Many of you have asked about campaign finances — the types of donors, quantities of donors, amount raised, monies spent, etc… Hopefully, this will answer most of your questions. Skip to the table at the end if you just want the results.
First, you need to understand that each candidate forms a “committee”. For example, “Committee to Elect John Smith”. This is a legal entity filed with the state and is treated as a separate entity just as a corporation or LLC is. As a result, these start off with $0, and the candidate typically immediately loans money to the committee to get started. In some cases, the only revenue for the committee is the loan from the candidate.
In addition to loans, contributions can be in the form of money or non-monetary contributions. Expenses put out by the candidate are either paid directly by the committee, or reimbursed to someone.
Candidates are required to periodically file forms from the Fair Political Practices Commission of California. The last filing was for this year through October 20, 2007. The next one will be in January 2008.
Beyond loans that the candidates made to themselves, none of the candidates had any single large donors (over $500) with the exception of some of the candidates had parties thrown for them. Most contributions were in the $50-$250, with some as low as $25, and as high as $500.
Ned Davis, Philippa Klessig, and Carol Kirschbaum all had donors in addition to what they (and their spouse) contributed. Theodore Corwin didn’t take in donations.
Non-monetary contributions are typically for items related to a party or fundraising event either in putting on the event itself, or contributing items for the event.
The nearly 80 pages filings, through October 20 2007, break down to this (ordered by size of total contributions):
| Corwin | Davis | Klessig | Kirschbaum | |
| – | $4,775 | $5,923 | $4,060 | Contributions Received |
| $1,831 | $1,000 | $3,000 | $15,000 | Loans Received from self/spouse |
| – | $475 | $475 | $506 | Non-monetary Contributions |
| $1,831 | $6,250 | $9,398 | $19,566 | Total Contributions Received |
| $1,831 | $2,117 | $7,373 | $9,287 | Payments Made |
| – | $2,392 | – | $2,494 | Accrued Expenses |
| – | $475 | $475 | $506 | Non-monetary Adjustment |
| $1,831 | $4,984 | $7,848 | $12,287 | Total Expenditures Made |
And, here’s answers to some of the more common questions we’ve been asked…
| Corwin | Davis | Klessig | Kirschbaum | |
| n/a | 28 | 54 | 26 | Number (quantity) of Donors |
| $97 | $1,340 | $475 | $1,342 | Expenses for Fundraising Events |
| $1,072 | $3,262 | $6,905 | $10,076 | Exp. for Campaign Materials & Ads |
| $662 | $382 | $468 | $869 | Other costs including filing fees |