Campaign Finance Follies - You say PAC, I say Party
If you noticed me somewhat absent from the blogosphere last night, it was because I spent some time playing a game on my computer - the South Dakota campaign finance game. I wanted to get around to at least an initial assessment of how much the parties gave to each candidate. And from there, it's taken me around and around.
Here's what I started with:
So, as far as pre-general donations go, pretty straight forward, right? Unless they get it two weeks before the election, it's tough to spend, so this is going to be a pretty reasonable listing... isn't it? Well, not exactly.
Take a look at the Jerstad/Earley race. It looks like she got $2000 from the Dems, and he got $3850 from the GOP. But when you start to take the source of other donations into account, it looks like she might have gotten much more from party sources, putting her on top of the money game.
So, Bill had his donation. But Jerstad's donation of $2000 from the Dems had a bit of help. Add to that $1950 from the Democratic activist sourced Majority Project. And then add $960.82 from Democratic fundraising effort "Act Blue." And then add another $450 from the Democratic Statehouse Fund. Compared to Earley's $3850, Jerstad not only erased that $1800 GOP donation advantage, but now she has a $1500 advantage from her sources.
The SDGOP has it's own leadership PAC, but at pre-general filing time, it had no activity.
What can we take from all of this? A couple of things.
As you can tell from previous shifts of funds, Dems have concentrated for a long time at intra-party money transfers to maximize their dollars. And they have to do it, given their cycles of feast and famine that the GOP generally doesn't experience.
The other, which struck me earlier this morning? They have to do it this way. Because at least a portion of direct donations to SD Dems would go towards debt service.
With a massive loan at the State Bank of Alcester which is only now whittled down to something you think a party could manage, what Democratic activist wants his donation to go to last campaign's debt? They're just like you or I, they want it to go to a candidate. Hence these side organizations run by activists.
Want to bundle donations to candidates? Start your own PAC and you can make sure it gets to them. There's no guarantee of that through the party.
I'm going to continue working on this, and I might do something more on it tonight (including donations from all the ancillary groups) , as I see I'm running out of my lunch hour.
But until then.... Stay tuned.
Here's what I started with:
| SENATE DISTRICT #1 | TOTAL | Direct Party Donations | ||
| Gary D. Hanson - D | 6491 | 100.00% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #2 | ||||
| Brian G. Johnson-R | 4156 | 44.42% | $ 1,250.00 | |
| Jim Hundstad - D | 5200 | 55.58% | $ 8,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #3 | ||||
| Isaac Latterell - R | 4805 | 49.83% | $ 250.00 | |
| Alan C. Hoerth - D | 4837 | 50.17% | $10,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #4 | ||||
| Larry Diedrich - R | 4582 | 47.34% | $ 6,500.00 | |
| Jim Peterson - D | 5097 | 52.66% | $10,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #5 | ||||
| Dennis Arnold - R | 4451 | 48.13% | $10,425.00 | |
| Nancy J. Turbak - D | 4797 | 51.87% | $ 2,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #6 | ||||
| Brock L. Greenfield-R | 5515 | 60.57% | $ 250.00 | |
| Ron Foster - D | 3590 | 39.43% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #7 | ||||
| Orville B. Smidt-R | 4634 | 57.17% | $ 250.00 | |
| Harold Widvey - D | 3472 | 42.83% | $ 8,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #8 | ||||
| John Toates - R | 4035 | 42.51% | $ 3,250.00 | |
| Dan Sutton - D | 5456 | 57.49% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #9 | ||||
| Tom Dempster-R | 4250 | 53.76% | $ 5,250.00 | |
| Paul Nielson - D | 3655 | 46.24% | $ 8,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #10 | ||||
| Gene G. Abdallah-R | 7466 | 57.13% | $ 3,850.00 | |
| Philip G. Sietstra - D | 5602 | 42.87% | $ 750.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #11 | ||||
| Jason M. Gant-R | 5815 | 55.48% | $ 3,450.00 | |
| D. Scott Bartlett-C | 475 | 4.53% | ||
| Rebekah A. Cradduck - D | 4192 | 39.99% | $10,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #12 | ||||
| William F. Earley-R | 5155 | 49.90% | $ 3,850.00 | |
| Sandy Jerstad - D | 5175 | 50.10% | $ 2,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #13 | ||||
| Dick Kelly-R | 4519 | 45.66% | $40,250.00 | |
| Scott N. Heidepriem - D | 5378 | 54.34% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #14 | ||||
| Dave Knudson-R | 5849 | 57.18% | $ 250.00 | |
| William L. Scott - C | 837 | 8.18% | ||
| Roger Berggren - D | 3543 | 34.64% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #15 | | |||
| Tamera Weis "Tammy" - R | 1878 | 37.96% | $ 595.00 | |
| Gil Koetzle - D | 3069 | 62.04% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #16 | ||||
| Kenneth D. Albers - R | 5882 | 61.79% | $ 750.00 | |
| Kathy Lessek - D | 3638 | 38.21% | $ 2,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #17 | ||||
| Nathan J. Adams - R | 2469 | 31.48% | $ 250.00 | |
| Ben Nesselhuf-D | 5375 | 68.52% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #18 | ||||
| Jean Hunhoff - R | 4811 | 54.61% | $ 1,490.00 | |
| Curt Bernard - D | 3999 | 45.39% | $ 8,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #19 | ||||
| John P. Hauck - R | 4095 | 44.31% | $ 2,480.00 | |
| Frank J. Kloucek - D | 5147 | 55.69% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #20 | ||||
| Ed Olson - R | 6452 | 100.00% | $ 250.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #21 | ||||
| Cooper Garnos - R | 5022 | 58.25% | $ 3,250.00 | |
| Mahylen D. Niles - D | 3600 | 41.75% | $ 2,500.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #22 | ||||
| Tom Hansen-R | 5200 | 53.81% | $ 250.00 | |
| Peggy Anne Gibson - D | 4464 | 46.19% | $ 1,500.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #23 | | |||
| Jay L. Duenwald - R | 6589 | 76.28% | $ - | |
| Merlyn "Justice" Schutterle - I | 1213 | 14.04% | ||
| Wayne E. Schmidt - I | 836 | 9.68% | ||
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #24 | ||||
| Bob Gray-R | 7337 | 100.00% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #25 | ||||
| Arlen (Arnie) Hauge - R | 5075 | 51.67% | $ 3,250.00 | |
| Mike Kroger - D | 4746 | 48.33% | $ 8,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #26 | ||||
| Lee Weidner - R | 3004 | 40.72% | $ - | |
| Julie Bartling - D | 4374 | 59.28% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #27 | ||||
| Craig L. Hanrahan - R | 2520 | 46.27% | $ 1,600.00 | |
| Theresa (Huck) Two Bulls-D | 2926 | 53.73% | ||
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #28 | ||||
| Ted A. Klaudt - R | 3262 | 46.01% | $ 250.00 | |
| Ryan Maher - D | 3828 | 53.99% | $ 5,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #29 | ||||
| Kenneth McNenny-R | 6009 | 66.38% | $ - | |
| Tim Harwood - I | 3043 | 33.62% | ||
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #30 | ||||
| Jim Lintz-R | 6924 | 61.38% | $ 250.00 | |
| Catherine Ratliff - D | 4356 | 38.62% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #31 | ||||
| Jerry Apa - R | 5982 | 61.65% | $ - | |
| Karen Ballert - I | 3721 | 38.35% | ||
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #32 | ||||
| Elli Schwiesow - R | 4515 | 47.48% | $ 6,250.00 | |
| Tom Katus - D | 4994 | 52.52% | $ 2,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #33 | ||||
| Dennis Schmidt - R | 4264 | 54.91% | $ 1,550.00 | |
| Dennis Finch - D | 3501 | 45.09% | $ 2,000.00 | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #34 | ||||
| Royal "Mac" McCracken - R | 6872 | 100.00% | $ - | |
| | ||||
| SENATE DISTRICT #35 | ||||
| William "Bill" Napoli-R | 3648 | 52.70% | $ 250.00 | |
| Theresa Spry - D | 3274 | 47.30% | $ 2,000.00 |
So, as far as pre-general donations go, pretty straight forward, right? Unless they get it two weeks before the election, it's tough to spend, so this is going to be a pretty reasonable listing... isn't it? Well, not exactly.
Take a look at the Jerstad/Earley race. It looks like she got $2000 from the Dems, and he got $3850 from the GOP. But when you start to take the source of other donations into account, it looks like she might have gotten much more from party sources, putting her on top of the money game.
So, Bill had his donation. But Jerstad's donation of $2000 from the Dems had a bit of help. Add to that $1950 from the Democratic activist sourced Majority Project. And then add $960.82 from Democratic fundraising effort "Act Blue." And then add another $450 from the Democratic Statehouse Fund. Compared to Earley's $3850, Jerstad not only erased that $1800 GOP donation advantage, but now she has a $1500 advantage from her sources.
The SDGOP has it's own leadership PAC, but at pre-general filing time, it had no activity.
What can we take from all of this? A couple of things.
As you can tell from previous shifts of funds, Dems have concentrated for a long time at intra-party money transfers to maximize their dollars. And they have to do it, given their cycles of feast and famine that the GOP generally doesn't experience.
The other, which struck me earlier this morning? They have to do it this way. Because at least a portion of direct donations to SD Dems would go towards debt service.
With a massive loan at the State Bank of Alcester which is only now whittled down to something you think a party could manage, what Democratic activist wants his donation to go to last campaign's debt? They're just like you or I, they want it to go to a candidate. Hence these side organizations run by activists.Want to bundle donations to candidates? Start your own PAC and you can make sure it gets to them. There's no guarantee of that through the party.
I'm going to continue working on this, and I might do something more on it tonight (including donations from all the ancillary groups) , as I see I'm running out of my lunch hour.
But until then.... Stay tuned.
Comments
The first three are from seats we never win and traditionally don't win.
As for Abdallah, go look at his financial forms. He was giving money away from his own campaign fund to other candidates. Nothing wrong with that, BUT that is a sign of NOT needing money from the party b/c he can raise enough for himself.
The party chair had some type of expansionist mindset when dishing out the resources. It was clear in June already that this election cycle was going to be a holding action, and that's not monday morning quarterbacking, it was clear.
All we had to to do was hold our own in the senate and take a few easy pickups. Instead we threw good money after bad seats. The Rounds political advisors and Randy have to leave the party now.
Imagine what $40K could have done for John Koskan!
Job well done, again!
Isaac... Greenfield... Napoli... Adams... Klaudt...
I just those who made it remember that when Feedsack is up for Senate approval as ag Secretary.
Maybe the fact that Klaudt beat out Max Wetz’s father in the primary has something to do with the small amount of money he received from the party. What a stupid move, the Democrats certainly ponyed up for Maher and the GOP should look into the rationale behind the ridiculously low funding they gave to Klaudt’s campaign.
I just saw your post... How can you say the first three are districts we never win.
Schoenbeck, Sutton, Kelly
That's who held the three seats in those Districts that are now occupied by Dems.
Or are we not talking about the same three.... You said the first three.... I thought you meant the three districts mentioned before you posted???
If not, my mistake...
I was told that a few Republicans ran all over the area telling fellow Republicans that they had to vote for Max Wetz’s father because Mr. Klaudt just wasn’t getting the job done anymore! They convinced a number of Republicans to vote against Ted Klaudt in the primary, and then asked the same people to vote for him in the general election Well, a number of them didn’t do that! They had been convinced that Mr. Klaudt needed to be removed and they voted against him in the primary so they felt they had to vote against him in the general election! I was told that Mr. Klaudt just kicked the hell out of Max Wetz’s father in the primary, but they had convinced enough people that Mr. Klaudt had to go. Just enough people that Mr. Klaudt lost the election!
And those of you so called Republican Leaders that just had to run Max Wetz’s father against Mr. Klaudt, and then only give Mr. Klaudt $250 to help win the general election, thanks a lot! Well, I guess in a way you got what you wanted didn’t you!
They told me that it is felt by a number of people that the Wetz family and some so called Republican Leaders owe Mr. Klaudt and other Republicans in North Western South Dakota an apology! That will come probably about as fast at the rain!
We need every Republican that we can get in Pierre and we don’t need fellow Republicans bringing another Republican down! I was told that Mr. Klaudt did a darn good job for his district and for the Republican party! Some of you should have looked at that before you played your role in taking down a fellow Republican!
We have more important things to accomplish then fighting each other and losing one of our own!
Running Max Wetz’s father in the primary against Ted Klaudt! Just what the hell were they thinking!
Talk about party loyalty!
But I guess it really does serves a purpose. At least now some of you Republicans that don’t “lockstep” all the time know what to expect when you come up for election!
Does have a tendency just to let you know who’s boss doesn’t it!
Hey Brock, you ruffled some feathers in the past. Do me a favor, keep your mouth shut this year will you!
You're right. The party would have been much better off putting a few thousand dollars into Adams. It might have cut his loss down to a 30% margin.
Where is your house information? I am assuming in a couple days... ?
I have two responses to you insinuating that Max would give or not give money because his father got beat in the primary, #1 - If you've ever met Max, you know he's not a mean-spirited and spiteful person and #2 - I suspect it was the chairman and not the executive director who made the decisions of who and how much party money to give.