When less is more

Campaign spending at the local level sometimes defies conventional wisdom

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

Conventional wisdom dictates that campaign spending helps win elections. But that adage is not guaranteed in local races.

The winner in the lopsided Republican primary race for Flathead County commissioner out-spent his opponent by nearly two-to-one, but the unexpected winner of the Democratic primary race in Senate District 2 was out-spent six-to-one.

Incumbent Flathead County commissioner Gary Hall's explanation for his loss in the Republican primary — that former sheriff Jim Dupont posted three times as many yard signs — is supported by the candidates' C5 financial reports.

Hall collected $12,710 from 117 people through mid-May and spent $6,084. Meanwhile, Dupont kicked in $1,900 of his own money, collected another $21,330 from 142 people and spent $11,778.

Dupont's money went to the usual campaign expenses — newspaper ads, yard signs, buttons, magnetic signs and postage. He also spent $200 for tickets to the Republican Lincoln-Reagan Dinner and $717 on food for a meet-and-greet function.

Senate District 2 candidate Gil Jordan only spent $27 on his meet-and-greet function. Through mid-May, the Democrat collected $6,967 from 53 people, including an $1,800 loan from himself, and spent $6,749.

But sometimes less is more. Brittany MacLean, who defeated Jordan in the primary, collected $1,301 from 21 people and only spent $1,114.

The money gap was much tighter in the Senate District 2 Republican primary race. Ryan Zinke, the winner, collected $5,895 from 50 people and spent $4,475, while his opponent, Suzanne Brooks, spent $4,496 of her own money on yard signs and postage.

The biggest single player in Flathead politics is probably Ray Thompson. The founder and CEO of Semitool donated $70,000 to his Excellence In Voting political action committee.

The political action committee provided $60,000 to the Montana Republican Party's Legislative Victory Fund and spent $806 on a full-page newspaper ad about school-funding issues.

Thompson also donated $10,000 to the Flathead Building and Industry Association's political action committee. The Flathead Building and Industry Association has taken an active stance opposed to Whitefish's new critical areas ordinance.

Here in Whitefish, local attorney and businessmen Dennis Konopatzke's political action committee, Quality Whitefish, had $2,350 in the bank and received a $1,000 donation from Bill Walton.

Walton is the Florida businessman who was awarded $300,000 in damages by a Flathead County jury after he sued the city of Whitefish for turning down his plans for a house on Houston Point.

Quality Whitefish, which formed last year in time for the city elections, spent $3,350. Whitefish resident Rick Blake's Common Sense in Whitefish Government, however, with $975 in the bank, only spent the $20 needed to keep his one-man PAC's account active.