Local candidates campaign on tiny budgets

With less than a month to go before the general election on Nov. 4, candidates are actively romacing the voters of Gonzales County.

Some candidates have the ability to spend an almost unlimited amount of dollars on television commercials and yard signs, while others must be content to rely on the hometown newspaper and block walking. Another task that they must follow, as per state law, is the mandated report on how much cash they have raised and how much they have spent.

Campaign finance reports may seem like a burden to candidates, having to itemize individual campaign contributions on a sheet provided by the Texas Ethics Commission, but they can be interesting bits of material to political wonks who like to follow the money to see who in the community supports what candidate. Sometimes it means something, oftentimes not.

But in the age of the Citizen’s United ruling, any light that gets shed on campaign finance is a gift to the electorate.

On the level of Gonzales County, one rarely has to worry with political action committees or “dark money.” Most races are won with only a few thousand dollars spent and recognition connected to handshakes rather than television attack ads.

Of the various offices to be decided on the Gonzales County ticket, only two contests are wholly within the county: the race for county treasurer and district clerk.

By law, the candidates are required to file a campaign finance report with Gonzales County Clerk Lee Riedel 30 days prior to the election.

Upon inspection, the four women vying for the offices present by-the-book accounting of their fundraising and spending.

For county treasurer, Democratic incumbent Sheryl Barborak , also acting as her own treasurer, reports one contribution of $500 from West Motors Towing. The report lists zero expenditures.

Her challenger, Republican JoAnn Mercer, also serving as her own campaign treasurer, reports $400 in contributions with $158.70 cash on-hand by the last day of the reporting period. Mercer’s total campaign expenditures run $4,441.30 with a personal loan of $4,200.

Contributing to Mercer’s campaign war chest were Connie Brzozowski with $200 and Nancy L. Stobaugh and Sagen Voigt chipping in $100 each.

Her expenditures range from hearty to light. An amount of $3,346.44 was spent purchasing signs and cards at Personal Impressions while $19.43 bought her a name badge at Reese’s Print Shop. Other expenditures are $150 at Academy Sports & Outdoors, $50 to the Friends of the NRA, $49 on postage and $25 to the Come and Take It Committee.

In the contest for district clerk, the Republican candidate has raised and spent a bit more than her Democratic opponent.

For the open seat, Republican Janice Sutton, who lists Kay Brzozowski as her treasurer, counts $1,150 in contributions with $4,583.36 in spending and $100 cash on-hand as of the reporting deadline.

Recent contributors are Otis S. Bud Wuest with $500, Mr. and Mrs. James O. Ruddock with $200 and $100 coming from Mr. and Mrs. M. Doyle Hines and the same from GS Jurek-Rahe of San Marcos.

Some of Sutton’s recent expenditures include $1,275 to St. Patrick’s Church in Waelder,  $500 to the Nixon Feather Fest, $500 to the Belmont VFD, $30 to the Leesville Country Fair, $224.01 for business cards at A Touch of Country Print Shop and $400 worth of advertising in the Gonzales Cannon.

And Sutton must be meeting a lot of folks, for she made two more trips to the print shop for cards.

Over on the Democratic side of the ballot, Yvonne “Bonnie” San Miguel, who lists Melissa San Miguel as treasurer, counts $350 in political contributions and $440.47 in political expenditures with $44.13 cash on-hand as of the reporting deadline.

San Miguel’s most recent contribution was $50 from Rose Rodriguez. Her expenditures include $138.20 for advertising T-shirts at Personal Impressions, $194.85 for door hangers at the same establishment, $56 for monthly accounting fees at Wells Fargo Bank and $51.24 at Personal Impressions again, this time for yard sticks.

As stated, looking into the finances of campaigns at the local level rarely produce many skeletons. It’s the up-ballot races where things get interesting, where big bucks are thrown at candidates. In Gonzales County, one can be eased knowing that local ties spend local dollars and we don’t have a television station where things could get ugly.