Tag: campaign finance

2024 Election notebook: Dems raise $82K in races for county councilor, commissioner

Based on required pre-primary filings by Democrats in Monroe County races, about $82,000 has been raised by nine candidates for county commissioner or county councilor in the May 7 primary.

The pre-primary reporting period ended April 12. The required CFA-4 documents were due by noon on Friday.

The four Democrats running for the three at-large county councilor nominations raised a total of $15,940.54. Leading the way was incumbent Cheryl Munson, who raised $5,024.60. She was followed by challengers David Henry and Matt Caldie, who raised $4,289.94 and $3,800.00 respectively. Incumbent Trent Deckard raised $2,826.00.

The two Democrats running for the District 2 county commissioner nomination raised $24,184.45, with challenger Peter Iversen collecting more than twice as much as incumbent Julie Thomas. Iverson raised $17,024.42 compared to $7,160.03 for Thomas.

The three Democrats running for the District 3 county commissioner nomination raised a combined $42,521.21. Incumbent Penny Githens raised $20,523.85 compared to $17,593.00 by challenger Jody Madeira. Challenger Steve Volan raised $4,404.36.

The raw totals don’t give a complete picture. Continue reading “2024 Election notebook: Dems raise $82K in races for county councilor, commissioner” →

2023 Election notebook: Bloomington mayoral candidates have so far raised a combined $327K

Pre-primary campaign finance reports for the May 2 primary election were due on Friday by noon.

When added to the year-end reports from 2022, the reports filed by the Democratic Party’s three candidates for mayor of Bloomington show that they have raised a total of about $327,000.

If election turnout for the May 2 primary is similar to the last couple of cycles, around 5,000 voters will cast a ballot. If the candidates spend every dollar before the election, that works out to about $65 invested in each voter.

Raising the most of the three was Kerry Thomson. The roughly $106,000 that she raised from Jan. 1 through April 7 this year brought her overall total to just under $200,000.

In this year’s pre-primary period, Don Griffin raised $47,000, bringing his total to about $73,000.

Susan Sandberg raised about $30,000 in this year’s pre-primary period, bringing her total to about $55,000. Continue reading “2023 Election notebook: Bloomington mayoral candidates have so far raised a combined $327K” →

2023 election notebook: $190K raised in 2022 by Bloomington mayoral campaigns

Wednesday at noon was the deadline for political campaign committees to file their finance paperwork—the CFA-4.

Hitting that deadline were all three declared candidates for mayor of Bloomington: Don Griffin, Susan Sandberg, and Kerry Thomson.

Raising the most was Thomson with $92,828. That’s more than three times what each of the other two candidates raised.

Griffin raised $25,987 which was just a little more than Sandberg’s $25,217.

With his mid-December fundraising launch, compared to mid-summer for Thomson and Sandberg, Griffin got the latest start of the three. They’re all competing for the nomination of Democratic Party in the May 2 primary.

There’s still time for candidates to declare a candidacy for either major party’s nomination—that deadline is Feb. 3 at noon.

Griffin’s later start came only after incumbent mayor John Hamilton announced in mid-November he would not be seeking reelection to a third term.

Added to the amounts raised by the three declared candidates for mayor, Hamilton’s roughly $45,000 brings the total amount generated by Bloomington mayoral campaigns in 2022 to about $190,000. Continue reading “2023 election notebook: $190K raised in 2022 by Bloomington mayoral campaigns” →

Monroe County campaign finance: 4 races, 17 candidates, $115K

Primary Election Day is May 3.

One limited measure of how much support candidates have among voters is the amount and range of financial contributions to their campaigns so far.

text is "pre-primary campaign finance filings" overlaid on top of a bag with a dollar sign on it

For the 2022 election season in the state of Indiana, pre-primary campaign finance forms were due at noon last Monday, April 18. Those forms are supposed to cover donations and expenditures for the period between Jan. 1, 2022 and April 8, 2022.

The B Square took a look at some of the early campaign finance filings by candidates in four Monroe County races— county commissioner; sheriff; circuit court judge; and recorder.

Those are races that have contested primaries this year for the Democratic Party.

The winner of those races will face a Republican Party candidate in the fall. None of the four races are contested in the Republican Party’s primary. The B Square has included Republican candidates in this roundup, which is compiled in a shared Google Sheet, with links to individual filings.

[Shared Goog Sheet 2020 pre-primary]

The 17 candidates in the four races have raised a combined total of around $115,000.

Counting money raised last year, six candidates for sheriff have raised a combined total of $58,000. The five candidates for judge have raised a combined total of around $28,000. The three candidates for county commissioner have raised a combined total of around $22,300. And the three candidates for county recorder have raised a combined total of around $7,000. Continue reading “Monroe County campaign finance: 4 races, 17 candidates, $115K” →

Monroe county election board looks ahead to 2020 after imposing one fine, waiving two others, finding no violation of electioneering law

Marty Spechler
Dave Rollo
Monroe County’s election board (from left): Nicole Browne, Carolyn VandeWiele, Andrew Guenther.

Members of Monroe County’s election board met Thursday afternoon to review some logistical issues related to elections in 2020 and to wrap up some loose ends from this year’s municipal elections in Bloomington. Continue reading “Monroe county election board looks ahead to 2020 after imposing one fine, waiving two others, finding no violation of electioneering law” →

Campaign finance injects interest in Bloomington’s District 2 city council race

Sue Sgambelluri at a Sept. 17 candidate forum. (Dave Askins/Beacon)
Andrew Guenther at a Sept. 17 candidate forum. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

In late August, at a Democratic Party caucus, District 2 Bloomington city council candidate Sue Sgambelluri offered the gathering her thoughts on Democrat Marty Spechler’s run for the District 3 seat as an independent: “First, I want to congratulate District 3 on having replaced District 2 as the most interesting race this year. Well done!”

As a matter of politically piquant interest, the Democratic Party’s internal kerfuffle in District 3 has now been eclipsed by the campaign finance reports filed last week by Republican Andrew Guenther, who is Sgambelluri’s opponent in District 2. Guenther’s level and sources of financial support have led to official statements on behalf of both their political parties. Continue reading “Campaign finance injects interest in Bloomington’s District 2 city council race” →

Bloomington city council campaign filings: Party support means Republican candidate enjoys 20-to-1 funding advantage over Democrat

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The banner for early voting hangs at Election Central at 7th and Madison streets in downtown Bloomington. Early voting starts Oct. 21. The deadline for filing campaign finance reports for the period ending Oct. 11 was last Friday at noon. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

Friday at noon was the deadline for pre-election campaign finance filings in Bloomington’s city council races. Election Day is Nov. 5.

The campaign finance forms filed for Bloomington’s District 3 city council race by were pretty much politics as usual.

One District 3 candidate, independent Marty Spechler, didn’t file the paperwork by the deadline, which is not smiled upon by election officials, but is not all that uncommon. The other two District 3 candidates, Democrat Ron Smith and independent Nick Kappas, together raised in the neighborhood of $3,000.

But the way that sum was divided between the independent and the Democrat was maybe a little unusual for Bloomington’s political culture, which is mostly dominated by Democrats. The $2,350 in itemized contributions collected by Kappas for the filing period was more than twice as much as the $973.22 shown on Smith’s paperwork.

Definitely unusual was the  nearly 20-to-1 funding gap between Republican Andrew Guenther and Democrat Sue Sgambelluri in District 2.  Guenther’s contributions totaled $37,375, compared to $1,919.70 for Sgambelluri. That includes $8,000 for Guenther reported separately as a large donation, after the reporting period ended.

The largest part of contributions to Guenther’s campaign, including the separately reported $8,000, came from the Monroe County Republican Party. Added to the $22,500 donated to Guenther by the party since the reporting period started (on April 13), it would bring Guenther’s Republican Party total to $30,500.

The Republican Party’s filing shows that of its  $31,790 in itemized contributions, $30,000 came from a single donor, Doug Horn.

On Nov. 5 this year, city council Districts 2 and 3 are the only districts where elections are being held. Elections are not being held in Bloomington’s other four districts because the county election board cancelled them, because none of the races were contested there, and no citywide races were contested. Continue reading “Bloomington city council campaign filings: Party support means Republican candidate enjoys 20-to-1 funding advantage over Democrat” →