Senate 18 Contributors Lists

The Standard-Examiner provides a heads-up on 2006 campaign financing this morning with this interesting Jordan Muhlstein piece, from which we incorporate reporter Muhlstein's lead paragraphs:

Republican Jon Greiner has a big money lead on his Democratic opponent Stuart Reid in the race for the Utah Senate District 18 seat, according to state campaign finance reports.

Greiner had raised $70,900 to Reid's $37,116, as of Tuesday, when a pre-election finance report was due from each candidate. The amount of money raised was unexpected, Greiner said in an e-mail Wednesday. "I was quite surprised at the number of people willing to donate to this campaign, mostly since the primary," he said.

The article goes on to explain that candidate Greiner needed to kick in $20 thousand or so of his own money up front, in order to wage his primary campaign. Running against an incumbent is expensive in any campaign, of course, especially in an important district like Senate 18. Campaign donors don't just come flying out of the woodwork during primary campaigns. Donors are practical; they usually don't commit until the primary is over.

And in truth, a successful intra-party challenger like Greiner actually conducts TWO separate campaigns -- the primary race -- and the general election campaign. A primary race requires double the number of signs, fliers, mailers and such. A race that features a primary is doubly expensive, both in hard dollars and shoe leather.

So if any of our gentle readers are feeling sorry for poor old Democratic candidate Stuart Reid, please don't waste any tears on us. Mr. Reid has plenty of dough in his campaign war-chest, and judging from his contributors list, there's lots more "funding" available, if he needs it.

In that connection, reporter Muhlstein makea a game attempt (within limited column space) to distinguish some of the supporters who've kicked in contributions. Whereas "man of the people" Reid is supported by the School Voucher People, Greiner draws support from public educators, for instance.

And whereas Greiner received a $2,500 campaign contribution from home-town outfits like the Mt. Ogden Surgical Center, Reid's support is quite different, as reporter Muhlsten reports with this zinger:

Reid received $5,000 from developer Dave Earnshaw and $2,500 from the Boyer Company, two entities working to develop the old Ogden City Mall site.

Apparently there's at least one Std-Ex reporter who knows how to ask a follow-up question. The Std-Ex story goes on:

When asked if he felt obligated to developers who donate, Reid said he did not.

"There is not much a state legislator can do for a developer other than
creating a better environment for business and development," he said.

Creating that type of environment is one of his goals, Reid said.

"It is one of the main reasons I am running," he said. [Emphasis added.]

We won't complain Reid didn't warn us; and despite his otherwise good reporting, reporter Muhlsten fails to report whether Reid's lips were actually moving, when he made the unbelievable above utterances.

Being the curious type, we navigated to the Utah State election site, in the hope of obtaining a more complete list of each candidate's campaign contributors. We think we struck paydirt. For the enlightenment of our gentle readers, we provide links to those lists here:

• Stuart Reid Contributors List
• John Greiner Contributors List

Among the names appearing on Reid's contributors list: Boman Kemp, Dave Earnshaw, Kem Gardner, Sharifan Abdee, Wadman Corporation, Wells Fargo PAC and Zion's Bancorporation PAC. Candidate Reid, who resides in a rented apartment on Lincoln avenue, has committed a whopping $146 to this race which so deeply affects our community. Who knows, maybe that last $70 thousand check from his BDO "managership" hasn't cleared the bank yet.

Among the names appearing on Greiner's contributors list: Emerald City local hero, Curt Bramble, champion of last year's anti-eminent domain legislation crusade. And notably, Jon Greiner, at $20K+, is his own largest contributor, leaving little doubt about his personal commitment to our community..

Check out the lists. Draw your own conclusions. These lists tell all, we think. And the next time somebody suggests that it's Jon Greiner who's trying to buy this election, slap 'em upside the head.

Although we could go on and on, the floor is now open for your own comments.