How much does it cost to run for city council?
October 17th, 2009
Thornton City Council candidates posted their contribution / expenditure reports this week (click here to view them). In looking at them, they provide some insight into how much it costs to gain one of the eight coveted seats – four of which are up for grabs right now. It is also interesting to see who donates.
As of the latest reports, here are the contributions reported by each candidate:
Ward I
- Jan Bach – $1027.52
- Jenice (JJ) Dove – $3022.55
- Mack Goodman – $3500.00
- Mary Payne – $875.00
Ward II
- Ralph W Moore II – $4474.54
- Val Vigil – $9242.79
Ward III
- Lynne Fox – $7369.77
- Brian Thornton – $0.00
Ward IV
- Luke Michael Beard – $0.00
- Randy Drennen – $3825.00
- David Pettit – $0.00
- Charles Stevenson – $8346.21
Some things I noted in looking at these:
A few candidates are virtually entirely self-funded including Charles Stevenson (Ward IV), Brian Thornton (Ward III), and Ralph Moore (Ward II). It is pretty scary to think that these folks have to spend so much money of their own just to win a city council seat.
In looking at the contributors for all 12 candidates, it is interesting how few businesses seem to be contributing to any of the candidates this time around. No doubt that is a reflection of the reality that the economy is in pitiful shape right now with little sign of it turning around. Sun Enterprises (Harley Davidson, Honda, etc) contributed some money to a few candidates but they were the only business that was notably active.
There is one big group of contributors in the election though – Unions. Nearly $10,000 in all was given by unions to council candidates. Labor unions certainly have no problem taking their member’s dues and giving them to city council candidates so they apparently aren’t hurt by the economy like the rest of us. I guess that continuous revenue stream they take from their members’ paychecks helps. I do always wonder if the union members know where their money goes and what do the unions think that money will buy them?
So who were the big winners in the union jackpot 2009?
Mack Goodman in Ward I garnered $1500 from the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), the only contribution he reported from anyone other than himself. The UFCW though must be hedging their bets in Ward I as they also gave $1000 to Jenice (JJ) Dove. Dove was also able to garner $1000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). Between the two, unions made up 2/3 of the total contributions received by Dove.
The winner of the most union dollars though is Val Vigil in Ward II. He scored $2500 from UFCW and $2500 more from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – a whopping $5000 total from unions. The former state representative certainly appears to be a favorite of labor groups. Vigil was also the big bread winner overall with total contributions nearing $10000.
I do find it surprising that Lynne Fox in Ward III didn’t grab any of that union money. Her campaign is run by Manuel ‘Manny’ Solano, husband of State Representative Judy Solano. Representative Solano is a big time friend of unions as her voting record at the statehouse shows and her own campaigns have received tens of thousands of dollars from labor. I would have expected she would have gotten the unions to pony up for Fox as well.
Randy Drennen, candidate for Ward IV, seemed to draw the most varied support. His donor list includes a number of individuals as well as businesses. Notably, Jordan Perlmutter threw his hat in the ring with Drennen. Perlmutter is of course well known in the north area not only for longtime business involvement in the area but also for his very generous community giving.
Lastly, David Pettit is an interesting case in Ward IV. He hasn’t campaigned, didn’t take part in the candidate forums, and reported no contributions. In the 2007 city council election he did the same thing and yet managed to get 370 votes. I would hope Ward IV folks ignore David Pettit much as he has ignored voters. I don’t know why someone would register to run and then fail to do anything – I guess maybe he just likes seeing his name in print.
2009 City Council Election Coverage
Although I am “self-funded” I would like to mention that this is just round one of the reports.
I spent 45 hours a week from May to October walking the neighborhoods and connecting the now 1250 of us on facebook from Thornton.
I spent little or no time fund-raising.
Take a look at the bottom back of your Thornton water bill. Any person can run and win to serve on city council. Don’t let the party dollars coming into some campaigns scare you..
The deciding factor in my vote was the relationship of Lynne Fox and Judy Solano. The Solano family has contributed $250 to her campaign. This is all the information I needed to vote for Mr. Thornton.
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While you are reporting on union donors, you may also want to revisit those dollars from the previous election. Union dollars and influence played a major part in that election as well.
You do not mention how much money developers and lobbyist have put into Drennen race. Over $2000.00 has been given to him. We all know what a developer gets when they contribute to a race. The city will give them money for their developments. Sounds like the Mayor and Drennen have been bought.
Jo,
Thank you very much for the comment and you are right in that if land developers or any other business entity type has a big stake in the election, it should be known. However, you are incorrect about the donations to Mr. Drennen’s campaign.
When you look at the candidate’s contribution forms, a company may be listed because it is sometimes required. However that doesn’t necessarily mean the donation come from that employer. If I contributed, my employer might be listed but does that mean my employer donated? Of course not. It is a personal contribution.
I took another look at Drennen’s forms (link below) thinking I might have missed something but as I study them, I tallied only $650.00 from ‘developer’ type companies. That is nowhere near the $2,000+ figure you mention.
Another $300 came from his employer which happens to be a construction firm but this would appear to be more of a donation due to his employment as the company has never contributed to Thornton candidates in the past. It wouldn’t be fair to count that one.
When you look at the forms, you have to go by the address. If it is a residential address – as the vast majority of Drennan’s donors have – then it is a personal contribution. It was donated through someone’s personal checking account, not a business. It just so happens that the person’s employer is listed.
So in the end, only 16% of campaign contributions he received came from ‘developer’ type businesses and amounts to much less than the union money that has been put into the campaign.
Again, just to remind everyone, I linked directly to the City of Thornton’s site which has the donor forms available for download. You are certainly welcome to check them out yourselves. I encourage everyone to be educated about the candidates before they vote!
Thanks again!
Tony
http://www.cityofthornton.net/cclk/Election/Election_Reports.asp
Jo/Tony,
I’m always happy to clarify any questions about anything contained on my financial reports or anything else related to my campaign for that matter.
With regard to the claims made by “Jo” in the comment, I simply can’t agree with or draw the same conclusion. I looked at my report again and would gladly stipulate that $1150.00 of my total contributions came from a variety of development based companies or individuals. Not one of these contributions exceeds $300 individually. So none of them exceed 8% of the total I raised. Furthermore, in total they represent less than 30% of the total raised by the campaign.
I’m happy to take responsibility for these reports and the information contained within. Your facts are simply incorrect and unsupported and your conclusion that I’ve been “bought” is entirely unfounded.
For the record, my campaign also has ties to a union organization (as this was the basis for the original article) although they are not financial and do not show up on the finance report. I’m proud to be endorsed by the Thornton Professional Firefighters Local 2376.
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