What It Costs to Run for Fort Bragg Council: Under $5,000, Most of It Spent Locally

FORT BRAGG, Calif. — No candidate for the Fort Bragg City Council has spent more than about $5,000 this year, and half of them are spending significantly less.

Eight people are running for three four-year seats on Nov. 3, and their campaign finance statements — filed with the city clerk and now covering the heart of the race — show a contest run on carefully monitored budgets.

The most expensive campaign has spent just under $5,000, the four
campaigns that filed full statements have spent less than $15,000 combined, and most of that has gone to a handful of Fort Bragg businesses.

Half the candidates have declared to the city that they do not expect to raise or spend $2,000. A candidate in that position can sign a one-page Form 470 and name no donors or expenses at all, and four did: Mayor Jason Godeke and challengers Richard Ulveling, Levi Cooke, and Mary Ann Schmidt. Godeke told an Oct. 2 candidate forum he had taken no contributions and spent "about 150 bucks on some door hangers."

The other four raised enough to require creating a committee and disclosing where the money came from. Mary Rose Kaczorowski, a journalist and artist, is running the most expensive campaign in the race, at $4,748 raised and $4,974 spent. Council Member Tess Albin-Smith's committee reported about $4,058 in expenditures, including $821 in donated goods and services. Challenger Scott Mayberry spent $3,298.61, and Vice Mayor Marcia Rafanan spent $2,535.14. For scale, the two earlier Fort Bragg candidates whose full filings MendoLocal.News has obtained spent less than any of them: Scott Hockett's 2024 campaign spent about $1,542, and Kaczorowski's own 2022 run about $1,101.

Almost all of that money stayed in town. Rafanan spent all but $100 of her $2,535 at Good Morning Graphics, the printer on South Franklin Street; the remaining $100 went to the county for voter information. Kaczorowski spread hers across Good Morning Graphics, the printer Mendo Litho, and 45 radio spots on Fort Bragg's KOZT-FM; Mayberry put most of his $3,298.61 into signs and mailers at
Good Morning Graphics, with $500 for a campaign event at the Noyo Fish Company. Albin-Smith spent $1,500 on local radio, $821 on in-kind services and also $252 to sign company in Iowa and $222 the online printer VistaPrint in Texas.

Most candidates paid their own way. Rafanan's $2,535.14 and Mayberry's $3,298.61 came entirely from the candidates themselves, and the four who filed the short form declared that they did not expect to raise or spend $2,000. Only two campaigns ran on money from others: Kaczorowski's, funded by individual donations and contributions from the Coast Democratic Club and the North Bay Labor Council, and Albin-Smith's, which also drew $1,450 from four political organizations.

Two candidates filed their full campaign statements after the state deadlines. Rafanan and Mayberry each filed the short Form 470 in early August, and each now reports more than $2,000 in spending from their own money. Rafanan’s first pre-election statement, covering July 1 through Sept. 19, was due Sept. 24. According to the city’s posted filings, she filed it Oct. 20. Her second statement, due Oct. 22, was filed Oct. 21. Mayberry’s second pre-election statement, covering Sept. 20 through Oct. 17, was due Oct. 22. He filed it Oct. 27, and on Oct. 30 he amended it to list his individual expenses. Kaczorowski and Albin-Smith filed their second statements by the deadline.

No candidate reported a late contribution of $1,000 or more, and no independent-expenditure committee has surfaced in the race. The final statements, due Feb. 1, will close the books on what a 2026 council seat cost.

Reporting note: Dollar figures are cumulative for the calendar year through Oct. 17.