The deadline for pre-primary campaign finance reports has passed, and they are now available online at the Secretary of State website.
Michigan Campaign Finance Committee Search
News headlines have focused on the governor's race, where Rick Snyder has spent 6 million dollars of his money trying to buy the Republican nomination.
Local candidate filings get less attention but are of interest to those who follow local politics. Here are the amounts raised (in parentheses, from the candidate himself), spent, and cash onhand for some local races.
Name _______ / Contributions (from self) / Spent / Cash Onhand
20th state senate district
Tonya Schuitmaker / 276794 (100000) / 168889 / 106085
Lorence Wenke / 250409 (230000) / 249534 / 120
Larry DeShazor / 35668 (17780) / 30809 / 3331
Robert Jones / 61179 (10377) / 44393 / 6881
Mark Totten / 204328 (32454) / 126754 / 71850
Wenke is largely self-funding, while Tonya has combined significant self-funding with lots of establishment Republicans and right-leaning PACs. They have been hammering each other with negative advertising. Will DeShazor be able to benefit?
Totten is spending heavily attacking Jones for votes on drug liability, arena tax, and more. Many of his contributions are from outside the district. Will he be able to topple Jones? This blog thinks not.
21st state senate district
John Proos / 175430 (38400) / 60470 / 113384
Todd Griffee / 4330 (3185) / 4330 / 0
Scott Elliot / not filed
Proos should have an easy election.
24th state senate district
Rick Jones / 104222 (803) / 43065 / 59928
Randy Brink / not filed
Michelle DiSano / not filed
Jones should have an easy election.
61st state house district
Margaret O'Brien / 29179 (8889) / 9037 / 19986
Thomas Batten / 12445 (9265) / 5727 / 1058
Grant Taylor (WI) / 112362 (105939) / 53655 / 58232
Batten and Taylor have largely self-funded their campaigns. Taylor is running a write-in campaign due to his failure to understand election law well enough to get on the ballot. Where he got his money is something of a mystery, as his report lists his occupation as "TREASURER-M.A.C. HOUSE CHARITIES". Write-in campaigns rarely succeed, and this blog is not betting on Taylor to succeed. Margaret O'Brien remains a solid favorite.
60th state house district
Jeff Fernandez / 5960 (0) / 3253 / 2106
Sean McCann / 33629 (20) / 20204 / 13299
Chris Praedel / 9610 (4234) / 4670 / 932
Dustin Harback / 25 (25) / 0 / 25
McCann remains the prohibitive favorite. Why did Matt Moss donate to Praedel?
79th state house district
Paul Petersen / 6549 (2108) / 5110 / 872
Al Pscholka / 33019 (3000) / 23274 / 8376
Bruce Gorenflo / 3365 (110) / 2994 / 310
Can Tea Party leader Petersen overcome the money advantage of Upton candidate Pscholka?
80th state house district
Aric Nesbitt / 36905 (11500) / 21240 / 15664
Douglas Harrington / 2317 (?) / 319 / 1998
Shelley Hartmann / 47352 (43910) / 33222 / 14129
Bob Linderman / 7802 (7802) / 0 / 0
William Queen / reporting waiver--less than $1000
Frank Thompson / 18888 (10019) / 1053 / 6520
Thomas Erdmann / 9674 (1080) / 2867 / 6747
The Republican race seems to be coming down to Nesbitt, who is endorsed by all the conservative organizations and many established republicans versus Hartmann, who is largely self-funding. The Republican nominee will be favored.
87th state house district
Mike Callton / 92157 (64442) / 45687 / 29465
Michael Bremer / 10165 (3000) / 8742 / 1422
Steve Fabiano 27287 (25513) / 26429 / 859
Callton is the favorite.
Republicans generally outraised democrats in competitive state senate districts.
1 comment:
Excerpt from an Herald Palladium article entitled "Griffee, Proos face off in GOP primary" by Shawn McGrath published July 22:
"Griffee was forced to re sign from the Indiana State Police after he was charged with attempted battery and criminal recklessness, both felonies, in 1997.
He was accused of shoot ing at a pair of men inside a pickup truck outside of the Linebacker Lounge in South Bend when he was off duty. The men had been involved in a fight at the bar with other patrons. Griffee saw what was happening and tried to stop the men when one hit him in the head with a flash light. Griffee was trying to take the keys out of the vehicle’s ignition, according to court documents. Griffee was out of uniform and had been drinking when he fired as the men drove away, striking the pickup four times. Griffee told investigators he had identified himself as a state trooper. The case went to trial, and Griffee was acquit ted of the charges. He says the then-prosecu tor was being overzealous in bringing the charges and said the incident and trial were learning experiences."
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