiz-Legg raised $80,372 in cash and non-monetary contributions through Jan. 20.

A carpenters union, mortgage broker Steve Hollister, and farmer Robert Schiebelhut each donated $5,500 to Ortiz-Legg’s campaign.

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Correction: Dawn Ortiz is not running unopposed, there is a write-in candidate, her name Michelle Morrow.


1

To wit: KPRL callers this morning were reminding the listeners that Funk wanted to shut down the gun shops during the pandemic for no good reason other than “they were dangerous” — whatever that means in her dictionary — yet another Democrat statist control freak


11

Please. Vote for candidates who will not kowtow to public employee unions. Vote for candidates who will take that whole system apart, piece by piece.


17

I SUPPORT Mrs. Heather Moreno.


While Heather Moreno has a proven track record of leadership, Susan Funk counts out-of-district donors, union thugs, and far-left politicians like Bruce Gibson, Jimmy Paulding and Dawn Ortiz-Legg as the basis of her candidacy.


The extreme left wants Susan Funk so they can control the bureaucracy, raise taxes and approve poorly thought out development, and voters need to use vote-by-mail to secure Heather Moreno as our new 5th district supervisor.


Elections have consequences, vote in March.


10

At the Atascadero Lake Pavilion, this Wednesday February 7th, between 6 to 8 PM, there will be a forum hosted by the Latino Outreach and the League of Women Voters. Both candidates will be present and certainly the public is invited. Ask questions, hear the answers and get ready to make your choice.


16

Whoever wins, I hope they have a conviction of principle other than their own myopic political future. Case in point, Jimmy Paulding. From an apolitical (didn’t even vote) attorney to a full-time professional politician, poor Jimmy doesn’t have soul. He advocates for strategic planning in everything so that he doesn’t have to do anything. He abhors the Dana Reserve project but doesn’t have the political courage to say so, just works behind the scenes desiring to kill the project with the hopes that his subterfuge will go unnoticed by the big dollar developers with whom he desperately seeks favor. He runs from the shadows of former opponent, Lynn Compton. She lives rent free in a major portion of Paulding’s skull and her political ghost spotlights his meekness of action. He pontificates ethics all the while seeking Planning favors for his own mother’s project.  But Mom be aware, you’ll be the first thrown under the bus at the hint of an opportunity to advance Jimmy’s political future. Susan or Heather please promise us more than this, we deserve better. 


25

Well we can see right off the bat that Funk isn’t the one the rest of us want for this, not when Gibson, Addis and some lawyer that gets high dollar contracts from the county are shoveling money to her.


38

Will they do anything about the “walking dead” or continue to pretend that people care more about painting roads green?


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