Tiburon council election is less than a week away

Tiburon Town Council candidate Isaac Nikfar has outspent opponent Stefanie Cho more than 5-to-1 so far, according to final pre-election campaign-finance reports.

Both candidates filed at the Aug. 17 deadline. Election Day is less than a week away, on Aug. 29.

Nikfar reported he has spent $8,190 on his campaign and received no financial contributions to date.

He listed $4,200 to San Francisco-based SpeakEasy for campaign mailings, $3,000 to The Ark for advertising, $750 in filing fees to the town and county, $150 to Constant Contact for email marketing and $90 to FedEx for campaign flyers.

Nikfar reported all his spending came in the second pre-election reporting period, which covered July 16 to Aug. 12. He has said he was waiting for ballots to be mailed July 31 to gear up his campaign.

Nikfar had been required by the California Fair Political Practices Commission to file his first pre-election report, for Jan. 1 to July 15, by July 20 but failed to do so. The second required report shows he had no campaign activity during that period.

Candidates must also file contribution reports within 24 hours if they receive a total of more than $1,000 from a single source. A semi-annual report, covering activity between Aug. 13 and Dec. 31, is due Jan. 31, 2024.

Cho’s report shows she has increased her fundraising by another $200, to $2,255 total. Amy Kalish of Mill Valley donated $100, as did Lorin Schneider of Tiburon, during the latest period. Kalish is an activist for stronger local controls on housing and operates Citizen Marin.

New expenses were just $26 in service charges — $14 for the fundraising portal on her campaign website and $12 to Bank of Marin — bringing her total to $1,599.

Cho and Nikfar are vying for the Town Council seat vacated in January by Noah Griffin, who resigned for personal reasons. The winner of the Aug. 29 special election will serve on the five-member board for the remainder of Griffin’s term, which ends in November 2024. They would then be eligible to run for a full four-year term.

Reach Executive Editor Kevin Hessel at 415-435-2652.