The dollars and cents of running for office

Finance reports reveal broad range of spending

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006

The Bryans Road resident placed third in the race for three District 28 delegate seats representing Charles County, unseating Del. W. Daniel Mayer (R-Charles) and giving local Democrats a clean sweep in the state legislature.

During the four-year campaign cycle, Murphy (D-Charles) reported more than $140,000 in receipts, including $97,000 in outstanding loans spread out over 13 separate requests in 2006. (The biggest was for $15,000 on July 25.) He spent the bulk of his war chest and has a balance of about $2,300.

Aside from the loans, Murphy raised more than $43,000, mostly from individual donors.

Mayer lost despite spending more than $110,000 in the campaign cycle. It was the first legislative campaign for Mayer, a three-term Charles County commissioner who was appointed to the legislature in February 2005 to fill a vacancy. He finished 5,212 votes behind Murphy. Less than 10 percent of Mayer’s receipts came from political action committees.

The race’s top vote-getter, Del. Sally Y. Jameson (D-Charles), raised the smallest amount — about $73,000 — over the last four years. She received more than $22,000 from PACs and has $9,000 in outstanding loans to repay. Her account balance stands at more than $11,000.

Meanwhile, Del. Murray D. Levy (D-Charles), who received 615 fewer votes than Jameson, raised $94,000. Levy, also a former longtime county commissioner, has $29,000 in loan obligations, and has $6,000 in his account. He spent more than $105,000 in the last four years.

Perennial candidate James H. ‘‘Jim” Crawford (R) reported raising and spending no money in the election cycle and maintains a campaign account of less than $200. He finished a distant fifth place.

Fundraising totals for the county’s state Senate race showed a landslide. Sen. Thomas ‘‘Mac” Middleton (D-Charles) raised more than four times that of his GOP opponent, Jay Bala, but his figures were inflated by loans.

Bala, a first-time candidate, reported raising $84,300, but loaned himself $77,250. His post-election report had not been filed with the state elections board as of Tuesday, meaning he will be assessed a $10 daily fine until it is submitted.

Meanwhile, Middleton, one of the Senate’s most prolific fundraisers and a possible successor to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George’s), who recently announced the upcoming four-year term will be his last, raised nearly $355,000 (about $140,000 of which came from PACs). He distributed several hundred thousand dollars to other Democratic accounts and individual candidates over the four years.

Another effective fundraiser is Del. John F. Wood Jr. (D-St. Mary’s, Charles), who rakes in most of his campaign cash through his annual golf tournament and bull roast. The longtime lawmaker raised more than $190,000 since 2003 and spent most of it, routing his competition in both the primary and general elections. About $50,000 of his contributions came from political action committees.

Republican Joe DiMarco, the first-time candidate who challenged Wood, raised $1,600, according to his campaign finance report. He received more than 4,600 votes, or nearly 35 percent of the electorate.

Defeated last month in his quest for the District 29 state Senate seat, former St. Mary’s Commissioner President Thomas F. McKay is racking up daily fines for failing to submit a campaign finance summary by the Nov. 28 deadline.

The district stretches into the southeastern corner of Charles County, incorporating one election precinct in Benedict.

The $10-a-day penalty will accrue until McKay (R) files his financial report with the state elections board. An elections official confirmed on Tuesday that McKay had not yet posted the report, which can be done electronically. The fine is assessed each business day, so the penalty was $50 as of Tuesday.

The maximum fine is $250, after which a show cause notice is sent to the candidate or campaign, notifying them of the reporting failure. If no corrective action is taken, the case is then referred to the state prosecutor, said Jared DeMarinis, director of the state board’s candidacy and campaign finance division.

Through the last financial report posted at the end of October, McKay raised more than $200,000, mostly in 2005 and the first half of 2006. Neither he nor incumbent Sen. Roy P. Dyson faced primary opposition, enabling both men to pad their treasuries. Dyson, whose final campaign finance report has been posted, raised nearly $100,000, but the biggest chunk — $38,565 — came this September and October.

E-mail Alan Brody at abrody@somdnews.com.