In race for chief election official, campaign finance records show Francescut has received more than double the donations of her opponent Curtis

In the lead up to the June primary, Joanna Francescut has received more than double the donations of her competitor, current Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis. Those numbers reflect a review of public campaign finance records as of mid-April. 

The primary election is set to take place in less than a month — on June 2 — where Shasta voters will decide who will be the county’s next elections official. It’s a race that’s being watched closely by locals and is also being monitored at the state and national level. Since being appointed last spring, Curtis has made headlines for issues ranging from using his role to discredit former election officials to dismissing a poll worker when they pushed back on his political commentary during training. Late last month, the county also substantiated findings of abuse against his staff, something Curtis firmly denies. 

Francescut, who was Shasta’s long-term assistant ROV before Curtis fired her just days after being appointed last year, was passed over for appointment to the role of ROV by county supervisors last spring. She has received more than $113,000 in donations to her campaign since last March, an analysis of campaign finance records shows. Curtis has received about $51,000. 

The records show that both candidates received most of their donations from inside the county. Some of Curtis’ donations have come from current and former election commissioners, as well as individuals associated with two local media groups, Shasta Unfiltered and Mountain Top Media. 

Francescut received several donations from ROVs in other counties as well as from several state assembly members, including Gail Pellerin, who was the author of AB 969, a bill that prohibited hand-counting on the state level after a local push to do so in Shasta. 

Who were the major and standout donors to Curtis’ campaign? 

Two dozen individuals and organizations donated more than $500 to Curtis out of approximately 160 total donors to his campaign so far. 

His biggest donor to date is former Shasta Elections Commissioner Bev Gray, who donated $3,790. Richard Wilkinson was the second largest donor at $3,310. 

Another Day In Paradise, a massage therapy business in Redding, donated $3,260. Shasta Election Commissioner Margaret Hansen designates herself as the business’ owner and operator on her Facebook page, but the business has no listing on the state’s business registry site.

The next highest donors, in order of donation size, include: 

• Shasta County Republican Central Committee: $2,000
  • Multiple members on the committee also donated individually to Curtis, including Garrett Hall, Deidre Holliday, Michele Tyson and Brenda Haynes. 
• Mark Kent: $1,995
  • Kent is the president of Northstate Consultants and the owner of Mountain Top Media. Over recent years, he’s helped funnel significant amounts of funding from outside the county to support campaigns helping shift the board majority over recent years by supporting the campaigns of former Supervisor Patrick Jones, and Supervisors Chris Kelstrom and Kevin Crye.
• Kari Chilson: $1,305
  • Chilson is one of the five original proponents of Measure B and a founding member of Shasta Unfiltered, a newly launched local media organization. Several other members of Shasta Unfiltered also donated to Curtis’ campaign, including Elisa Ballard, Margaret Cantrell, Jerry Sanchez and Rex Ballard.
• Ronnean Lund: $1,265
  • Lund is a member of both the Shasta County Elections Commission and the Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation District — or ACID — board. 
• Andy Oilar: $1,150
  • Oilar is listed as the contact for A.G. Oilar Ag. Development, an agricultural development company based in Fall River Mills.
• Jon Knight: $1,075
  • Knight is the vice president of the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control board of trustees and affiliated with Mountain Top Media.
• Ruth Weiss: $1,000
  • Weiss is listed as the VP and director of the Election Integrity Project California. She has spoken on multiple TV news interviews about voter fraud in California. 
• Cherill Clifford: $1,000
  • Clifford is the vice president of the Shasta County Republican Assembly and former president of the Gateway Unified School District board of trustees.

All of the five original petitioners behind Measure B are Curtis donors, including Chilson, Holiday, James Burnett, Richard Gallardo and Laura Hobbs. 

The majority of Curtis’ donors reside in Shasta County, though a few thousand dollars came from San Diego County. His campaign was also funded by several out-of-state donors from Texas, Florida, Illinois, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia. Out-of-state donors contributed about $2,000 to his campaign.

Who were the major and standout donors to Francescut’s campaign? 

Thirty-five individuals donated more than $500 to Francescut, who has over 300 donors in all. 

Her three largest donors so far have given $2,500 each. The donors were Lyle Tullis, who’s the president and CEO of asphalt production and construction material company Tullis, Inc., Wendy Johnston, the vice president of Vestra Resources, Inc., a GIS solutions company, and Sierra Pacific Industries. 

The next highest donors include: 

• Judy Salter: $2,000
  • Salter is the former president and CEO of Turtle Bay.
• Charles Menoher: $1,595
  • Menoher is the former superintendent of Shasta County Schools.
• Allen Kost: $1,514.80
  • Kost is on the Redding Bikeway Action Plan Advisory Committee.
• Gail Pellerin: $1,500
  • Pellerin is the California state assemblymember for District 28 and was the author of AB 969. She is also a former ROV. A couple other assembly members also donated to Francescut’s campaign, including Patrick Ahrens of District 26 and Chris Ward of District 78. 
• John Langum: $1,500
• Tammy Cole: $1,500
• Theodore Palfini: $1,500
  • Palfini is a wealth advisor at Cavalot Capital.

Most of Francescut’s donors reside in Shasta, though she had a couple dozen donors from other counties, including Contra Costa, Humboldt, Alameda, Solano and Sonoma Counties. She received only a few hundred dollars from out-of-state donors, from states including Missouri, Montana and South Dakota. 

Multiple individuals holding the position of registrar of voters in other counties donated to Francescut’s campaign, including Humboldt ROV Juan Pedro Cervantes, Del Norte ROV Alissia Northrup and Santa Clara ROV Matt Moreles. 

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