Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Following The Money: City Council Fundraising

Posted By on Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 1:34 PM

It appears that Ward 6 Councilwoman Nina Trasoff has been hitting the fundraising trail. Trasoff, who had been trailing Republican opponent Steve Kozachik in the money chase, has closed the gap, according to campaign-finance reports filed last week.

Trasoff reported raising a total of $47,351 as of Sept. 8 and had $33,002 left in the bank.

Trasoff has also applied for matching funds under the city’s publicly funded campaign program. Once she qualifies, Trasoff will be eligible to have private contributions matched by taxpayers, but she’ll have to limit her spending to somewhere around $100,000. That means she’s just about done with fundraising.

Kozachik still holds a slight lead in the fundraising race, having brought in $51,990. Kozachik, who had $35,116 left in the bank, also applied for matching funds earlier this week.

It’s likely to take several weeks for auditors to confirm their eligibility for matching funds.

In Ward 3, Karin Uhlich had just under $52,000 and received $36,787

in matching funds. She had $48,376 in the bank at the end of the reporting period.

Uhlich’s Republican opponent, Ben Buehler-Garcia, had raised $33,884 and had $24,643 left in the bank. Suzanne Mesich in the Tucson City Clerk’s Office tells us that auditors are close to determining whether he has properly qualified for the matching funds.

Uhlich and Buehler-Garcia will be joined in the race by Green Party candidate Mary DeCamp, who got enough write-in votes to qualify for the general election ballot.

In Ward 5, where Councilman Steve Leal is stepping down after two decades, Democrat Richard Fimbres has raised roughly $31,000 and had $10,676 in the bank. Fimbres has qualified for matching funds but had not yet picked up a check as of last week.

Fimbres’ Republican opponent, Shaun McClusky, had raised a total of $12,639 and had $8,449 left in the bank after defeating Judith Gomez in the Sept. 1 GOP primary.