If you didn't notice, year end reports are in.
I'm spending some time this evening perusing the year end candidate and committee reports attempting to divine information, and to just plain go fishin'. Seriously, unless you look, you'll never know what information you can come up with.
For instance, one of Stan Adelstein's PAC's, 21st Century South Dakota made a couple of local donations in Rapid City during 2005. One for $200 to Jean French, and one for $1000 to Bob Hurlbutt. But then you have to look a little closer - check out what was spent on consultants; a whopping $5000.
And at the same time, there is no corresponding indication of an in-kind donation to anyone. Why does a PAC need $5000 worth of consultation? (polling maybe?)
Action for the Environment seems to be building up a big warchest - $23,452.06 to be exact. It must take several pairs of carharts when you go out tree hugging. (yes, I'm just kidding).
Speaking of Stan Adelstein PAC's, as mentioned earlier, in addition to the others he has it looks like he just started yet another one. Called the ALL SOUTH DAKOTA PAC, it has donations recorded of $4000 to Jean French for Rapid City City Council, and another $2000 to Dave Volk for his Sioux Falls City Council Race. With money left on hand, it's sure to be an active PAC in 2006.
Black Hills Homebuilders were a pretty active PAC themselves, spending $1000 on the STOP measure, $500 on Sam Kookier for Rapid City City Council, $250 for Rick Kreibel for Rapid City City Council, and a whopping $1000 for Michael Schumacher for Rapid City City Council.
As I was reviewing the reports, I was saying to myself, "What the heck is the Committee for South Dakota's Future?" But then I saw that Gabe Mydland was on the report for treasurer. It's the PAC that Joel Rosenthal of SD Straight Talk fame set up to help young candidates. It made donations of $900 for for Daby for School Board, $250 for the Burt Siefel Campaign, and $200 for Teenage Republican Camp.
Consumers First PAC was another odd one, until I saw that April Ries was listed as the person making the report. April is an employee of the SDDP, so it's a safe bet to assume that this is a shell PAC for Democrats to move money in and out of during the campaign cycle.
The Murray Victory fund closed itself out with a donation to Mike Murray for Mayor '07 in Rapid City. And the donation was about $100 which hardly made it worth the time to set up a PAC.
PAC's must be the vogue thing to do in Rapid City. Streamline PAC is another Rapid City based PAC formed by a group of businessmen out there. This PAC put $2000 into Sam Kooiker's race, $6000 into Todd Ossenfort, $1000 into Rick Kreibel, and $2300 into Mike Schumacher's bid for the Rapid City City Council.
The SDDP's State Fund Shows little ($2600) on hand, with nearly $140k in debt outstanding, and the statehouse fund shows a little more than $16k on hand. But who knows what that all means. To really get the picture, you've also got to look at the federal account for the party as well.
The SDGOP doesn't appear to have their report posted on the net just yet, but I'm sure it will be up shortly as soon as it's scanned.
For the budding campaign researcher, I cannot stress enough the importance of being familiar with the Secretary of State's on-line system of campaign filings. It's information at your fingertips which has the potential of incredible insight into campaigns and where they get their money.
I'm going to make this part one, and as more filings go on-line and I have a chance to look at candidate reports, I'll continue this with part II.
For instance, one of Stan Adelstein's PAC's, 21st Century South Dakota made a couple of local donations in Rapid City during 2005. One for $200 to Jean French, and one for $1000 to Bob Hurlbutt. But then you have to look a little closer - check out what was spent on consultants; a whopping $5000.
And at the same time, there is no corresponding indication of an in-kind donation to anyone. Why does a PAC need $5000 worth of consultation? (polling maybe?)
Action for the Environment seems to be building up a big warchest - $23,452.06 to be exact. It must take several pairs of carharts when you go out tree hugging. (yes, I'm just kidding).
Speaking of Stan Adelstein PAC's, as mentioned earlier, in addition to the others he has it looks like he just started yet another one. Called the ALL SOUTH DAKOTA PAC, it has donations recorded of $4000 to Jean French for Rapid City City Council, and another $2000 to Dave Volk for his Sioux Falls City Council Race. With money left on hand, it's sure to be an active PAC in 2006.
Black Hills Homebuilders were a pretty active PAC themselves, spending $1000 on the STOP measure, $500 on Sam Kookier for Rapid City City Council, $250 for Rick Kreibel for Rapid City City Council, and a whopping $1000 for Michael Schumacher for Rapid City City Council.
As I was reviewing the reports, I was saying to myself, "What the heck is the Committee for South Dakota's Future?" But then I saw that Gabe Mydland was on the report for treasurer. It's the PAC that Joel Rosenthal of SD Straight Talk fame set up to help young candidates. It made donations of $900 for for Daby for School Board, $250 for the Burt Siefel Campaign, and $200 for Teenage Republican Camp.
Consumers First PAC was another odd one, until I saw that April Ries was listed as the person making the report. April is an employee of the SDDP, so it's a safe bet to assume that this is a shell PAC for Democrats to move money in and out of during the campaign cycle.
The Murray Victory fund closed itself out with a donation to Mike Murray for Mayor '07 in Rapid City. And the donation was about $100 which hardly made it worth the time to set up a PAC.
PAC's must be the vogue thing to do in Rapid City. Streamline PAC is another Rapid City based PAC formed by a group of businessmen out there. This PAC put $2000 into Sam Kooiker's race, $6000 into Todd Ossenfort, $1000 into Rick Kreibel, and $2300 into Mike Schumacher's bid for the Rapid City City Council.
The SDDP's State Fund Shows little ($2600) on hand, with nearly $140k in debt outstanding, and the statehouse fund shows a little more than $16k on hand. But who knows what that all means. To really get the picture, you've also got to look at the federal account for the party as well.
The SDGOP doesn't appear to have their report posted on the net just yet, but I'm sure it will be up shortly as soon as it's scanned.
For the budding campaign researcher, I cannot stress enough the importance of being familiar with the Secretary of State's on-line system of campaign filings. It's information at your fingertips which has the potential of incredible insight into campaigns and where they get their money.
I'm going to make this part one, and as more filings go on-line and I have a chance to look at candidate reports, I'll continue this with part II.
Comments
These types of posts are golden and make SDWC a "must read." Thanks and good work.
Todd