First Quarter 2008 FEC Report Round Up

Introductory Notes:

I've been working on this post in bits and pieces for weeks; for some reason it has been harder to do this quarterly report round up than the previous ones. Could be part of post-presidential primary malaise. No telling. In any event, since it was done over a longer period of time remarks are less consistent from district to district.

This post covers only the January - April 2nd quarterly report and not the 48 hour filings that had to be made just before the primary. Those will show up in the June reports, filed in mid-July.

Itemized contributions are those over $200; the donor's name, address, occupation, amount of donation and amount of total donations are listed. Contributions under that amount are lumped together as unitemized so it is impossible from the reports to see if those people live in Pennsylvania, etc.

In addition to the straight numbers there are some other things I note. One is whether or not the reports are scrambled. Most reporting software keeps donations in alphabetical order by donor's last name. This makes it easy to see multiple donations in a quarter and so on. However, the treasurer or assistant treasurer can scramble the reports so the donations are listed randomly. This makes it more difficult for people, such as their opponent and me, to keep track of their donations. So it has no bearing on politics generally, it just makes my review more difficult and more prone to error. Two items I note that scrambled reports discourage is counting how many donors have contributed all that they legally can, a total of $4600 ($2300 for the primary, another $2300 for the general) and how many donors are from out of state. The convoluted geography of congressional districts makes determining how many donors are from out of the district far too cumbersome, in state is as close as I can get. You should be all the more certain to double check anything I say about a scrambled report.

Another item I track is whether or not there are disbursement notes for health insurance. After all, if a candidate is in favor of people having access to health insurance that access ought to start at home, so to speak. I also note how many paid staffers are listed. And generally, anything else that catches my eye.

However, you should, as always and above all, keep in mind that I am a rank amateur, doing this by counting on my fingers or with a pencil and scratch paper and prone to being interrupted by small children yelling "The cat just threw up!" or something else breaking my train of thought. Should you be intrigued by anything mentioned here, please do look at the full report yourself. They are available at www.fec.gov.

If more than one number is listed, the first is for this quarter, the second for the cycle as a whole. Most of the challengers are filing their first reports so there is no second number for them as yet.



6th Congressional District:

Jim Gerlach, Incumbent Republican

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 165,285.61
Individual, untemized: 15,719.50
Individual, total: 181,005.11 / 724,784.05
Political Party committees: 98.00 / 1,662.82
PACs: 204,720.97 / 750,220.97
Total: 385,824.08 / 1,476,667.84
Transfers: 30,854.61 / 34,278.91
Refunds: none this quarter
Other Receipts: 5,191.65 / 14,751.09
Total Receipts: 421,870.34 / 1,530,383.14

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 206,828.56 / 914,641.48
Refunds: 250.00 / 4,850.00
Other: 450.00 / 2,350.00
Total: 207,528.56 / 921,841.48

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 500,238.01
Contributions: 421,870.34 / 1,530,383.14
Disbursements: 207,528.56 / 921,841.48
Ending cash on hand: 714,579.79

Personal Observations: Scrambled. Of direct contributions, not including those via partnerships, approximately 30 donors were from out of state. This is a comparatively low number. 6 newly maxed out contributors. There are contributions listed for the Chicksaw Nation, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, as if they were individuals, and a donation from someone who works at Video Gaming Technologies. 4 paid staffers, pays health insurance, pays for cable tv, DC web hosting service; spent a total of about 68K on NJ media consultants and a DC fundraising consultant. That’s a lot. 16K for a Texas direct mail company. Several large payments to VISA with no breakdown of what it was for, a note says see subvendor for detail. A PA fundraising consultant was paid over 23K.

Bob Roggio, Democratic challenger

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 123,275.00
Individual, untemized: 17,824.99
Individual, total: 141,099.99
PACs: 3,600.00
Total: 144,699.99
Loans from the candidate: 60,500.00
Total Receipts: 205,199.99

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 36,941.07
Total: 36,941.07

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 00.00
Contributions: 205,199.99
Disbursements: 36,941.07
Ending cash on hand: 168,258.92

Personal Observations: Scrambled. There are some very interesting things here. For one, just over 10% of Roggio’s donors are from out of state, and only 3 maxed out. So he has a solid in-state base of donors that he can go back to for additional donations. Not very many were even into four figures so there is potentially a lot more money to come from the group he has already established contact with. And that isn’t including the $5K he has raised from Act Blue. Roggio has paid 5 people to work on his campaign, one named Roggio. Excluding things beyond his control (where the credit card fees are paid, etc), he only sent $1K out of state, for accounting services. He also made health insurance payments. Very impressive.



7th Congressional District:

Joe Sestak, Incumbent Democrat

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 374,382.11
Individual, unitemized: 67,960.05
Individual, total: 442,342.16 / 1,694,834.82
Political Party committees: 50.28 / 2236.69
PACs: 195,195.62 / 684,226.89
Candidate: none this quarter (4,600 total)
Transfers: none this quarter
Refunds, etc.: none this quarter
Other Receipts: 8,367.29 / 15,328.10
Total Receipts: 645,955.35 / 2,439,352.53

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 95,422.80 / 472,888.71
Refunds: 1,104.16 / 8,234.16
Total: 96,526.96 / 481,122.87

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 1,713,302.21
Contributions: 645,955.35 / 2,439,352.53
Disbursements: 96,526.96 / 481,122.87
Ending cash on hand: 2,262,730.60


Personal observations: This report is lengthy and scrambled so I am less sure of these numbers than any other candidate’s numbers. 28 newly maxed out contributors. Of individual contributors not donating via a partnership or via Act Blue, 69 were from out of state. 5 paid employees, 2 named Sestak. No mention of health insurance. Webhost in VA, online campaign tools from DC. Nearly $3K to Council for a Livable World. Uses a PA printer.

Craig Williams, Republican challenger

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 112,692.74
Individual, untemized: 7,045.00
Individual, total: 119,737.74 /
Political Party committees: 1,250.00 /
PACs: 12,850.00 /
The Candidate: 1,061.00
Total Receipts: 134,898.74 /

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 1,984.35 /
Total: 1,984.35 /

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 000.00
Contributions: 134,898.74 /
Disbursements: 1,984.35 /
Ending cash on hand: 132,914.39

Personal Observations: Scrambled. 13 (18?) out of state donors, out of around 100 total. 5 maxed out donors. About $700 paid to Complete Campaigns of California, another $1000 for rent, and $200 in kind for office supplies. About $18,000 in debt, most to Keystone Strategies of PA for computer services, etc.


8th Congressional District

Patrick Murphy, Incumbent Democrat

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 422,647.49
Individual, unitemized: 53,992.41
Individual, total: 476,639.90 / 1,440,219.95
Political Party committees: none this quarter
PACs: 137,000.00 / 775,620.33
Total: 613,639.90 / 2,222,935.41
Transfers: none this quarter
Other Receipts: 1,725.88 / 45,125.22
Total Receipts: 615,365.78 / 230,3681.11

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 115,942.35 / 688,173.52
Refunds: 9,700.00 / 14,977.00
Total: 127,992.35 / 708,500.52

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 1,171,977.42
Contributions: 615,365.78 / 2,303,681.11
Disbursements: 127,992.35 / 708,500.52
Ending cash on hand: 1,659,350.85

Personal Observations: Out of 493 individual itemized contributors (not included those who donated via Act Blue or partnerships), 219 are from outside Pennsylvania. 15 maxed out contributors (some showing up as maxed out are listed as having some contributions refunded). There are a number of payments for taxi fare, parking, and Amtrak. Almost $2000 in webhosting costs to a firm in MA. Paid around $4000 to a PA printer. Paid over $10,000 to Sutter’s Mill Fundraising in DC. 5 paid staff. Pays health insurance costs. Murphy feels your pain – he lists costs for gas and office heating. Small debt for copy machine lease.

Tom Manion, Republican challenger

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 340,998.93
Individual, untemized: 14,720.00
Individual, total: 355,718.93
PACs: 66,760.00
Total: 422,478.93
Other Receipts: 40.63
Total Receipts: 422,519.56

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 4,383.00
Refunds: 1,400.00
Total: 5,783.00

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 000.00
Contributions: 422,519.56
Disbursements: 5,783.00
Ending cash on hand: 416,736.56

Personal Observations: Scrambled. 44 out of state donors. 14 maxed out donors. No paid staff. Over $3,000 to a bookkeeping consultant in Maryland.


13th Congressional District

Allyson Schwartz, Incumbent Democrat

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 234,606.60
Individual, unitemized: 17,490.00
Individual, total: 252,096.60 / 1,299,351.59
Political Party committees: 19.00 / 491.87
PACs: 141,750.00 / 605,950.00
Total: 393,865.60 / 1,905,793.46
Refunds, etc.: none this quarter
Other Receipts: 8,460.08 / 27,392.79
Total Receipts: 402,325.68 / 1,953,642.13

Disbursements
Operating: 141,020.80 / 496,786.96
Refunds: 4600.00 / 7300.00
Other: 975.00 / 225,815.00
Total: 146,595.80 / 729,901.96

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 1,619,431.38
Contributions: 402,325.68 / 1,953,642.13
Disbursements: 146,595.80 / 729,901.96
Ending cash on hand: 1,875,161.26

Personal observations: There were 367 itemized individuals, 110 from out of state. Only 8 are maxed out (there were 9 but someone was granted a full refund). I noticed a number of contributors from the non-profit world and medical / health practitioners (midwives, etc). Health insurance paid. A VA polling firm paid $38,000. A fundraising consultant in DC paid over $12,000. Delaware web hosting firm. A legislative staffer paid over $11,000 for consulting and $1947 for travel. 3 paid employees. The DCCC paid $19.00 for fundraising. The campaign is buying a car (car payments listed). This was odd: $233.55 paid for food from Bed Bath & Beyond. If the petit fours you ate at that last fundraiser tasted soapy maybe there’s a reason?

Marina Kats, Republican challenger

Kats received $4600 in individual itemized contributions, plus $1000 from a PAC for a total of $5600. She had $124.00 in operating expenditures, leaving her with a total of $5476.00 cash on hand at the end of the quarter.

Personal Observations: She received a total of $4600 from one donor (a gentleman whose name was paired with hers as a sponsor on an invitation to a charitable event I recently received) and $1000 from the Friends of Jim Saxton, located in New Jersey.



15th Congressional District

Charlie Dent, Incumbent Republican

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 99,420.00
Individual, unitemized: 9,009.00
Individual, total: 108,429.00 / 530,122.44
Political Party committees: none this quarter
PACs: 59,000.00 / 399,837.33
Total: 167,429.00 / 930,253.77
Transfers from other authorized committees: 34,033.72 / 34,033.72
Refunds, etc.: none this quarter
Other Receipts: 2,944.86 / 7,448.62
Total Receipts: 204,407.58 / 974,593.11

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 123,665.16 / 602,957.97
Refunds: 300.00 / 450.00
Other: none this quarter
Total: 123,965.16 / 633,082.97

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 535,091.73
Contributions: 204,407.58 / 974,593.11
Disbursements: 123,965.16 / 633,082.97
Ending cash on hand: 615,534.15

Personal observations: Scrambled, 8 out of state individuals. Some donations from LLPs without a breakdown of individuals. 6 newly maxed out contributors, one donated $4900, but was refunded the $300 overage. Over $34000 donated from D&G PAK. $11,000 paid to a firm in VA to do a voter survey, $8000 to a Virginia firm for consulting. Charlie is now reimbursing Shawn for health insurance!!! Yippee!!!!! Over $5000 paid to a Philadelphia firm for consulting. Over $3000 paid to a Philadelphia firm for fundraising and consulting. 3 paid employees.


Sam Bennett, Democratic challenger

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 59,950.01
Individual, unitemized: 9,420.63
Individual, total: 69,370.64 / 21,2016.67
PACs: 48,460.00 / 99,710.00
Total: 117,830.64 / 311,726.67
Other Receipts: 332.44 / 1,582.44
Total Receipts: 118,163.08 / 313,309.11

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 29,603.27 / 130,064.77
Other: not this quarter
Total: 29,603.27 / 130,539.77

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 94,270.03
Contributions: 118,163.08 / 313,309.11
Disbursements: 29,603.27 / 130,539.77
Ending cash on hand: 182,829.84

Personal observations: I counted about 24 out of state itemized individual donors out of about 95 total, and about 6 newly maxed out donors. Two paid employees, no mention of health insurance. An in-state consultant received nearly $3800 and an out of state web designer $2500.


16th Congressional District

Joe Pitts, Incumbent Republican

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 39,950.00
Individual, unitemized: 00.00
Individual, total: 39,950.00 / 93,145.00
PACs: 46,000.00 / 215,054.35
Total: 85,950.00 / 308,199.35
Other: not this quarter
Total Receipts: 85,950.00 / 313,769.17

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 46,777.94 / 246,717.83
Other: 5,000 / 54,250.00
Total: 51,777.94 / 315,967.83

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 175,897.11
Contributions: 85,950.00 / 313,769.17
Disbursements: 51,777.94 / 315,967.83

Ending cash on hand: 210,069.17

Personal observations: Reports are scrambled, with PACs and individuals mixed in. One paid employee, no mention of health insurance. Largest single expense, almost $8,600 is for a fundraising firm in Virginia, another $5000 contribution to a county GOP party.


Bruce Slater, Democratic challenger

Contributions
Individual, itemized: 5,420.00
Individual, unitemized: 4,834.72
Individual, total: 10,254.72 / 25,093.89
PACs: 250.00 / 250.00
Total: 10,504.72 / 25,343.89
Loans from the candidate: 540.60 / 1515.60
Total Receipts: 11,045.32 / 26,859.49

Disbursements
Operating Expenditures: 13,323.81 / 23.500.78
Total: 13,323.81 / 23,500.78

Summary
Beginning Cash on hand: 8,387.56
Contributions: 11,045.32 / 26,859.49
Disbursements: 13,323.81 / 23,500.78
Ending cash on hand: 6,109.07

Personal observations: All but one of the 13 itemized contribution from Pennsylvania. No newly maxed out contributions. In disbursements, $8,000 in consulting fees.