Schweich fundraising in last quarter quadruples Icet, doubles Montee

He's a former ambassador who recently starred in a rock video that raised some eyebrows, but now that the fundraising reports are in for the first fundraising quarter of 2010, State Auditor candidate Tom Schweich (R) can also be called the Republican front-runner.

Schweich more than quadrupled the fundraising of his primary opponent, House Budget Chairman Allen Icet (R), over the last quarter.

In total, Schweich reported receipts of $225,401 while Icet pulled in just $50,063 during the period. Icet's campaign, which hasn't formally issued a statement on the fundraising yet, will likely indicate that since Icet has been involved in finalizing the state's FY 2011 budget in the General Assembly, he did not have time to fundraise over the last quarter. Even with that reasoning though, Schweich's performance is impressive. Especially considering incumbent State Auditor Susan Montee (D) received only $104,438 in contributions during the period.

For the election cycle so far, Schweich has another advantage relative to Icet -- he's burning through his cash at a much slower rate. Schweich's burn rate for cash is just 20 percent while Icet's is 65 percent.

Just like in the last quarter of 2009, even though Schweich outraised both Icet and Montee during the period, it is Montee that still maintains a slight edge in total receipts for the entire election cycle due to a $515,000 personal loan to her campaign.

Although even with that loan, Montee actually has less cash-on-hand than Schweich who has roughly twice the amount currently held individually by both Montee and Icet.

Schweich (R) Fundraising Report
During the period  Schweich reported $225,401 in receipts, none of which came from political committees. In fact, so far this entire election cycle, the only contribution Schweich accepted from a political committee in the last two quarters was a $100,000 donation from Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R).

"After developing a strong grassroots network, building a top flight campaign and earning the trust of small, medium and large donors, I believe I have proven I am the candidate who can win in November,” Schweich said in a press release Thursday night. “A lot is at stake for the taxpayer. This race is not about partisanship, it is about protecting Missourians' hard earned tax dollars. More than ever we need a strong, independent watchdog for the taxpayers of our state.”

Of the contributions itemized in Schweich's 1Q-2010 finance report, $185,501 came from donors in Missouri (83%) and $36,800 (17%) came from outside the state. The strongest region for Schweich inside Missouri was St. Louis, which accounted for the majority (87%) of his in-state contributions. Of the 78 line items reported in Missouri, 65 were in St. Louis. Among the more notable contributors during the period was Peter Herschend, owner of Silver Dollar City, who chipped in $10,250.

The only regions of the state Schweich reported no contributions from were the Northeast and Northwest. Schweich also lacked fundraising support from these two regions in 4Q-2009.

In terms of expenditures, Schweich spent just under $5,000 for the Republican Lincoln Days festivities. Other major expenses included  $14,000 in consulting fees to Laurus, Inc., $17,000 for staffers Paul Mouton and Tyler Holman, and Matt Beckman, and $6,170 for media and printing.

Icet (R) Fundraising Report
Icet reported raising $50,063 during the quarter. Nearly 20 percent of that amount ($9,450) came from political committees. The political contributions included two health care PACs -- Long Term Car Leadership PAC and Missouri Pharmacy PAC, as well as contributions from committees belonging to Reps. Stan Cox (R), Walt Bivins (R), and Robert Mayer (R).

Of the remaining itemized contributions from individuals and businesses, 97 percent ($39,388) came from donors inside Missouri and just $1,200 came from outside the state.

Regionally, Icet received non-political committee contributions from every part of the state. The largest concentrations was in St. Louis, but the contributions were disbursed fairly evenly in most regions. This was progress from the previous quarter when Icet's fundraising was almost exclusively from the St. Louis region.

Icet's expenditures during the period of $58,043 actually exceeded receipts. Major expenses included $9,000 in consulting fees to Keith Kirk, $12,742 to Iowa-based Victory Enterprises for grassroots campaign activities, $12,965 for fundraising expenses, and $4,560 for staffer Ross Branson.

Montee (D) Fundraising Report
Montee raised $104,438 during the most recent quarter, twice as much as Icet but  slightly more than Icet but less than half of what Schweich raised. The distribution across contribution sources is largely unchanged from the previous quarter. Montee received 17 political committee contributions that account for 14 percent ($14,591) of her total during the period. Political committees contributing include the Missouri National Education Association, IUPAT, and a number of other labor unions.

Montee also received 380 itemized contributions from individuals and businesses, the majority of which came from inside Missouri. Just 5 percent of Montee's total receipts ($5,225) came from outside the state.

Although Montee didn't provide zip codes in the report (which is how out geocoding algorithm functions) we manually assessed each contribution to determine it's region. While in teh last quarter of 2009, 55 percent of Montee's in-state total came from St. Louis, this quarter her total was just 38 percent from St. Louis. Kansas City was also a major source of funds ($23,400) this quarter. Montee was one of the two major candidates who received contributions from all seven Missouri regions.

Montee's major expenses during the period include $12,500 for fundraising support,  $2,973 in payroll taxes, $15,098 in payroll for staffers Jared Madison and Sean Spence, and $606 in ActBlue processing fees.

Akram (D) Fundraising Report 
Montee's primary opponent Abdul Akram (D), of Kansas City, did not report any receipts or expenditures during the first quarter of 2010.

Related Links:
Schweich Campaign Finance Reports
Icet Campaign Finance Reports
Smith Campaign Finance Reports
Montee Campaign Finance Reports

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