Emptying their wallets early? The theory behind campaign fundraising is simple: Squirrel away as much cash as you can and then spend it shortly before the election on advertising and other promotions.
Two candidates have run through most of their money already. A Democratic candidate for state school superintendent, Sen. Sam Kitzenberg of Glasgow, had only $117 left as of Dec. 31 out of the $5,640 he's raised, while a Republican attorney general candidate, Lee Bruner of Butte, has plowed through more than $20,000 and had $1,912 left Dec. 31.
Dialing for dollars. A quick glance at the reports shows apparently only one candidate, Secretary of State Brad Johnson, a Republican seeking re-election, has hired a telemarketing firm to raise money for him. Johnson paid FLS Connect of St. Paul, Minn., $6,460 for telemarketing.
Waving the oily rag. After the reports rolled in, the Montana Democratic Party fired off a press release with the headline thundering: “Big Oil Gives Big Cash to Roy Brown.” State Democratic chairman Dennis McDonald attacked Brown for receiving nearly $30,000 from individuals with ties to the oil and gas industry, plus the $20,000 Brown lent his campaign.
Whether those involved in the Montana oil and gas industry constitute “Big Oil” is debatable. It's not shocking that Brown received money from people working in oil and gas - his former occupation. That's the norm. Lawyers donate to lawyers seeking office, just as teachers give to teachers and so on.
Wishful thinking. A Brown press release boasted that the Billings senator had raised more money, about $152,000, in the first quarter running for governor (from October through December) than Schweitzer did in his first quarter of fundraising in the 2004 campaign. That's not true, according to the state political practices commissioner's office. Schweitzer's first quarter of fundraising for the 2004 campaign ended in March 2003 with receipts totaling $197,861.
Daily cash cow. Calculating how much money each candidate raised for each day they could legally solicit funds yields some interesting results. Personal loans were counted as receipts, as they are on the reports. State Bureau number-crunching shows Brown has reeled in $2,458 a day for the 62 days he was in the race to top the list. Schweitzer was second, at $1,200 a day for the 838 days he's been raising money for re-election.
Next was Attorney General Mike McGrath, running for Supreme Court chief justice, at $523 a day. Following him were two Democratic attorney general candidates, Mike Wheat and Steve Bullock, both at $217 a day, and Republican Duane Grimes, running for auditor, at $209 per day.
Raising the least per day were two Democrats running for school superintendent: Kitzenberg at $36 a day and Claudette Morton at $54 a day.
I owe me. Several candidates dug into their own pockets to borrow money to loan their campaigns. It's a gutsy move for candidates who aren't rich. If they lose, they likely will never see their debt fully paid back. Yet chances improve greatly if they win. Donors love to bet on the winning horse after the horse race is over.
Loaning their campaigns the most were: Wheat, $30,000; Brown, $20,000; Holly Raser, a Missoula Democrat running for school superintendent, $20,000; Bruner, $12,651; Denise Juneau, Democrat running for school superintendent, $10,000; and Linda McCulloch, a Democrat and current school superintendent, running for secretary of state. $10,000.
Chuck Johnson is chief of the Lee Newspapers State Bureau in Helena. He can be reached at 1-800-525-4920 or (406) 443-4920. His e-mail address is chuck.johnson@lee.net
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