posted by Joe Polk at 4:26 PM /
I went to the County Office Building and checked for some financial totals. So far I have collected the 2007 Mt. Lebanon Commission candidates and the County Council District 5 race which included Mt. Lebanon. The totals reflect the amount spent by each candidate. It does not include in-kind contributions. Also, I had to fill in a couple of things so if any candidate would like to correct the information that would be great since I am not an expert in election law.
1st Ward
Bonnie Vankirk (D) - $12,595.13
D. Raja (R) - $43,049.63
3rd Ward
Andy Reinhart (D) - $8,618.53
Joe DeIuliis (R) - $5,254.76/$9,334.76 (His final report lists and additional $4080 as an unpaid debt that the campaign owes him. I couldn't see where that expense had previously been listed so I am assuming that it should be added to his previous total)
5th Ward
Dan Miller (D) - $7,530.19
Bill Hoon (R) - No report in folder. When I asked about this the staff told me that he had closed his PAC but couldn't explain the missing primary report which he filed and allegedly reported around $1,200 in expenses...
County Council
Vince Gastgeb (R) - $60,367.12
Barbara Logan (D) - $15,365.64
If you break it down by party, going off of the information that I found - Republican candidates spent $113,951.51 and Democratic candidates spent $44,109.49.
1st Ward
Bonnie Vankirk (D) - $12,595.13
D. Raja (R) - $43,049.63
3rd Ward
Andy Reinhart (D) - $8,618.53
Joe DeIuliis (R) - $5,254.76/$9,334.76 (His final report lists and additional $4080 as an unpaid debt that the campaign owes him. I couldn't see where that expense had previously been listed so I am assuming that it should be added to his previous total)
5th Ward
Dan Miller (D) - $7,530.19
Bill Hoon (R) - No report in folder. When I asked about this the staff told me that he had closed his PAC but couldn't explain the missing primary report which he filed and allegedly reported around $1,200 in expenses...
County Council
Vince Gastgeb (R) - $60,367.12
Barbara Logan (D) - $15,365.64
If you break it down by party, going off of the information that I found - Republican candidates spent $113,951.51 and Democratic candidates spent $44,109.49.
Labels: candidate spending, commission, county council, election
4 Comments:
Couple points:
1. The silence of the anonymous commenters who beat this issue senseless a few weeks ago is deafening.
2. I think a lot of folks who accused Raja of spending too much, would have thought that the same of Van Kirk's $12K if viewed by itself.
3. I share Mike's view that party politics in local elections is more destructive than productive. Therefore, I'm not certain why a comparison of Rep/Dem spending is a useful. However, if you are going to make the comparison, I think its fair to say that based on these numbers the Dem Party really let down Logan. We've heard volumes recently (largely from Dems) about how they now outnumber Reps in Mt. Lebanon and I'm sure the same is probably true in the other areas covered by this County Council seat). However, her campaign bank account didn't give her much to work with in this much larger County election, and it certainly doesn't reflect the party support that you expect in a County Council race (which always turn on party lines). Seems odd that they would leave her out to dry like this.
As promised, I am reporting the Campaign Finance Report information for the Save Mount Lebanon Schools Committee. The contributors are listed as follows: William Schmeltzer - $1578.72, Calvin Lynch - $1578.72, In-Kind Contributions Received: Friends of Mark Patrick Flaherty - $3710.00. Interesting.
Karen Cullen
Dave:
I agree regarding the silence about the final numbers, but I know that our "no anonymous posters" will be keeping a lot of people away from commenting.
As for the comparison, I just wanted to show what was spent overall by each party. I believe that it is important that the voters know what was spent on each campaign by each person. It's public knowledge which is why I published the numbers here.
OK - I still think the $43K spend was ridiculous as were several others. I hope to never see this much wasted money again.
With this behind us - - I must give Commissioner-elect Raja credit for his unbridled enthusiasm and "out of the box" thinking for our little corner of paradise.
From Whatis.com: "Out of the box" is an expression that describes nonconformal, creative thinking. The term is used as an adverb to describe the thinking or as an adjective to describe the ideas. The term is said to derive from a famous puzzle created by early 20th century British mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney, in which someone is asked to interconnect nine dots in a three-by-three grid by using four straight lines drawn without the pencil leaving the paper. In order to be successful, the puzzle solver has to realize that the boundries of the dot array are psychological. The only way to solve the puzzle is to extend the lines beyond the artificial boundry created by the nine dots.
Believe me - Raja does not recognize artificicial boundaries - this is a good thing!
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