The first campaign finance documents are in, and City Councilmember Glen Becerra has thus far raised the most funds in this year’s municipal election.

With $46,018 in reported donations, the three-term incumbent has raised more than any candidate for City Council and more than either man in the mayor’s race. Becerra is one of six candidates running for two seats on the council.

The first pre-election campaign finance filing isn’t due until Oct. 5. However, most of the candidates seeking city office have filed a disclosure statement covering the period of Jan. 1 through June 30.

To view each candidate’s campaign finance statements, visit the city’s website at www.simivalley .org and click on the city clerk link. The statements detail where the contributions are coming from and how the money is being spent. Becerra said he’s been so successful in his fundraising because he started early.

“I’ve been working at this for almost a year, putting together my race because I knew it was going to be one of those . . . unusual election seasons,” he told the Acorn, adding, “I like to say that it’s based on years of hard work and good service to the community, and people are supportive.”

The chief of staff for the local public affairs division of Southern California Edison, Becerra has received more $1,000 contributions—the maximum allowed by the city’s campaign finance ordinance—than any other candidate.

He also received a $100 donation from embattled Bell Chief of Police Randy Adams, who lives in Simi Valley.

Becerra said Adams is an “acquaintance,” someone with whom he built a professional relationship as a council member when Adams served as chief of the Simi Valley police force from 1995- 2003. But after the controversy surrounding Adams’ bloated salary emerged, Becerra felt he had to return the money.

“At the time he sent it, everything seemed to be fine, but once the controversy happened, not in good conscience could I keep that. Even $100, I didn’t think that was right,” the council member said.

Thus far, Becerra has spent $6,437 on his campaign.

Fellow incumbent Michelle Foster, who also returned a $100 donation from Adams, is the No. 2 fundraiser in the City Council race thus far. She’s reported $17,024 in donations and has spent $13,375.

Foster also returned $100 from Loren Bloch, the president of Santa Monica-based homebuilder Community Dynamics. The developer has proposed building 43 single-family homes at the southwest corner of Royal Avenue and Corto Street, a project that was recently given a thumbs-up by the city’s planning commission and will go to the council for a final decision Sept. 20.

Becerra received $250 from Bloch but didn’t return it.

Becerra said he’s not breaking any rules or laws by accepting the donation from Bloch and he didn’t see anything improper with it. He added that the developer hasn’t been and won’t be receiving any preferential treatment because of his contribution.

But Foster felt returning it was “the right thing to do.”

“His company has a pending project before the city, and I felt the most conservative approach to that would be to return his contribution . . . to remove any appearance of a conflict,” she said.

Following Foster in fundraising is LAPD officer Mike Judge, whose contributions total $1,884 thus far. He received $650 in donations of $100 or more. The rest of his contributions are not itemized since they were less than $100. Judge has spent $915.

Council candidates Keith Mashburn and Mitch Green have raised no funds, according to the initial statement, but Mashburn loaned himself $1,000 on June 17 to kick off his campaign. Ken Sandberg has yet to file a disclosure statement.

As for the candidates for mayor, Bob Huber is leading Steve Sojka in reported donations. Through June 30, Huber had raised $35,520 while Sojka had collected $28,426 in monetary contributions.

Huber—a local attorney who owns the Law Offices of Huber & Takasugi—loaned himself $11,000 on May 28.

Other than Mashburn, he is the only candidate to take out a loan to help finance his campaign.

Huber said he didn’t see taking out a personal loan as atypical, adding that he needed the loan to pay for campaign expenses that came up before he’d had any fundraisers.

“This time, remember, I’m running against a 12-year incumbent who’s had a campaign set up for years. They had money carried over from other years,” he said. “When you start from ground zero and you’re running against incumbents, most people fund themselves through a loan.”

So far Huber has spent $18,077 on his campaign—more than any other candidate.

By comparison, Sojka, his opponent, has spent $13,334. He returned $500 from Jonathan Friedman of JemStreet Properties. Friedman now owns and is following through on development plans for Happy Face Hill.

Though the housing project was approved five years ago, Friedman came before the council in May to get the project’s expired building grants reapproved.

Sojka said he sent the donation back for “perception and transparency.”

However, Sojka did keep a $400 donation from Bloch. When the Acorn asked him why, he said it was an “oversight” because the donation was made to his website via credit card.

“Although it’s perfectly legal for me to keep that donation, I’ve tried to make it a practice of not accepting donations from developers or organizations that are coming before the City Council,” he said. “So I’m going to be returning it, just to be consistent with what I’ve done in the past.”

The Simi Valley Police Officers’ Association Political Action Committee has also been raising money.

Its initial statement shows the PAC has raised $30,804 so far—money that is collected from officers’ paychecks—and spent $727, all of which went to Durkee & Associates, an accounting firm.