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Summit County office holders outspend challengers

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November 16, 2008

From staff reports

Summit County office holders outspent their challengers in five races, according to pre-election campaign finance reports released by the Summit County Board of Elections days after the Nov. 4 general election.

Incumbents retained the positions of county executive, fiscal officer, prosecutor and clerk of courts. The incumbent did not win the county engineer race.

The finance reports, which contain details on contributions collected, money spent and any loans taken out by the campaign camps, were turned in by the candidates prior to Oct. 23. Final finance reports from the candidates must be turned into the Board of Elections by Dec. 12.

County executive

According to the Summit County Board of Elections, County Executive Russell Pry out spent rival Jim Laria, by $86,000. Pry won the race with 61 percent of the vote.

According to the finance report, Pry had a total of $137,049 in funds available. Pry had six contributions of $2,000 or more.

The report showed Pry's campaign spent $122,049 and still owed $500 in loans. His campaign's largest single expenditure was $25,194 for media time.

Laria's report showed his camp had $45,941 in total funds available.

The reports showed Laria's campaign spent $35,647 and still owed $8,500 in loans.

Laria's largest listed expense was $6,000 for advertising, and he had 26 contributions of at least $1,000.

Fiscal officer

The winner in the Nov. 4 election for Summit County Fiscal Officer race, incumbent John Donofrio (D), outspent his opponent William "Bill" Conte (R) by a more than two-to-one margin in the Nov. 4 election.

According to campaign finance reports, the Donofrio Campaign Committee spent $39,491.47 compared to the Committee to Elect Conte's expenditure of $16 493.93.

Donofrio had $56,139.66 in funds available. His largest contributor was Lynn Vallee with $1,000. Largest expenditures were $12,948.75 for a fundraiser at Raintree Country Club, $6,298.50 to Triad Communications and a $4,000 donation to the Summit County Democratic Party.

Conte primarily self-funded his campaign with two loans to the campaign committee of $24,000. Individual donations totaled $3,515. The largest contributor was Sabine Klein with $250. His largest expenditures were $3,825 to Time Warner Cable Media Sales and $3,576.23 to Record Publishing Co.

Engineer

In the Nov. 4 race for county engineer, Republican incumbent Greg Bachman outspent his opponent by more than three to one, according to an Oct. 23 campaign finance report from the Summit County Board of Elections.

Democrat Alan Brubaker won the race with 55 percent of the vote, according to final but unofficial results from the Summit County Board of Elections.

Bachman spent $102,071.36 compared to Brubaker's $28,494.62, according to the reports.

The Keep Summit County Engineer Greg Bachman Committee had raised $103,236.66 as of Oct. 23.

The campaign's largest donations, at $1,000 each, came from three contributors who Bachman employed.

Bachman's biggest expenses included $21,388.30 to Time Warner Cable and $16,319.71 in social or fundraising event expenditures.

The Brubaker for Engineer Committee's largest contributions were $9,500 from the Summit County Democratic Executive Committee Political Fund and $5,000 from Northfield resident Ronald Baxter. An in-kind contribution valued at $4,168.76 also came from the Summit County Democratic Party for billboard advertising.

Prosecutor

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh (D) outspent her opponent, Nancy Mercurio Morrison, about $92,000 to $5,100 in the finance period ending Oct. 23, according to finance reports from the Summit County Board of Elections. Walsh won the race with 69 percent of the vote.

Walsh's most significant contributors were Chris Nolan of Akron and the Summit, Portage and Medina County Carpenters associations. Each group gave Walsh $600.

Morrison received $5,685 in contributions. Morrison's largest contribution was $400 from Cuyahoga Falls resident Ed Weber.

Clerk of courts

The winner of the clerk of courts race in the Nov. 4 election raised three times as much his opponent and spent twice as much in campaign funds, according to Oct. 23 campaign finance report from the Summit County Board of Elections.

Daniel Horrigan (D), incumbent and winner, raised $52,527 and spent $42,808 before Oct. 23, while Mary Stormer (R) raised $16,558 and spend $21,897, leaving a negative balance covered by a personal loan.

Stormer spent more than $16,000 for promotional materials created by AD Graphics of Akron while Horrigan spent more than $18,000 for promotional materials created by Triad Communications of Cuyahoga Falls.

No individual donated more than $300 to Stormer's campaign. Horrigan received $1,000 each in donations from Paul Scala of Akron, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Committee On Political Education of Washington, D.C., the James B. MacCarthy Campaign Committee of Akron, and Penguin PAC of Columbus.




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