Just weeks before the Nov. 2 election, signs for candidates Mayor Donald Burr, Planning Commissioners George Doorley and Joe Hernandez, Campbell Parks and Recreation Commissioner Tim Mason and Evan Low are decorating hundreds of homes and businesses around town.

Some of these men have literally become household names in Campbell. Campaign signs for Mayor Burr, the oldest candidate in the pool, and Evan Low, the youngest, can be seen on homes and businesses throughout the community. Though not as numerous, Doorley and Hernandez campaign signs can also be seen popping up everywhere.

There are relatively few signs for Mason.

The ubiquity of the signs for each candidate is directly related to the amount of money each of them raises for their campaigns, Low said. The vast majority of the money raised has gone to signs, literature and postage to get their messages out.

The disclosure period for the current campaign finance filing ended on Sept. 30, and it showed that Burr received the highest level of contributions. Burr reported about $22,400 in contributions. Low reported almost $18,000 in contributions. Joe Hernandez raised about $12,000 and George Doorley close to $9,000. Rounding out the list was Tim Mason, who reported campaign funds of just over $3,000. All the candidates received contributions from both business owners and individuals local to and outside of Campbell.

A few of Burr's and Low's contributors donated more to their respective campaigns than Mason raised in total.

With a donation of $3,000, for example, R.V. Cloud Co., a Campbell-based plumbing business located on Winchester Boulevard, is by far Burr's biggest contributor.

Members of the Pang family, which owns the Fung Lum Restaurant on Bascom Avenue, which is proposing to replace its restaurant with a mixed-use retail/residential development, also gave contributions to the incumbent. Each pair of family members—Lily and Joric Pang, Shih Kin and Kam Kong Pang, and Ken Kam-Yuen and Eva Shuk Ying Pang—donated $1,000.

Low had a few significant contributors also.

Kenneth Dea was responsible for donating $5,000 to Low's campaign, which represents about one-third of Low's total campaign funds. Dea is Low's grandfather. Low said most of his contributions came from family members.

But he also received a $1,000 contribution from W. Sandy Chau, a venture capitalist in Las Vegas. The two men worked together on a nonprofit effort called Vision New America, which focuses on getting youth to participate in the political process.

With the exception of Joe Hernandez, who received a $2,000 contribution that also came from R.V. Cloud, the other candidates generally had donations of $1,000 or less.

R.V. Cloud was the single-largest donor to the Hernandez campaign.

George Doorley's biggest single contribution came from Barbara Buckovetz, a teacher with the Department of Defense in Coronado, Calif. She contriibuted $1,000 to his campaign.

The Mason campaign's biggest donor was Mason himself. He put in a little more than $1,500. Awards by Norm, a Santa Clara­based trophy shop, was the campaign's second-largest contributor. It donated $1,000.

The next filing deadline to report campaign finances will be Oct. 15. Thereafter, candidates will be required to report their finances on a daily basis.

According to Doorley, the 2004 election is shaping up to be the most expensive Campbell City Council race to date.