Let's talk money and the council candidates
A deeper dive into contributions and expenditures
The candidates for city council are required to submit documents to the city clerk regarding their campaign contributions and expenditures on October 17th, November 3rd and December 12. This year City Clerk Beck has made them available to the public on the city’s elections page.
Yesterday I posted a plethora of information about the non-incumbent council candidates I worked with Vicky Uhland and Grant Swift to collect. I called dibs on the financial filings for that piece.
I have scrutinized these financial documents for many a year. Back in the olden days, I used to go to City Hall and pay to get copies of them, it could be quite expensive depending on the number of candidates. Yeah, internet!
Contribution and expenditure documents may seem snooze-worthy but they can be used to help you get a feel for each candidate in numerous ways which you can add to what you learned from the forums and voter guides in local publications.
I’ve looked at each filing and put together a brief accounting for you of all the candidates, not just the newbies. This first filing shows you how they have begun their campaign, the next two filings while still important are either too close to election day or fall after. Here are my suggestions on how to use this information.
Contributions, what you can look for:
Is the candidate receiving strong monetary support from people across the community or are the contributions from outside the state maybe from family members, or from entities looking to influence such as oil and gas or developers?
Is the candidate self-funding, paying for all expenses out of their own pocket? Some candidates prefer to go this route to show independence. But the other side of that is perhaps they haven’t been able to get monetary donations for their campaign.
Expenditures, what you can look for:
While it’s not always possible to get everything needed for a campaign in Lafayette, some voters like to see support given to local businesses as much as possible, this also applies to where the campaign’s bank account is located.
What are the candidates purchasing in order to gain your vote? This can show how serious they are about running a campaign. They should want you to know about themselves. Flyers and signs are a common way to inform voters, a website allows a candidate more space to tell you their story and vision, voters tend to expect these at a minimum. Some candidates ask for in-kind contributions. In-kind contributions can be donations of time and skills such as a friend designing a sign or flyer but that work must be reported as a non-monetary contribution.
Some candidates rely on voter guides, going door to door or standing in public places. If they go this route they might not have a lot of expenditures.
City Council Candidates Contributions and Expenditures for the October 17th 2023 filing
Some candidates form official campaign committees but not all.
Tim Barnes
Huntington Bank in Lafayette
Funds on hand at the beginning $268.88
I am guessing he had funds on hand because he is an incumbent and has funds left from his previous campaign.
3 contributions from Lafayette residents, 1 in Boulder
Personal contribution $339.86
Total contributions $438.56
Total spending $778.42
Morrell Printing - Lafayette
Website - Wix
David Fridland
Fridland for Lafayette - Elevations Credit Union
Personal expenditures only, no contributions listed
Morrell Printing - Lafayette
Stickermule signs and buttons- New York
Signs from Dirt Cheap Signs - Texas
Prairie Mountain Media - online advertising - this is the Daily Camera, Hometown Weekly parent company
Website - Squarespace in New York
Total spending $1310.05
Crystal Gallegos
Personal expenditures only, no contributions listed
Total spending $154.46
Signs and stakes - Signs On the Cheap - Texas
JD Mangat
JD Mangat for Lafayette City Council -Committee bank - First Interstate - Lafayette
Funds on hand at the beginning - $612.97
I am guessing he had funds on hand because he is an incumbent and has funds left from his previous campaign.
Total monetary contributions $12,211
Non-monetary contributions $728
68 total contributors, 25 are Lafayette residents, 43 are not Lafayette residents, some are in New York, California and Texas. Most of these are more than likely family and friends.
There are 12 $500 contributions, one for a $1000, and many for $250 and $100
$50 personal contribution
Total contributions $12,939
Total spending $6056.55
Voter Action Network - Washington
Morrell Printing - flyers, mailers, yard signs, mailer postage
Matthew Miranda - campaign manager $600 and $1200
Act Blue - service charge
The Post chicken and beer - volunteer lunch
Non-monetary contributions
Edgewater resident- flyer and door hanger design $200
Lafayette resident - food and drinks $528
Gala Orba
There is no report listed for her online. That could indicate she has not received any contributions nor spent any money on her campaign, or that she forgot to file it.
Eric Ryant
Personal expenditures only, no contributions listed
He seems to have filled out the form incorrectly, he has the recipient of the spending as himself rather than who he paid. This gives us no record of who he paid or where they are located.
Total spending $2220.91
Website work
Hometown Weekly
Printing
Buttons
John Watson
Elect Watson City Council - Wells Fargo Louisville
Contributions
$200 personal contribution
$25 Arvada resident
$100 Lafayette resident
Total contributions $325
Total expenditures $174.49
Morrell Printing - Lafayette
signs for office
Wow, thank you so very much Karen. It is important for you to know how much your work is valued. I hope it is visible to the largest number of people possible.
Great article. Thank you for putting all of the time and effort to put this together for us.