Wednesday, July 02, 2008

A quick look at financial reports for County races

Some of the highlights of reports covering the period from January 1 thru May 31, courtesy the Maricopa County Recorder's website -

Sheriff's race -

Joe Arpaio - received $121000, spent $23000, cash on hand of $358000. Nearly all of his expenditures went toward fundraising and consulting fees from a company called Summit Consulting Group ($22500+). The report was hand-written, but at least was somewhat more legible than Mayor Manross'.

Dan Saban - Couldn't find the report on the County Recorder's site, but Dennis Welch of the Trib had an article stating that Saban has raised $48000 for his campaign to unseat Arpaio; no details on expenditures, cash on hand, or whether the funds raised are from the reporting period or for the entire campaign (since 2006). The article goes on to cite "$430000" as the amount raised by Arpaio, but that is for the entire campaign, plus the rollover of cash left over from his previous campaign committee.

However sloppily the article was written, it's clear that the Arpaio money machine is fully up to speed, and Dan Saban needs all of us to help him restore professionalism to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Contribute here.


County Attorney race -

Gerald Richard - Raised $60000, spent $26000, cash on hand of $40000. $10000 of the money raised was a candidate loan to the campaign.

Tim Nelson - Raised $207000, spent $29000, cash on hand of $177000.

Note: there is an open forum for candidates for County Attorney scheduled for next Tuesday at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S McClintock Dr, Tempe (SW corner of McClintock and Guadalupe) at 7 p.m.

Andrew Thomas - Raised $39000, spent $26000, cash on hand of $213000. Over $14000 of his expenditures went to Summit Consulting, the same folks that Arpaio has hired; in addition, he spent over $6000 on paid petition circulators.

Ummm...Tim Nelson's supporters are crowing over his successful fundraising during the period (as they should be), but what shouldn't be lost in the hubbub is the fact that Gerald Richard outraised the incumbent Thomas, too.

Not a good sign for any incumbent when two (2!) would-be challengers do a better job at fundraising. And for a Republican incumbent is what is shaping up to be a horrible year for Republicans in general????

BTW - his report was typewritten, but with lots of "info requesteds" and "retireds" under the "Occupations" headings. The "retireds' might be legit, but any report with more than a few "info requesteds" tends to raise eyebrows.


County Supervisor, District 1 -

Ed Hermes - Raised almost $66000, spent $2000, cash on hand of >$63000. Candidate loan - $10000. Interesting names: OK, there were a lot of names that I recognized on the list of contributors to Hermes, former vice-chair of the LD17 Democrats, but standing out was former U.S. Senator Dennis Deconcini, who gave $390. Oh yeah, and the Hermes family is a large one. :))

Fulton Brock - Raised $34000, spent $14000+, cash on hand of $120000. He also used paid petition circulators.

Sooooooo....did anyone else notice that the relative rookie seriously outraised the long-time incumbent (by almost $30K) and out-organized him too? (Obtained nearly as many nominating sigs - 1254 to 1598 - and got them the hard way, walking and knocking and meeting people.)


County Supervisor, District 2 -

Joel Sinclaire - Raised $5700, spent $560, cash on hand of $5200. Candidate loan of $3200.

Don Stapley - Raised $50,000, spent $7400, cash on hand $83000. Interesting fact found in the financial report - Keith Russell, Republican candidate for County Assessor, paid for a mailing of Stapley's nominating petitions. From the report (page 6) -

Total cost of mailing 463.91

Payment 231.95 Russell 08

231.95 Contribution in-kind to Don Stapley campaign from Keith and Becky Russell


Interesting names: Grady Gammage, a developer's favorite attorney, gave $390; Eddie Basha Jr., CEO of Basha's (AZ supermarket chain) gave $390; Jerry Colangelo, yes, *that* Jerry Colangelo, gave $390. There was one really interesting campaign expenditure - $40 for a subscription to Newsweek Magazine.

How does a committee for a county office candidate rationalize calling a subscription to a national news magazine a necessary campaign expense? Inquiring minds want to know. :))


County Supervisor, District 3 -

Marilyn Fox - Raised $1400, spent $200, cash on hand $900.

Andy Kunasek - Raised $81000, spent $15000, cash on hand . Like Arpaio and Thomas, Kunasek has hired Summit Consulting. However, unlike with the Nativist Twins, payments to Summit do not constitute a majority of his expenditures.

Contribute to Fox here. Not sure why she deserves our support? Read about Kunasek in action here (courtesy Sam Coppersmith at Liberal Desert). 'Nuff said.


I'm not going to bother with the reports from Supervisor Districts 4 and 5 (Mary Rose Wilcox and Max Wilson are unopposed) or for the other county offices (the candidates are either unopposed or the winner of the Republican primary will be unopposed in the general election.)

Later!

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