Included in that total is $125,000 from the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West independent expenditure committee, which financed everything from polling to a barrage of political mailers and automatic "robo" telephone calls. The bulk of the union money paid for nine mailers, including a controversial "hole in the head" hit piece and five other broadsides that cast a negative light on Adams' opponent, former Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni.

Contributions by the independent expenditure committee to the effort to re-elect Adams, as reported to Secretary of State Debra Bowen, totaled $124,720. Other county employee unions also rallied around Adams, chipping in another $10,000.

In all, including $85,325 spent by the separate Adams for Supervisor campaign, more than $210,000 was spent on her behalf, and she ended the campaign with no debt. Mazzoni spent a total $138,900, did not benefit from an independent expenditure committee and ended the campaign with a $40,853 debt. Adams won by 986 votes.

Adams, who questioned the propriety of the "hole in the head" mailer during the campaign but did not condemn the union spending spree on her behalf, said she tried to contact the committee without success to alert it that "I don't need that kind of help." Adams said she had no control over the

The union, which bills itself as the "largest and most powerful healthcare union in the western United States," has more than 150,000 members. About 1,450 home health care workers contract with Marin County and earn about $11 an hour, including a state subsidy targeted by budget cuts. They are not eligible for pension benefits.

The big spending benefiting Adams was part of the union's statewide effort backing progressive, liberal candidates at all levels of government. In Fresno County, the union has spent almost $500,000 trying to unseat Supervisor Phil Larson and elect Cynthia Sterling, who opposes a wage cut for home health care workers. Larson is part of a board majority that supports the cut, saying the county cannot backfill state budget reductions. Larson's conservative colleague, Judy Case, was re-elected despite a union assault, but he was forced into a November runoff with Sterling.

Larson, who faced attack mailers including one that tried to link his voting record to a double murder, noted the union has poured money into supervisorial contests in Madera, Tulare and Orange counties as well. He wasn't surprised to learn about its role in the re-election of Adams, a maternity nurse who has balked at moves to cut health care worker pay.

Union spokesman Steve Trossman, calling Adams a "terrific public official É who understands the great job our members do in health care," acknowledged that "the pay cut is an important issue for us." Cutting pay for low-paid health workers will force many to quit for other work, hurting the quality of health care available in the community, he added.

Mazzoni called the union's spending on Adams' behalf a record for political excess in Marin.

"I feel it's unfortunate that one single special interest would seize and control an election," Mazzoni said, chalking up her defeat to the union's negative campaign. "I can't recall a race for local office in which that kind of money was spent to ensure the election or defeat of a candidate," she said. "It's bad for the voters."

Supervisor Adams, noting business interests including the San Rafael Rock Quarry backed Mazzoni, said critics simply "don't give voters enough credit for making a decision based on the facts."

Adams two years ago served on a county board committee that advocated campaign finance reform aimed at preventing special-interest groups from "buying" an election by having a disproportionate influence on it. The county board later shelved proposals for a $75,000 spending limit for county supervisor races, a $1,500 limit on contributions from organizations and a limit on donations from out-of-county sources, but approved an ordinance to assure disclosure of independent expenditures and big donors. Although the union's committee spending was disclosed in a timely manner, contributors gave less than $100 each and remained confidential.

Under the county law, any independent expenditure by a person or entity that exceeds $1,000 for or against a county candidate must be reported within 24 hours under penalty of perjury. The law requires that names of contributors of $100 or more be disclosed on the Registrar of Voters' website.

But the union's extraordinary effort for Adams means that campaign finance reform "remains much needed in Marin," Treasurer-Tax Collector Michael Smith observed.

Trossman said the union committee was funded by small contributions from workers and noted there's no question about how the money was spent.

Whitehurst/Mosher Campaign Strategies, a San Francisco campaign consultant whose parent public relations firm boasts clients including the Marin Energy Authority, orchestrated the union's campaign boosting Adams while attacking Mazzoni, and was the payee for most of the cash. It also advised on the campaign against Larson in Fresno. The Whitehurst/Mosher website notes that:

"Government rules place limits on the amount of money individuals can contribute directly to candidate campaigns. Independent expenditure campaigns offer another option for getting your message out, and Whitehurst/Mosher É can help you develop a comprehensive campaign that is completely separate from a candidate and their campaign, but which influences voters with impact, precision and clarityÉ

"We also run effective opposition campaigns."

Contact Nels Johnson via e-mail at ij.civiccenter@gmail.com