Post election campaign finance reports, and Esrati screws up.
Mr. Whaley (I mean Sam Braun) was standing around at the deadline to see my final campaign finance report. He also started asking about my designation of treasurer form. Turns out, I didn’t file one. It was a screw-up, and I blew it. [note: I have filed a Federal designation, for my Congressional campaign, and failed to file a change of treasurer form to a local filing- with my new treasurers name]
I’m now getting reported to the Ohio Election Commission. Note, all finance reports were turned in on time and correctly.
I’ll be down at the Board of Elections on Monday filing it late.
UPDATE
UPDATE
The deposed Mayor kept $22,695 on hand. Whoops. Maybe she should have bought some television to go with all those mailings featuring Gary Leitzell’s picture- and the bit of radio she bought. Interesting big donors-
- $561 from the National City Corporation PAC (note, the bank was already folded into PNC by that time- but they were still looking to buy a mayor off)
- $500 from the “Schenectady First Fund” (the honorable Brian Stratton) – He’s a mayor from NY?
- $2500 from CNCZ (Name unknown) PAC of 15 W. Fourth St. Suite 100- (this warrants further research)
- $500 From Caresource Management Services Co. Not a PAC, but a corporation, I thought that was illegal.
- $5000 Mary A Mathile (this after Rhine had already collected 10x what Gary Leitzell had raised)
- $500 Thomas W. Lovett
- $500 Arthur G Meyer A.A. L. (I don’t know what A.A. L. is- do you?)
- $1000 from Boich Law Office, LLC, of Gahanna- another corporate donation? Hmmm.
- $250 From Dayton School Superintendent Kurt T. Stanic- who was recommended by the same firm who ran Rhine’s campaign, and that he gave a no-bid marketing contract to.
- $250 From Foley For Commission- as in County Commissioner Dan Foley.
She spent a lot of money with the Ohio Democratic Party on the mailings: $21,176
She bought herself a computer for $831.42 and paid $5K to the Montgomery County Democratic party for mailings.
UPDATE
Here is her report: Rhine McLin 09 post election campagn finance report
Ms. Nan Whaley kept $22,484 on hand. She raised a lot less this period with a total of $3,860.
Notable donations:
- $500 from Mr. Lucas Liakos, owner of Masque, the Vue and Diamonds.
- $500 from B.B.E.W.-C.O.P.E. of Washington DC PAC numbr C00027342
- $150 from Victor Harris- who ran against party favorite Roland Winburn in the OH-40, Victor is living in DC.
- $200 from Foley for Commission
She spent $6,160 with the Ohio Democratic Party as a “Contribution” and another $6000 as the same five days later (these should be mailings).$1000 on Dan Farkas of Dublin Ohio as a “media consultant”
She states she was given postage, mail service and printing in kind from the Ohio Democratic Party: $11,655.19 – nice, we’re trading.
Here is the Nan Whaley report: Nan Whaley post election campaign finance report 09
Read and enjoy. Once again, shouldn’t this data be available on the Board of Election site?
Don’t worry- they won’t sweat it, they’ve now nailed me for failure to file my “Designation of treasurer” after we already filed at least one report. Get ready for the crucifixion of your favorite independent candidate at the hands of the partisan Ohio Elections Commission.
If you want to see the pre-election reports- so you can total things up: http://esrati.com/?p=3511
It still amazes me that Gary was able to win on such a tight budget, especially considering that his opponent was well funded. I guess money doesn’t always win the election.
When you add up my expenditures and add in the “in-kind” contributions of office space and printing that was donated, my total spending was around $23,000. Rhine expended a total of $179,000 with “in-kind” donations added to her expenses. It would appear that even Nan out spent me!
I told my staff back in March that I could win this on around $20,000 if we planned it right. Heck, I even told Esrati a year and a half ago when I first met him, that if I ran I wouldn’t need a ton of money. David told me that I was naive to think I could win without a whole lot of money backing me ….. I teased him about this on election night! It makes the whole thing kind of miraculous and surreal at the same time.
Maybe I’ll write a book about it some day. Quite a story really.
@Mayor Elect Leitzell- I’d be happy if you’d write a few blog posts since your election= skip the book.
For the record- my total: $4,500 or so- I’ll have the full report up when I post the rest.
An insider tipped me on the CNCZ Pac- “The $2500 PAC contribution you questioned is from Flanagan,Lieberman,Hoffman and Swaim. Used to be 318 PAC”
That would be as in former Montgomery County Democratic Party Chair, Dennis Lieberman,
looks like DDN has the story now:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/election/mclin-spent-134k-in-campaign-leitzell-spent-17k-reports-show-445310.html
What in the world did she spend $134,912 on – she needs to fire her sign printer for overcharging her.
Interesting. Flanagan, Lieberman, Hoffman & Swaim got, as I recall, $50,000 from the City in the past couple of years to move their offices a couple of blocks in downtown Dayton – thus “retaining” jobs there.
Seems like the most important first step in winning an election is wisely choosing which election in which to compete, based in large part on who one’s opponent(s) will be.
That Leitzell was able to win having spent 13% of what his opponent did (or $117,050 less than his opponent) is noteworthy.
However, it’s also noteworthy that he won by only 882 votes (based on the latest MCBOE figures), that he won only 72 or 48% of the city’s 151 precincts (based on this Excel worksheet on esrati.com), and that he won only 9 or 43% of the city’s 21 wards (based on the same Excel worksheet).
McLin was strongly wounded by her stance on gay rights. Had she been less courageous on that issue, the IMA would have endorsed her, the west side would have come out in stronger numbers to vote, and she’d have won re-election.
So when Leitzell writes his book, he can certainly talk about knowing how to run a campaign on a shoestring budget and about being right where others were wrong about how much money is required, but his smartest decision really wasn’t about the money but rather choosing the race. If instead of running for mayor he’d run for city commission, would he have won a seat?
@D.E. – I sincerely hope that you don’t get in too much trouble for not filing the “designation of treasurer” form. I’m sure it was an honest mistake. (And, NO, I’m not being sarcastic!) The Whaley/Braun clan had probably noticed this oversight early on and chose to keep it quiet until it was too late for you to do anything about it. I will say though, that your comment in this morning’s DDN about the board being partisan was not too smart. I mean you’re basically telling them up front that you don’t expected to be treated fairly due to differences in politics. Maybe one day you’ll learn when to stop talking. Or, maybe you were misquoted or quoted out of context.
I do have a question about these reports. I’m assuming that these are only covering a period towards the end of the election. If so, is there a consolidated report for each candidate. In particular I’d be interested in how much Ms. Whaley spent on advertising (newspapers, radio, TV) and with whom.
Congrats to the mayor-elect!!! Just be sure that you don’t courageously defend gay rights or you’re going to be a 1 term mayor!
@Bubba- the quote in the DDN came out harsh. I don’t have any friends on the partisan board- like we’ve seen with Jon Husted for example. It was not a judgment call, or a matter of not owning the mistake- it’s a matter of the system has traditionally worked hard to keep independent/third parties, etc- off the ballot.
There is no combined report- you can pull the final and the pre- together and add them up. Ms. Whaley didn’t buy any media other than direct mail- yet paid a “media consultant” $3K. She spent a lot more paying for volunteers food.
And of course, they knew in advance that I’d missed it- and no one from the BOE caught it and called me to remind me, even though some of them had to know. It’s a simple one page form. Greg and I both missed it- and I’ll pay the price.
And- btw- the DDN totals the expenditures for Rhine and Gary- but only showed final reporting period in my race. My total was just shy of $5k
Mr. Lauri, I made it very clear on my very first blog post back in December 2008 that had I run for commission it was very much an assumption that I would win a seat. I also explained why I chose to run for mayor and what I wanted to achieve. All of this was posted before I was even on the ballot. If you analyze what I wrote in this post you will also realize that I actually revealed how Rhine McLin and the democratic party could have defeated me in a total victory that would have cost her only half of what she spent. Everything they needed to know is all there in that single post. I laid everything out for them in plain sight. They missed it. They failed to realize that I was actually trying to help her throughout the campaign. Her party advisers were more focused on finding dirt on me than understanding who I am and how I think. Had they ever come to me before they went negative and asked for my input, I would have given it, gladly. I was even trying to help after they went negative on me but when that happened all bets were off and I became more determined than ever to beat the “machine” that I was up against. They kept throwing money at the “problem” the way they always have, thinking that it would take care of it. Meanwhile I made the most effective use of what little I had in order to influence the voters. We did some very clever stuff. Much of it was very subtle but effective. I play strategy games for fun. This was the ultimate strategy game. It was a well thought out campaign. We knew the numbers and we had goals. My goal was 16,000 votes for a clear concise victory and I was shooting for 1800 more votes than the incumbent. Without resources I had to do just enough to be ahead and not worry about overkill. If I had just $3000 more I would have increased my voter… Read more »
YOU would not have had a choice this election
Um, thanks for the choice? In case you hadn’t guessed, I voted against you.
That’s the beauty of the system he have in America. We can vote for who we choose. I am glad Gary sacrificed his time and put forth the effort to win this election. His participation gave me a choice when otherwise I would have not have voted anyone for Mayor. Go Gary Go!
>>> Um, thanks for the choice? In case you hadn’t guessed, I voted against you. <<<
So, your vote wasn’t FOR Ms. McLin, it was a vote AGAINST Mr. Leitzell? Nice.
Will Brooks is right. I don’t live in the City, but I’m also glad that Gary sacrificed his time to run in and win the election. He’s already showing that he can make coherent statements to a news camera and that will do nothing but help Dayton’s image – both to the population of the greater Dayton area but also to others from outside the region. Go Gary Go!
@Esrati….>>> Ms. Whaley didn’t buy any media other than direct mail- yet paid a “media consultant” $3K. She spent a lot more paying for volunteers food. <<<
Does the report say who that “media consultant” is? And none of her reports show any spending on radio or TV?????? Interesting.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of “penalty” would be involved for a candidate that failed to disclose any spending for broadcast media but actually used broadcast media? Or… Let’s say that I was backing you in the commission race (even if I didn’t live in the City)…. Could I record an “endorsement” of you and then pay a local media outlet out of my own pocket to broadcast that endorsement. Would an endorsement like that have to have the “disclosure” at the end of it saying who’s paying for the broadcast time? Would something like that have to show up on any candidate’s report? Sorry for all of the questions, but I’m just a sponge for knowledge!! ;)
@Bubba- The media consultant is “Dan Farkas of Dublin Ohio as a “media consultant”” from my post- and in the report- $2k first period, $1k second. I posted both reports- didn’t see any media spent.
There is no penalty for winners- the campaign laws are meted out by a partisan board. If you pay a local media outlet to run a political ad- you have to say who paid for it- be it a union, or a political party. She could have had ads run by either- and she doesn’t have to report it.
The best part of this discussion is that Gary actually thinks he won the election because of what he did!!! Gary—the only reason you won is because no one knew who the hell you were! You actually won a campaign because no one west thought there was an actual race for Mayor so they didn’t show up to vote. It has nothing to do with how “efficient” your campaign spending was, actually if you would have spent $0 you might have increased your margin. East would have voted for Bugs Bunny over Mayor McLin. You really don’t get it.
@Molly I don’t live in Dayton but you raise an interestng point about rallying your base voters. Not having seen the campaign materials did either side work better to motivate their base? I have a lot of respect for Rhine and from my distant view out here in Trotwood I still wonder how this result was possible. Your observation “no one west thought there was an actual race” should have set off alarm bells to get out the base.