By SCOTT SMITH
Bob Hayes, Lewis Freeman and Rick Hamilton trailed candidates Matt McKillip, Andy Castner and Greg Goodnight in the race to raise cash for the 2007 mayoral primary, according to the latest campaign finance reports on file at the Howard County Clerk’s office.
The three big money raisers since the start of the year were roughly equal in terms of cash raised, and although McKillip, Kokomo’s incumbent Republican mayor, held a big advantage in cash carried forward from 2006, Goodnight emerged as the candidate with the most cash available for the general election.
That is, of course, if Goodnight can get past fellow Democrats Castner and Hayes.
With $36,842 raised in the pre-primary reporting period, McKillip won the race for money raised. Castner raised the second most, $33,822, and Goodnight was third with $30,919.
McKillip, however, has spent almost $107,000 so far in the campaign, far outdistancing all rivals, including Republican challenger Hamilton, who spent just under $24,000 in the same period.
Castner spent just over $24,000, while Goodnight spent $6,195.
The big story with Goodnight’s spending, however, is that he held a $90,057 to $55,639 lead over McKillip as of the date the reports were filed.
No one will know exactly what the candidates pulled in and spent for the primary until around Oct. 19, when the next round of campaign finance reports is due.
Hayes, who like Castner began fundraising this year, reported $8,359 in contributions. Freeman, running a largely self-funded campaign, raised and spent $2,462 as of the April 16 filing date.
In what many local political observers expect to be a hotly contested race, much attention is also being paid to how much each candidate is pulling in out-of-town contributions.
Calculating those amounts is often difficult, as candidates are allowed to list lump sums of “unitemized” contributions, usually gathered in the form of cash donations at fundraisers. By law, candidates are not required to itemize contributions which total less than $100 in a particular reporting period.
McKillip and Freeman were the only mayoral candidates who itemized every contribution, although Freeman had only three contributors to list.
McKillip, on the other hand, filed a 40-page report listing every single contributor, including one individual, Kip Bowman of Kokomo, who contributed $5.
From the itemized contributions listed, however, McKillip had the highest percentage of pre-primary contributions from at least two counties away (the Tribune chose not to consider contributions from outside the city proper as “out-of-area” contributions if they came from Howard or adjoining counties).
• In all, McKillip tallied $11,424 in out-of-area contributions, about 31 percent of his total pre-primary take.
• Goodnight was next in out-of-area fundraising, with $8,466 coming from out-of-area contributors — about 27 percent of his pre-primary contributions. Goodnight also listed $5,023 in unitemized contributions.
• Hamilton had $3,050 garnered from out-of-area contributors, about 16 percent of his total. He also had $7,911 in unitemized contributions.
• Castner had the most unitemized contributions — $15,803 taken from two fundraisers — and $183 in out-of-area money.
• Hayes, with most of his contributions — $6,504 — unitemized, took in $200 from out of the area.
• Freeman had no money from outside the area.
Scott Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com
