Politics Extra: Commissioner money update

Friday, June 09, 2006

Commissioner money update

Today was the deadline for candidates to file updated campaign finance reports.

In the race for Hamilton County Commissioner, Democratic challenger David Pepper raised $111,573 and spent $54,998.96 between the April 13 reporting deadline and the last week's reporting deadline for the report filed today.

That leaves Pepper's campaign with a balance of $142,190.48.

That is still far below the $380,313.14 incumbent Republican Commissioner Phil Heimlich has on hand. Between the April report and today's, Heimlich raised $32,660 and spent $8,474.71.

Here are the reports filed today for each candidate.

Heimlich report

Pepper report

18 Comments:

at 5:10 PM, June 09, 2006

Anonymous said...

$9,800 from Stan Chesley seems like a no-brainer considering all the money he's gotten through no compete work for the County.

at 5:22 PM, June 09, 2006

Anonymous said...

Stan gives Pepper $1,000 - Gotta hand out no-bid contracts to get the big dough?

at 5:56 PM, June 09, 2006

Anonymous said...

Stan Chesley's now working on Henry Heimlich's behalf, too. When is the Enquirer going to ask Chesley and the Heimlichs about that?

Master of Disaster? Phil's waterboy is more like it.

at 6:02 PM, June 09, 2006

Anonymous said...

Wow. Except for a few fat cats, Phil barely raised squat. $30K in two months?

at 9:49 PM, June 09, 2006

Anonymous said...

Phil does not care if he wins. He has already sold the taxpayer down the river to assure himself a secure future.

Hell, he cut a 30 mil deal that should have reaped the taxpayer 100 mil.

After the election his cronies can slip Phil an extra 10 mil in phony consulting contracts and they still come out smelling like a rose.

Mark my word, I feel it in my bones.

It even smells so bad to Phil that he has to constantly blow his nose.

--

at 1:45 AM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

You guys should hire a real reporter to find out why the county campaign finance records are photo copied online and city records are online digitally. I'll give you a hint, there's no contribution limits for the county. Follow the money!

at 2:10 AM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

Talk about buying influence! This just in from WTOL in Toledo, who has once again trounced the Enquirer, who probably won't even run the story:

Diebold Lobbyist Donates $10,000 to Blackwell Campaign

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5012724

COLUMBUS (AP)—Forty-nine of the 85 people who this year have given Ohio secretary of state Kenneth Blackwell the maximum $10,000 allowed an individual donor have done so since May 2. Members of Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner’s family led the way by combining for $90,000. The maximum-donor list also includes Mitch Given, who is a registered lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems, one of the vendors of voting machines for election boards in Ohio.

Blackwell’s office approved Diebold’s selection as a vendor and negotiated the price for the machines, although the counties chose the machines.

Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said the May 15 contribution came well after Diebold signed a contract with the state to provide the machines in February 2004 after bids were submitted by the vendors. LoParo also pointed out that Given lobbies for other companies and is a frequent contributor to GOP campaigns. Given also donated $10,000 to Betty Montgomery’s campaign a week after she dropped out of the governor’s race to run for attorney general.

“It’s important to note that he did not contribute to Secretary Blackwell during the bidding process,” LoParo said.

Messages seeking comment were left at Given’s office and home.

When Blackwell discovered in April that his investment firm had acquired stock in Diebold, he ordered it sold immediately. He said his portfolio is operated like a blind trust, and that he only found out about the Diebold stock when his ethics disclosure statement was filed.

Blackwell got $430,000 from the Ohio Republican Party on the day of the primary. Ohio GOP chairman Bob Bennett, who didn’t take sides in the primary, said he held back until he was certain Blackwell would win. The last-minute donation also means the party can give a similar amount for the general election, Bennett said.

Despite the considerable donations Blackwell by Republican heavy-hitters since he won the May 2 primary, he trails Democratic nominee Ted Strickland 2-1 in cash available for the November election, finance reports filed Friday showed.

Strickland raised $2 million during the April 12 to June 2 reporting period and had $2.6 million on hand. Blackwell, who spent more than $1.2 million late in his primary fight against Jim Petro, raised $2.2 million and had $1.3 million in his account with five months to go in the campaign. Petro raised $255,000 and spent $572,000 down the stretch.

Strickland, a U.S. House member from Lisbon, trounced little-known former state Rep. Bryan Flannery in the primary. Strickland received $365,000 from the Ohio Democratic Party on the day of the primary.

Twenty-six of the 91 donations of $10,000 Strickland has received have come since May 2. Maximum donors to his campaign included Peter Lewis of Cleveland, president of Progressive Corp., the nation’s third-largest car insurer.

Strickland is seen as the Democrats’ best hope for the office they haven’t held since 1991, when former Gov. Richard Celeste finished his second term. Democrats expect to be more competitive this year because of an investment scandal that has tainted Republican Gov. Bob Taft’s administration and a lobbying scandal in Washington.

Posted by PJS

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

at 5:54 AM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

Is it really true that Reverend Damon Lynch gave money to David Pepper?

at 11:05 AM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

Lynch the father, who actually brought in events despite the boycott and who everyone knows is a first class guy, maybe did. He also is a Republican.

at 12:37 PM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

Jeff:
Re Lynch/Pepper- Who cares?
Big deal. Looks like you're trying to tar Pepper because of some penny-ante donation that a has-been may have made. Should those who support people in glass houses throw stones? What is the large contribution from Chesley all about?
Again - who cares about Lynch? Like Lynch has big money to buy access? Better to look at the number of truly honorable community contributors who are listed as Pepper donors. Look at the list of those who gave gifts to Baby Henry Heimlich - as though they were really interested in the innocent infant. Who cares?

at 4:07 PM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

Why is Pepper giving thousands of dollars to Minette Cooper???

at 5:20 PM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

How about that $2500 to Heimlich from Tom Gabelman's law firm, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP? A pittance when you think of the millions Gabelman has raked in from county legal work steered to him from Phil.

at 5:41 PM, June 10, 2006

Anonymous said...

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Friday, June 09, 2006

Commissioner money update

18 Comments: