John Kromko filed a campaign-finance report with the City Clerk's Office today that reveals that he spent only $4,684 getting the Tucson Water Users' Bill of Rights on the November ballot. The bulk of that--$3,380--was paid to a petition coordinator and three signature gatherers.

The biggest contributor to the campaign, as of Aug. 6, was Kromko himself, who lent the campaign $2,000. The rest of his contributions have come mostly in $50 checks.

That's a bargain compared to the $70,013 spent by Wal-Mart on the Consumer Choice initiative, which would have overturned the city's ban on grocery sales in big-box outlets. That effort was rejected because City Attorney Mike Rankin concluded that zoning law couldn't be amended through the initiative process.

Wal-Mart funneled the $70K through the political consulting firm Zimmerman and Associates. Hey, next time, the company should consider using Kromko. He seems to be the low-price leader in that arena.