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HOT ISSUE
1.16: Lawmakers seek to boost
indebtedness
(Week of April 23, 2002)
Following the money in political races
APRIL 19, 2002 - - News organizations generally
only give general numbers about contributions to statewide candidates
and, most of the time, they only focus on the top office - governor.
But there are several other offices up for grab this fall: lieutenant
governor, attorney general, secretary of state, superintendent of
education, state treasurer, comptroller general, agriculture commissioner
and adjutant general.
In this Hot Issue, we thought it would be helpful
to provide a chart of recently-available First Quarter (Jan. 1-March
31) contributions. Here are some conclusions:
- Open seats. Democrats in down ballot
open races are doing extremely well, compared to Republicans,
in raising money. In the lieutenant governor's race, Sen. Phil
Leventis has more cash on hand than any of the Republican rivals.
In the attorney general's race, Democrat Steve Benjamin has more
cash on hand than any of his rivals - - and he didn't give himself
a $250,000 loan like Larry Richter did. Newcomer Rick Wade, a
Democrat, has outpaced three Republicans in his bid for secretary
of state.
- Incumbent advantage. Incumbents tend
to have a lot of cash on hand. Gov. Jim Hodges, Superintendent
of Education Inez Tenenbaum, State Treasurer Grady Patterson,
and Adjutant General Stan Spears have sizable war chests. (Patterson,
however, loaned his campaign $500,000.) Only Comptroller General
Jim Lander lags in fund-raising compared to Republican challengers.
- Who to watch. Take a look at figures
for these candidates, who appear to be doing well in raising money:
Gov. Jim Hodges and Republican Mark Sanford in the governor's
race; Benjamin, Richter and Henry McMaster in the attorney general's
race; Comptroller General candidate Deb Sofield; and Sen. Greg
Ryberg, the Republican candidate for state treasurer.
- Surprises. Surprising reports came from
Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler, whose gubernatorial fund-raising fell significantly
behind Sanford; and Wade, who only started raising money this
year. In the agriculture commissioner's race, hard-working John
Long has raised - - and spent - - significantly more money that
Ben Gregg, who holds a sizable lead in on-hand contributions.
Republican Charles Sharpe apparently hasn't filed a report yet,
according to a review of State Ethics Commission filings.
Here's a detailed chart of contribution amounts:
| Candidate |
Quarterly
donations |
Quarterly
expenses |
On
hand 3/31/01 |
Total
contributions during cycle |
Loans
owed
|
| …for
governor |
|
|
|
|
|
| Branton,
Bill [R] |
$200.00 |
$7,231.43 |
$58,703.64 |
$114,675.00 |
$102,000.00
|
| Condon,
Charlie [R] |
$222,385.42 |
$176,094.44 |
$703,146.46 |
$1,031,263.90 |
n/a
|
| *
Hodges, Jim [D] |
$536,033.69 |
$192,587.93 |
$4,635,402.72 |
$5,074,936.54 |
n/a
|
| Miles,
Jim [R] |
$156,445.00 |
$125,506.90 |
$360,152.07 |
$691,029.70 |
n/a
|
| Peeler,
Bob [R] |
$265,975.00 |
$230,469.12 |
$1,038,178.91 |
$1,696,387.78 |
n/a
|
| Pickett,
Tom [I] |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
n/a
|
| Sanford,
Mark [R] |
$436,649.73 |
$199,229.71 |
$1,815,643.75 |
$2,114,931.57 |
n/a
|
| Sutherland,
Rebecca [R] |
$4,346.60 |
$5,347.53 |
$142.20 |
$5,527.17 |
$3,500.00
|
| Wingate,
Ken [R] |
$76,359.67 |
$67,910.33 |
$137,696.87 |
$246,015.74 |
n/a
|
| …
for lieutenant governor |
|
|
|
|
|
| Allison,
Rita [R] |
$22,420.00 |
$36,932.07 |
$118,270.33 |
$110,525.00 |
$210,000.00
|
| Bauer,
Andre [R] |
$55,397.90 |
$28,421.12 |
$119,124.30 |
$159,909.70 |
n/a
|
| Campsen,
Chip [R] (withdrawn) |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
n/a
|
| Curtis,
Kenneth [?] |
$2,361.80 |
$1,861.80 |
$500.00 |
$2,361.80 |
n/a
|
| Leventis,
Phil [D] |
$168,395.00 |
$17,989.35 |
$150,405.65 |
$168,395.00 |
n/a
|
| Thomas,
David [R] |
$11,350.00 |
$5,545.57 |
$50,612.48 |
$130,280.00 |
$25,000.00
|
| …for
adjutant general |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brown,
Lewis Earle [R] |
$27,553.86 |
$24,360.56 |
$3,493.30 |
$28,114.41 |
n/a
|
| *
Spears, Stan [R] |
$31,465.45 |
$27,142.19 |
$27,808.60 |
$403,898.89 |
n/a
|
| …for
agriculture commissioner |
|
|
|
|
|
| Gregg,
Ben [D] |
$21,830.00 |
$13,234.86 |
$105,912.66 |
$140,662.57 |
n/a
|
| Long,
John [D] |
$72,420.67 |
$79,368.31 |
$44,580.03 |
$185,055.71 |
n/a
|
| Sharpe,
Charles [R] |
no
report filed |
|
|
| ...for
attorney general |
|
|
|
|
|
| Benjamin,
Steve [D] |
$156,601.25 |
$53,371.95 |
$366,586.48 |
$496,881.08 |
n/a
|
| Hawkins,
John [R] withdrawn |
$28,489.00 |
$76,233.60 |
$158,130.71 |
$369,619.52 |
n/a
|
| McMaster,
Henry [R] |
$14,123.28 |
$500.00 |
$13,623.28 |
$14,123.28 |
n/a
|
| Ozmint,
Jon [R] |
$62,067.18 |
$37,138.59 |
$95,429.78 |
$168,703.31 |
n/a
|
| Richter,
Larry [R] |
$352,880.20 |
$79,054.66 |
$329,306.01 |
$498,148.82 |
$250,000.00
|
| …
for comptroller general |
|
|
|
|
|
| Eckstrom,
Richard [R] |
$3,680.28 |
$3,680.28 |
$0.00 |
$3,680.28 |
n/a
|
| *
Lander, Jim [D] |
$7,550.25 |
$22,224.17 |
$45,264.50 |
$58,771.48 |
n/a
|
| Sofield,
Deb [R] |
$36,899.00 |
$4,159.98 |
$140,669.05 |
$148,298.40 |
n/a
|
| …for
secretary of state |
|
|
|
|
|
| Eargle,
Lois [R] |
$30,403.80 |
$24,693.34 |
$11,669.93 |
$62,379.80 |
n/a
|
| Hammond,
Mark [R] |
$40,215.00 |
$18,631.80 |
$34,957.68 |
$64,906.63 |
n/a
|
| McMullen,
Ed [R] |
$64,957.23 |
$45,954.77 |
$39,383.32 |
$91,457.23 |
n/a
|
| Wade,
Rick [D] |
$126,897.19 |
$10,592.46 |
$116,304.73 |
$126,897.19 |
n/a
|
| …for
state treasurer |
|
|
|
|
|
| *
Patterson, Grady [D] |
$23,668.95 |
$11,700.49 |
$639,998.01 |
$683,671.63 |
$500,000.00
|
| Ryberg,
Greg [R] |
$74,199.50 |
$48,452.91 |
$293,586.73 |
$364,805.49 |
$625.00
|
| …for
superintendent of education |
|
|
|
|
|
| Hiltgen,
Dan [R] |
$3,884.00 |
$3,684.00 |
$200.00 |
$3,884.00 |
n/a
|
| *
Tenenbaum, Inez [D] |
$101,530.49 |
$32,899.56 |
$320,498.48 |
$463,296.32 |
n/a
|
*Incumbent.
Source: S.C. Ethics Commission reports as of 4/16/02
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HOT ISSUES ARCHIVES