War chests remain stocked
BOISE – Republican Butch Otter has collected well over $1 million in his campaign for governor, according to finance reports filed Tuesday, while both he and Democrat Jerry Brady headed into the final stretch of the campaign with war chests of several hundred thousand dollars each.
Brady, who had out-raised Otter during the previous reporting period, took in $380,976 during the period that stretched from June 3 to Sept. 30. That brought his total fundraising this year to $924,193, including just under $250,000 carried over from last year. Otter raised $591,506 in the same time period, for a total of $1.5 million this year, counting just under $500,000 he carried over from last year.
But perhaps most telling for what’s ahead is how much both candidates still have left to spend: more than $1 million between them. Otter, who has spent $895,988 campaigning so far this year, had $613,756 left in the bank on Oct. 1. Brady, who’s spent $318,872, had $448,022.
“We’re going to be seeing them on television a lot,” predicted Jasper LiCalzi, a professor of political science and economics at Albertson College of Idaho.
Thus far, LiCalzi said, the election season has been surprisingly quiet, “not just on the governor’s race, but on everything.” He said that may be because people are “kind of disgusted with everything coming out of Washington. … They’re not excited about anything.”
Yet with major statewide offices, congressional seats, the entire Legislature and multiple statewide ballot measures to be decided, there’s plenty at stake in the Nov. 7 election. A big campaign push from the candidates for governor could spark more voter attention, LiCalzi said.
Top givers to Otter in the latest report included Clear Springs Foods in Buhl, which has donated $10,000 since Jan. 1; former Albertson’s head Gary Michael, who gave $8,000; Boise lobbyist and attorney Roy Eiguren, who donated $7,700; and $7,000 each from the Qwest Idaho PAC and UP Railroad.
Brady got $9,000 from David Work, of Houston; $7,000 from Broadway Ford in Idaho Falls; $5,900 from Jeanne Batson Buell, of Worley; and $5,500 from Scott Glickenhaus, of Sandpoint.
Otter’s list of contributions covered 122 pages, while Brady’s was 120 pages long. Among the 30 givers who gave Otter $5,000 apiece were Bennett Lumber Products; Avista Corp.; both Micron Technology and Micron CEO Steve Appleton; Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Anheuser Busch, of Van Nuys, Calif.; K12 Corp., of McLean, Va.; and two private prison firms, Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group, which runs private lockups where Idaho prisoners have been housed in Texas.
Among the 12 donors contributing $5,000 each to Brady were both Dennis and Karen Pence, of Sandpoint; Coldwater Creek; Kipp Nelson, of Ketchum; both Charlotte and Paul Corddry, of New York; and Kimberly Gillet, of Victor.
Libertarian candidate for governor Ted Dunlap reported raising a total of $5,225, including $2,285 of his own money and a $2,500 in-kind donation for Web site work. He spent his campaign funds on a laptop and video camera for his Web site. Constitution Party candidate Marvin “Pro-Life” Richardson hadn’t filed his report by Tuesday’s deadline, but he could still be on time if he mailed it with Tuesday’s postmark.
Legislative, local races
In Boundary and Bonner counties, the District 1B House race is again generating hefty funds, with Democratic challenger Steve Elgar posting slightly more than $48,000 in contributions to Priest Lake Republican Rep. Eric Anderson’s approximately $37,000.
During the pair’s first showdown in 2004, Elgar raised more than $63,000 – twice as much as Anderson. After being edged out by Anderson by 5 percent of the vote that November, Elgar announced his intention to run again almost immediately.
He said he knows he won’t raise as much money this time around because of what he said is the lack of interest surrounding this year’s elections.
“Last time, people were fired up about (President) Bush and (U.S. Sen. John) Kerry, and they were donating,” he said. “I’ve had to hustle a little bit more to raise money.”
The majority of Elgar’s donations are from individuals.
In the race for the open Senate seat in District 5, which includes Post Falls, Democrat Chuck Thomas so far has pitched in about $10,800 of his own cash in his race against Republican Jim Hammond. That boosts his war chest to $19,700.
Thomas, a retired Coeur d’Alene firefighter, also received individual donations from the Kootenai Democratic Women’s Association and the Iron Works District Council of the Pacific Northwest.
Hammond, the recently retired Post Falls city administrator and former mayor, has $21,400, yet none of it is from his own pocket. This period, all his donations, including $1,000 from Idaho Power, came from political action committees or private businesses.
Republican Kootenai County commission candidate Todd Tondee significantly out-raised Independent opponent Tom Macy, garnering $18,154, including $7,000 of his own money. That’s compared with Macy’s personal loan of $63, which he spent at Office Depot.
The candidates, both of Post Falls, are vying to replace commission Chairman Gus Johnson, who was booted from office in the May Republican primary.
Tondee, a Post Falls city councilman, received two individual donations this period, including $500 from Post Falls Sanitation and $250 from Ben Wallace, of Post Falls.