Oprah gives $10K to Stockton candidate
May 19, 2012 12:00 AM
STOCKTON - Oprah Winfrey has inserted her star power and money into a Stockton City Council race, sending a $10,000 check to Michael Tubbs, an underdog challenger to incumbent Dale Fritchen.
Tubbs, 21, said Friday that including Winfrey's help he expects to have raised $30,000 in the first three months of his first campaign. In total, 225 people have made contributions large and small.
His growing campaign fund puts him squarely in the two-candidate race for control of District 6, the city's southern-most council district.
He's up against Fritchen, 52, a resident of the Weston Ranch neighborhood who has distinguished himself as the lone council member taking a hard stance against bankruptcy. Fritchen's most recent campaign financial disclosure says he has $36,372 in cash on hand.
Tubbs said he gained Winfrey's attention in April when she visited Stanford University, where Tubbs will graduate in June. During a luncheon, somebody mentioned to Winfrey that Tubbs is a City Council candidate back at home.
"She looked at me and said, 'How old are you?' " Tubbs! recalle d. "She kept coming back to Stockton. 'Tell me about the city.' I told her about the homicides, how the city is broke and the disconnect."
Winfrey told Tubbs that she only twice before contributed to campaigns - then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and Newark, N.J., mayoral hopeful Cory Booker. Both won.
"You'll be the third," Tubbs recalled her word. Two weeks later, a check, which he didn't ask for, arrived in the mail.
Tubbs said Winfrey was shocked that he wanted to return to Stockton after graduating from Stanford and internships he'd had with Google and the White House.
Tubbs called Winfrey's support "surreal" but he said he considers each donation an investment into the city's future and the fresh ideas Tubbs said he'll bring to Stockton's leadership.
In response to Tubbs' high-powered connection, Fritchen said he wished his opponent the best. The incumbent councilman said that right now he is not focused on fundraising or the campaign but rather spreading his anti-bankruptcy message.
By July 1, the city will have resolved its $26 million deficit with its creditors, or turned to Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. Fritchen is holding a series of independent town hall meetings to explain his belief that bankruptcy will mar Stockton's reputation for a decade.
"That's a more critical decision for Stockton right now than any one person's campaign," Fritchen said. "Elections aren't won by money. Elections are won by ideas."
Fritchen said he will spend more time campaigning after the primary.
The two candidates will compete in the June 5 primary election, when voters in District 6 weigh in. No matter the outcome, both candidates will advance to the Nov. 6 general election, when voters citywide will select the district's next councilman.
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/smithblog.