Donor summaries for Menlo Park’s Nov. 3, 2026 election — a cross-reference of itemized contributors to the two ballot-measure committees and City Council candidates, including those who publicly endorsed the Vote No campaign.
MonitorMenlo.news · Report and Commentary · August 7, 2026 · Reports/Opinion
Bumper stickers and yard signs can tell the community which candidates and causes you support. But put too many up, and the message gets lost.
Not so with money: contributions to multiple candidates and ballot issues don’t appear side by side on any one disclosure form, and few donors in local elections hit the threshold that requires filing a personal report.
In the most recent Menlo Park candidate and committee filings, few donors showed up on more than one list. An AI-assisted review this week found that among the more than 200 people listed as donors, only 17 gave to two — and none gave to three or more.
The shared money is not spread evenly. Fourteen of the 17 overlapping donors involve the Vote No campaign (Menlo Park Neighbors), council candidate Vamsi Velagapudi (District 2), and council candidate Charlotte Reed (District 4). The Vote Yes campaign, Save Downtown Menlo, shares no donors with any candidate or with the other committee.
These are not newcomers to the issue: many of the 14 also appear on the Vote No campaign’s public endorsement list. Of the committee’s 66 itemized donors, 39 also show up on the endorsement list — although that list may not have a clean record for accuracy (see our report, The Phantom Endorsement). The overlap reaches into the council races: 16 of Velagapudi’s 71 donors and eight of Reed’s 44 are Vote No endorsers — several of them sitting or former city commission chairs — while only one of Combs’s 20 donors is. The right-hand column below marks each shared donor who is also a named endorser.
Two names stand out on the money side. Michael Levinson, a Meta vice president, has the largest combined contribution total — $5,236 to the Vote No campaign and $1,000 to Velagapudi. And Phoebe Shin Venkat is the only contributor in the field to fund both District 2 opponents, giving to Velagapudi and to incumbent Drew Combs. She has a good chance of picking a winner.
| Donor (role / note) | Vote NoMP Neighbors | Vote YesSave Downtown | Reed | Velagapudi | Combs | EndorsedVote No | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote No campaign & Velagapudi (District 2) | |||||||
| Michael LevinsonVice president, product, Meta | $5,236 | — | — | $1,000 | — | — | $6,236 |
| Carol OrtonMenlo Park Library Commission commissioner | $500 | — | — | $100 | — | ✔ | $600 |
| Jen WolosinFormer mayor of Menlo Park | $250 | — | — | $100 | — | ✔ | $350 |
| Katherine DumontMenlo Park Housing Commission commissioner | $250 | — | — | $40 | — | ✔ | $290 |
| Andrew EhrichMenlo Park Planning Commission chair | $100 | — | — | $100 | — | ✔ | $200 |
| Lesley FeldmanClean Air Task Force | $100 | — | — | $100 | — | ✔ | $200 |
| Reed (District 4) & Velagapudi (District 2) | |||||||
| Catherine (Katie) BehrooziMenlo Park Planning Commission vice chair | — | — | $250 | $250 | — | ✔ | $500 |
| Adam Loraine | — | — | $200 | $200 | — | — | $400 |
| John Donald | — | — | $100 | $50 | — | ✔ | $150 |
| Meredith BaileyExecutive director, Kaeme Foundation | — | — | $50 | $50 | — | ✔ | $100 |
| Matthew RascoffMenlo Park Complete Streets Commission commissioner | — | — | $50 | $50 | — | ✔ | $100 |
| Vote No campaign & Reed (District 4) | |||||||
| Emily BailardCo-founder/CEO, Everyday Labs | $1,047 | — | $250 | — | — | ✔ | $1,297 |
| Patrick ReedAttorney; shares the candidate’s surname | $100 | — | $900 | — | — | — | $1,000 |
| John McKennaFormer Environmental Quality Commission chair | $262 | — | $50 | — | — | ✔ | $312 |
| Cross-camp — the two District 2 opponents & Reed | |||||||
| John PimentelSMCCD trustee; wind developer | — | — | $250 | — | $200 | ✔ | $450 |
| Samuel Sinnott | — | — | $100 | — | $100 | — | $200 |
| Phoebe Shin VenkatOnly donor to BOTH District 2 candidates | — | — | — | $50 | $100 | — | $150 |
Amounts are each contributor’s cumulative total to that committee for the 2026 calendar year, from the Schedule A of each Form 460 (measure committees cover Apr 1–Jun 30; candidates Jan 1–Jun 30). A dash means no reported contribution. “Endorsed Vote No” marks contributors named on the endorsement list at homesformenlopark.com.
Sources: the itemized Schedule A of each committee’s and candidate’s most recent Form 460 on the City of Menlo Park NetFile portal — Menlo Park Neighbors (Vote No), Save Downtown Menlo (Vote Yes), and candidates Charlotte Reed, Vamsi Velagapudi and Drew Combs; endorsements from the Vote No campaign site, homesformenlopark.com/endorsements. Contributors and endorsers are matched by full name (with common nicknames, e.g., Katie/Catherine, treated as the same). Where a name is common (John Donald, John McKenna, Katherine Dumont), the match is treated as probable but not independently confirmed by address; distinctive names and shared employers or commission titles are high-confidence. Cyrus Behroozi (Vote No) and Catherine Behroozi (Reed, Velagapudi) are different individuals and are not combined. The two District 1 candidates and Laura Melahn reported no itemized individual contributors to cross-reference.
AI-assisted in extracting and cross-referencing the filings and endorsement list. Because AI makes mistakes, readers should confirm any overlap by referencing the campaign reports on file with the City of Menlo Park, available at netfile.com/public/cmp/campaign/search-entities.