The latest financial reports for Salt Lake City mayoral candidates are in, and David Ibarra is still raising and spending the most money of the eight candidates in the race, but former state Sen. Jim Dabakis and businessman David Garbett are not far behind.
State Sen. Luz Escamilla and City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall got a later start than other candidates as they only entered the race in the spring after current Mayor Jackie Biskupski announced she would not run for another term.
There is one more report due just before the mid-August primary election – there is only around six weeks left in the primary campaign, so all the serious candidates need to be spending money up through that election.
Here are some of the highlights from the disclosures:
Ibarra, a well-to-do businessman/philanthropist, has raised $394,000 and spent $355,000, leaving just under $40,000 in the bank.
While city mayoral races have individual and corporate donation limits, candidates can give their own campaigns all they wish. So Ibarra could write personal checks anytime he wants.
Same goes for Dabakis and Garbett, who are both millionaires.
Dabakis reports raising $253,000 but spent only around $85,000. So he has more than $150,000 in the bank.
Businessman David Garbett has raised $241,699 this cycle while spending more than $136,000. He reports more than $104,000 remaining in his campaign war chest.
Escamilla has raised $139,648 while spending $93,002. She has a little more than $46,000 in the bank.
Mendenhall has raised $92,615 and spent $48,448, so she has around $50,000 in cash available.
Former city councilman Stan Penfold has raised more than $77,000 for the race while spending just under $50,000. He has $28,000 remaining.
Outgoing Mayor Jackie Biskupski did not raise any money during the most recent reporting period, but she spent more than $74,000 from February to July, with a whopping $58,000 of that on fees for consulting. Two of the consulting companies she reported paying, Hilltop Public Solutions and Lake Research Partners, are Washington, D.C.-based political firms. It’s unclear what those fees were for.
Several of the candidates have spent money on “videos” and “video production,” so we may see some radio, maybe even TV spots, before the primary.
Only the top two candidates come out of the non-partisan primary. So it doesn’t make a lot of sense to hold on to cash beyond that date – you may not make it out of the primary. The final election is in early November, so there is time to fundraise if you do get out of the primary.
Some of the interesting fund-raising/spending noticed byUtahPolicy.com:
Dabakis gave his campaign $30,000 since the first February report, for a total personal giving of $88,000, or around 35 percent of his total fundraising.
The McCarthy family, the old owners of The Salt Lake Tribune (which Dabakis reportedly tried to buy a few years ago), has been generous to the former senator, giving a combined $7,120 – or the limit for two individual givers.
Utah Jazz owner/philanthropist Gail Miller gave Dabakis $2,500, while prominent Democrat Donna Weinholtz donated $3,500.
And Dabakis has paid Sara Urquhart, the wife of former GOP state Sen. Steve Urquhart, $10,000 in “contract” work. Urquhart and Dabakis became good friends while working on behalf of LGBTQ issues in the Senate, where Dabakis was the most liberal Democrat.
Ibarra gave his campaign $10,000 in the pre-July reporting period, for a total of $60,000, or around 15 percent of the total he’s raised.
He has spent more than $131,000 on political consulting, mainly from two firms.
Escamilla gave her mayoral campaign $3,560, or the limit, from her Senate campaign account.
Escamilla also has received financial support from her colleagues, both current and former, in the Utah Legislature. House Majority Whip Mike Schultz, who is quite conservative politically, gave Escamilla $2,500 from his House campaign account, while former House Majority Leader Kevin Garn donated $2,500. Former Democratic Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck kicked in $1,000 while current Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne donated $500 from her campaign fund.
Scott Anderson, president of Zions Bank where Escamilla works, gave her $3,560, the limit. Prominent businessman Kem Garnder donated the max amount as did the Gardner family trust.
Mendenhall has labor union support, among others. She got $3,560 maximum donations from the Operating Engineers, the AFL-CIO and the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. Mendenhall also reported $2,000 from the firefighter’s credit union and $1,000 from the Central Federation of Labor.
Mendenhall also pulled in a $2,500 donation from Gail Miller.
David Garbett reported max or near max donations from several members of his family as well as the real estate development companies they own.
The final pre-primary financial disclosures are due August 6. Ballots for the August primary are mailed to voters on July 23.
