Finance Reports In for Mayoral Primary : Cleator Outspent O’Connor 2 1/2-to-1

San Diego City Councilman Bill Cleator has outspent former Councilwoman Maureen F. O’Connor by 2 1/2-to-1 in the San Diego mayoral primary, campaign finance reports filed Monday show.

The finance reports show that, as of March 17, Cleator had received contributions totaling $296,572.40 and had spent $271,204.44. In contrast, O’Connor received $120,379.13 in contributions and reported expenditures totaling $113,185.07.

“I think what it shows is that we worked hard and got a lot more for our money,” said O’Connor, who topped Cleator, 46%-30%, in the 13-candidate Feb. 25 primary. “When you’re outspent that substantially and still win by the margin we did . . . you’re doing something right.”

Although the campaign disclosure reports filed Monday covered the period from Feb. 9 to March 17, most of the expenses reported were incurred before the primary. During that five-week period, Cleator raised $137,057.20, compared to $61,445.11 for O’Connor. Similarly, Cleator’s expenses during that period were more than double those of O’Connor--$168,788.77 to $74,579--showing that he dramatically outspent the former councilwoman during the primary’s closing days.

Cleator had a $22,503.26 surplus in his campaign treasury as of last week, while O’Connor’s balance was $1,722.84, according to the reports. In the last week, O’Connor has raised an additional $6,000, her campaign officials said.

David Bain, O’Connor’s campaign treasurer, said Monday that O’Connor spent about $111,000 during the primary. He said the additional $2,000 in expenditures listed on her finance report was spent after Feb. 25 on miscellaneous office expenses and other bills. Cleator’s campaign accountants were still working on his financial disclosure statement late Monday, making it impossible to determine his precise pre-primary spending total. (The deadline for filing the campaign reports was midnight Monday.)

O’Connor said Monday that she was “particularly proud” that her primary campaign’s cost was well below the $150,000 spending ceiling that she established. O’Connor has suggested that a similar voluntary spending limit be established for the runoff, but Cleator has not yet responded to her proposal.

“The primary’s results show that you can run a viable campaign without having to spend an outrageous amount of money or accepting development money,” O’Connor said. O’Connor has pledged not to accept campaign contributions from developers, to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest on land-use decisions if she is elected.

However, she has received several thousand dollars in donations from what she terms “development interests,” including real estate agents, architects and mortgage bankers. In contrast, Cleator, who has argued that it is “wrong to exclude anyone from the political process,” received tens of thousands of dollars from developers in the primary.

“The people want to see campaign costs brought under control and want to make sure that their elected officials aren’t beholden to special interests,” O’Connor added. “I’m determined to abide by those wishes, regardless of what Mr. Cleator decides to do.”

Cleator could not be reached for comment Monday night.

O’Connor’s finance report also showed that, as of March 17, she had not contributed any of her own money to her campaign. In her narrow 52%-48% loss to former Mayor Roger Hedgecock in the 1983 mayoral race, O’Connor, the wife of multimillionaire businessman Robert O. Peterson, was heavily criticized for spending more than $560,000 of her own money on her campaign. O’Connor has said that she hopes to not spend any of her money in the runoff but has stopped short of ruling out that possibility.

Television and radio advertisements were the major expenses listed on O’Connor’s finance report, totaling about $40,000, or more than one-third of her campaign budget. O’Connor also spent about $30,000 on her neighborhood campaign organization and get-out-the-vote effort, and paid her New York-based consulting firm, Dresner-Sykes and Associates, about $11,000. The remaining $30,000 in expenditures covered various costs such as polls, campaign signs and miscellaneous headquarters expenses, including rent and nearly $8,000 in telephone bills.

The contributions to O’Connor’s campaign ranged from a $1.04 donation from Anthony Carini, a San Diego student, to 343 $250 contributions, the maximum individual donations allowed under city campaign laws.

A similar breakdown of Cleator’s contributions and expenses could not be made Monday because his report was not expected to be completed until late Monday.