Folsom Money Watch
Follow the Money
Follow the Money

A Nonpartisan Public-Records Project · Updated July 2026

Who pays for Folsom's City Council elections?

Folsom caps direct campaign contributions at $150 per contributor — whether an individual, a business, or a PAC — one of the strictest limits in California. So the real money arrives another way: independent expenditure committees funded by outside interest groups, including homebuilders, developers, chambers of commerce, and unions. Every number below comes from official campaign filings with the Folsom City Clerk. Click any figure to read the source document yourself.

$292,977independent spending reported in Folsom council races, 2022 & 2024 (FPPC Form 496/497)
$248,792of it — 85% — from building-industry & chamber-of-commerce committees
$37,175reported spent opposing candidates (Barbara Leary & Hla Elkhatib, 2024)
$150the most any single contributor — individual, business, or PAC — may give a Folsom council candidate directly (Measure V, 1994)

// Independent expenditures are legal and disclosed. This site simply shows you, in one place, what the disclosures say.

01

The sitting council, follow the money

For each member: what their own committee raised in their winning election year (the $150-cap money), how much of it was their own personal loans, and what outside committees spent on their behalf. Bars show the total money behind the win. One color key throughout the figures, bars, and chart: green = the candidate’s own committee money (solid = donor contributions, striped = self-loans) · orange = business & industry independent expenditures supporting them · blue = union independent expenditures supporting them · red = money spent against them (attack ads, or IEs boosting their opponent). Sources link to the actual filings. Independent expenditures are lawful, are made without candidate coordination, and are described here exactly as the spending committees reported them; no wrongdoing by any candidate, committee, or donor is alleged or implied.

Mike Kozlowski official photo

Mike Kozlowski

District 1 · Elected 2018 · Re-elected 2022
Funding profileBuilding-industry and chamber committees reported independent expenditures supporting each of his runs. His own fundraising was largely self-loans plus contributions from development, real-estate, and trade sources; union committees (firefighters, laborers) also supported him in 2022.

2022 re-election · District 1

$9,737own committee raised (CY 2022) — $5,975 of it self-loans
$18,252builder + chamber IE support for him (NSBIA $8,951 · JobsPAC $9,301)
$6,707firefighters union IE support (Local 522)
Own money: donationsOwn money: self-loansBuilder/chamber IEsUnion IEs

Who wrote the checks

  • 2022 committee donors ($150 each): Sacramento Metro Chamber PAC, California Real Estate PAC, NSBIA's Committee for Home Ownership, and three Laborers' union PACs; individual donors included members of the Tsakopoulos family (AKT land development), Claudia Cummings (Cummings Properties), and Mark Enes. (Schedule A lines in filings: 214407294 214407289 214407275)
  • Sources: Form 460 semi-annual Jul–Dec 2022 (filing 214407294) · IE ledger below.
Justin Raithel official photo

Justin Raithel

District 2 · Mayor 2026 · Elected 2024
Funding profileBusiness and chamber committees reported more independent spending in support of his 2024 run (~$60K) than for any other current member. Half his own 2024 treasury was self-loans.

2024 election · District 2 (won 39.6% – 31.1% – 29.4%)

$30,638own committee raised (CY 2024) — $15,000 self-loans
$60,461builder/chamber IE support for him (NSBIA $19,473 · JobsPAC $25,998 · Metro Chamber PAC $14,990)
$5,767firefighter signs $2,515 + sheriff-funded canvassing $3,252
$18,596separately, the NSBIA committee reported mail opposing his opponent Hla Elkhatib (independent of his campaign)
Own money: donationsOwn money: self-loansBuilder/chamber IEsUnion IEs

Who wrote the checks

  • Committee donors at the $150 cap: Teichert, CREPAC, JobsPAC, Metro Chamber PAC, Western Manufactured Housing PAC, Fire Fighters Local 522 — plus development-industry individuals (St. Anton Development, Holloway Land Co, DeKreek Construction). (Schedule A lines in filings: 214425545 214425550 214425566)
  • The Metro Chamber PAC that reported supporting him disclosed receiving $20,000 from NSBIA's Committee for Home Ownership and $20,000 from PG&E on Oct 9, 2024 (Metro Chamber 496 Part 3, 214425715).
  • Sources: Form 460 214425571 (Jul–Dec 2024) · Metro Chamber 496 214425715 · IE ledger below.
Sarah Aquino official photo

Sarah Aquino

District 3 · Elected 2018 · Re-elected 2022
Funding profileHer 2022 filings disclose more contributions from building and real-estate businesses and PACs than any other current member, plus ~$17K per cycle in chamber/builder IE support.

2022 re-election · District 3

$21,639own committee raised (CY 2022) — $6,700 self-loans
$17,126builder + chamber IE support for her (NSBIA $8,996 · JobsPAC $8,129)
Own money: donationsOwn money: self-loansBuilder/chamber IEs

Who wrote the checks

  • 26 businesses/PACs at or near the cap: NSBIA Committee for Home Ownership, Elliott Homes, John Mourier Construction, Teichert, Pacific Housing, Ose Properties, MJM Properties, Bidwell Place LP, CREPAC, Phillips Land Law, Plan Steward, Taylor & Wiley (land-use law), JobsPAC, Metro Chamber PAC, WECA PAC. (every name verified to a Schedule A line in filings: 214420327 214420337)
  • ~18 development-linked individual donors, including three Westland Capital Partners executives, St. Anton Capital, Woodside Homes, Cummings Properties, Land Advisors, Cole Partners Development, MacKay & Somps.
  • Her opponent Bill Miklos had $6,388 in firefighters-union IE support; she won with the builder/chamber slate mail.
  • Sources: Form 460 termination stmt (214420351), pre-election 460s 214420327/214420337 · IE ledger below.
Barbara Leary official photo

Barbara Leary

District 4 · Elected 2024
Funding profileSmall-dollar and civic-organization funded. In 2024 the NSBIA committee reported $18,579 in mail opposing her, and roughly $75K in IEs supported her opponent. She won.

2024 election · District 4 (won 46.8% – 41.2% – 12.0%)

$22,080own committee raised (CY 2024) — ~125 itemized small-dollar donors; self-loans fully repaid
$18,579NSBIA committee mail reported opposing her
$74,772IE support behind her opponent Jim Ortega (NSBIA, JobsPAC, Metro Chamber, "Business Leaders" committee, firefighters)
Leary's own moneyIE money against her or for her opponent

Who wrote the checks

  • Her donors: local grassroots and civic groups — all at ~$150 — plus roughly 125 individual small-dollar donors, heavily retirees. (Schedule A lines in filings: 214425498 214425510 214425515) Effectively zero developer money.
  • Opposition spending: the NSBIA committee reported $18,579 in mailers opposing her, Oct 22–28, 2024. Its contributors that season, per its own filings, included Cresleigh Homes ($7,500), Lund Construction ($5,000), and Tri Pointe Homes. (Part 3 of 496 filings: 214417901 214417927 214418017)
  • Her opponent's side: Ortega raised $14,679 himself; the "Friends of Jim Ortega… Sponsored by Business Leaders" IE committee reported contributions from Angelo K. Tsakopoulos & Affiliated Entities ($10,000), Powell Enterprises LP ($10,000), Mee Capital ($5,000), Markstein Beverage ($5,000), and others. (Form 497 filings: 214425665 214425622 214425636)
  • Sources: Form 460 214425520 (Jul–Dec 2024) · NSBIA 496s 214417960/214417999 · Ortega-IE 497s in ledger below.
Anna Rohrbough official photo

Anna Rohrbough

District 5 · Vice Mayor 2026 · Elected 2022
Funding profileZero PAC or business money in 2022 — an entirely small-dollar campaign (plus a modest self-loan and one union IE).

2022 election · District 5 (defeated Kerri Howell by 266 votes)

$7,677own committee raised (CY 2022) — every itemized donor an individual, $50–$150
$7,808firefighters union IE support for her (Local 522: signs, mail, door hangers)
$35,389builder/chamber IE money behind her opponent (NSBIA $26,965 · JobsPAC $8,424)
Rohrbough's own moneyUnion IE for herBuilder/chamber IE for her opponent

Who wrote the checks

  • Rohrbough's filings show no PAC, business, or committee contributions at all in 2022 — only individual donors and ~$883 in unitemized small gifts, plus a $1,000 net self-loan.
  • NSBIA's committee reported three mailers (~$9,000 each) supporting her opponent in October 2022; JobsPAC reported $8,424 more.
  • Her 2026 re-election committee ("Anna Rohrbough for Council 2026") reported $0 raised through Dec 31, 2025.
  • Sources: Form 460s 214420005 (Jul–Dec 2022), 216223958 (Jul–Dec 2025) · IE ledger below.
02

How money actually moves in Folsom

Three rules explain nearly everything on this page.

The $150 cap makes candidates poor…

Folsom's Measure V (1994) limits any contribution to a council campaign to $150. A typical winning campaign raises only $8,000–$31,000 — and much of that is often the candidate's own money loaned to their committee.

…so outside committees carry the race

Independent expenditure (IE) committees may spend unlimited amounts for or against candidates, as long as they don't coordinate with them. In 2024 IE committees reported $201,307 — more than every candidate combined raised.

The same funders appear every cycle

In both recent council elections (2022 and 2024), two committees — the North State Building Industry Association's "Committee for Home Ownership" and the Folsom Chamber of Commerce "JobsPAC" — have been the dominant outside spenders. Their filings disclose contributions from homebuilding and development businesses including Tri Pointe Homes, Lennar, Cresleigh Homes, Elliott Homes, Teichert, and AKT-affiliated land companies — each name traceable to an itemized contribution line in the archived filings cited on this page.

03

The November 2026 ballot

Districts 1, 3, and 5 vote this November 3. Candidate filing opens July 13, 2026. The Chamber's JobsPAC reported raising $23,125 during 2025; its disclosed contributors include the Chamber itself ($9,475), Elliott Homes, Cummings Properties, AKT-affiliated land partnerships, and the North State BIA's committee (Form 460, Jul–Dec 2025, filing 215531230).

District 1Seat on ballot
Mike Kozlowski
Mike KozlowskiIncumbent · seeking re-election IncumbentBuilder/chamber IE support (2022)
Chad Vander Veen
Chad Vander VeenChallenger · filed candidate intention June 1, 2026 (as Hans C. Vander Veen, filing 216860908) Funding not yet reported
Kozlowski enters with $1,911.95 cash on hand and no 2026 fundraising reported through Dec 31, 2025.
District 3Seat on ballot
Sarah Aquino
Sarah AquinoIncumbent · no 2026 committee filed yet IncumbentBuilder/chamber IE support (2022)
Jag Nagendra
Jag NagendraChallenger · committee "Jag Nagendra for Folsom City Council 2026" filing since 2024 (candidate intention 214425394) Funding profile not yet analyzed here
Aquino's 2022 filings disclose contributions from building and real-estate businesses and PACs, including NSBIA's committee, Elliott Homes, John Mourier Construction, Teichert, Ose Properties, and CREPAC.
District 5Seat on ballot
Anna Rohrbough
Anna RohrboughIncumbent Vice Mayor · 2026 committee open, $0 raised so far IncumbentSmall-dollar funded 2022
Justin Hurst
Justin HurstFiled candidate intention Jan 21, 2026 Funding not yet reported
Rohrbough’s 2022 filings report no PAC or business contributions.
04

Follow the money, candidate by candidate

Each bar is the total reported money behind a candidacy in the candidate’s most recent race: the candidate’s own committee fundraising (Form 460, calendar year of the election, self-loans included) stacked with independent expenditures that committees reported making in support of them (Form 496). Independent expenditures are made without candidate coordination.

Candidate’s own committee money (incl. self-loans) IEs reported in support — business/industry committees IEs reported in support — public-safety union committees ✻ IEs reported in opposition (shown as note, not in bar)
Show the exact numbers behind each bar
Candidate (race)Own committee¹Business-cmte IEs²Union-cmte IEs²Bar totalIEs opposing³
Justin Raithel (2024, D2)$30,638.00$60,460.86$5,766.87$96,865.73—
Jim Ortega (2024, D4)$14,679.00$72,257.42$2,514.88$89,451.30—
Sarah Aquino (2022, D3)$21,638.91$17,125.61—$38,764.52—
Mike Kozlowski (2022, D1)$9,737.19$18,252.26$6,706.77$34,696.22—
Hla Elkhatib (2024, D2)$34,095.00——$34,095.00$18,595.85
Barbara Leary (2024, D4)$22,080.23——$22,080.23$18,579.05
Anna Rohrbough (2022, D5)$7,677.00—$7,808.38$15,485.38—

¹ Form 460 Summary Page Line 5, Column B (calendar year of the election), final filing of that year; self-loans included. ² Sum of Form 496 entries in the ledger below reported as supporting that candidate. Five 2024 JobsPAC reports left the candidate box blank; they are attributed per each report’s own expenditure description ("support District 2/4 candidate” = Raithel/Ortega) and one $8,132.11 report naming no candidate is excluded from every bar. Opposition spending is never added to any candidate’s bar. ³ Form 496 entries reported as opposing the candidate, shown for context only. Rounded to the cent as filed; totals reproducible by filtering the ledger.

Business/industry committees here are the NSBIA Committee for Home Ownership, Folsom Chamber JobsPAC, Sacramento Metro Chamber PAC, and the 2024 “Sponsored by Business Leaders” committee, per each committee’s own sponsor identification. Union committees are Fire Fighters Local 522, the Deputy Sheriffs Association PAC, and the sheriff-funded Citizens for Accountable Local Government. Every underlying report is in the ledger below.

05

The complete independent-expenditure ledger

Every FPPC Form 496 independent-expenditure report filed in a Folsom City Council race, 2022 & 2024: 38 filed documents, itemized here into 47 candidate-level entries (some documents contain multiple reports or name more than one candidate). Click a filing ID to open our archived copy of the original document.

FiledCommitteeCandidateFor / AgainstAmountWhat it boughtFiling

Amounts are per-report itemized expenditures, transcribed from the filings. Five 2024 JobsPAC reports left the candidate-name box blank; candidates shown are drawn from each report's own expenditure description (e.g., "support District 2 candidate") and flagged with an asterisk. Totals here will not match committee-level cumulative boxes exactly where filers' own arithmetic differs.

06

See an issue? Tell us.

This site exists to present the public record accurately. If any figure, name, characterization, or source looks wrong — or missing context — please say so. Every submission is reviewed, and confirmed errors are corrected promptly and noted.

07

Methodology & sources

  1. Primary source: the City of Folsom public campaign-disclosure portal (NetFile), which hosts every FPPC Form 460 (committee statements), 496 (independent expenditures), 497 (late contributions), 461 and 501 filed with the City Clerk. The IE reports and committee statements cited here were downloaded from that portal in July 2026 and transcribed. Filing IDs on this site link to our archived copies of those documents (served from this site so links never break); the same records are on the City portal under the same IDs.
  2. "Builder/chamber" classification covers the NSBIA Committee for Home Ownership, Folsom Chamber JobsPAC, Sacramento Metro Chamber PAC, and the 2024 "Sponsored by Business Leaders" Ortega committee — based on each committee's own sponsor identification and its itemized contributor lists (Schedule A / Form 497), which are quoted on this page.
  3. "Union" classification covers Fire Fighters Local 522 PAC, the Deputy Sheriffs Association PAC, and the sheriff-funded Citizens for Accountable Local Government.
  4. Candidate totals are Form 460 Summary Page Line 5 ("Total contributions received"), Column B calendar-year-to-date, from the final filing of each election year; self-loan figures from Schedule B.
  5. Election results from Sacramento County certified results as reported by the City of Folsom and local press.
  6. Pre-publication verification: every contributor named on this page was traced to a specific itemized line (Form 460 Schedule A, Form 497, or Form 496 Part 3) in the archived filings, July 2026.
  7. Attribution rules: IE amounts are attributed to a candidate only as "support" or "oppose" exactly as the filing states (or, where a filer left the candidate box blank, per the filing's own expenditure description — those entries are marked in the chart notes). Opposition spending is reported separately and never counted toward any candidate's support totals. Candidate names are normalized to their official spellings; e.g., one committee's filings spell "Rathel" for Councilmember Raithel.
  8. Scanned filings were transcribed by hand/machine and double-checked against each form's own cumulative totals; where a filer's arithmetic is internally inconsistent, we transcribed exactly what the form says and flagged it. Corrections welcome — use the "See an issue?" form; every submission goes directly to the project team.
What this site is — and isn't This is a nonpartisan public-records project. Independent expenditures and PAC contributions described here are lawful and publicly disclosed; nothing on this page alleges wrongdoing by any candidate, committee, or donor. Candidates do not control independent expenditures made on their behalf, and no coordination is implied. All candidates and committees are presented using the same public data. Official portraits are public records from folsom.ca.us. This site is not authorized by or affiliated with any candidate, campaign committee, or the City of Folsom.