The year-start report with the Alaska Public Offices Commission shows former Gov. Bill Walker in the lead with funds raised for his gubernatorial campaign, as of Jan. 30.
By law, candidates must file year-start reports with APOC by Feb. 15 to show the public what they raised and spent to date, and this report reveals that between Walker and Democrat Les Gara, the liberal side of the governor’s race is bringing in the majority of the cash — and it’s coming to their campaigns from major donors who are giving them the maximum allowed by law.
Walker and Gara raised more than $1.2 million between them in their separate-but-friendly races for governor, while Dunleavy and Republican challenger Chris Kurka raised $411,648 between them. Kurka did not announce his campaign for governor until just before the legislative session and is not allowed to raise money for campaigns during session, but raised a significant amount, considering the time he had.
Here’s the breakdown:
$311,380 – Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Republican. The incumbent began with $48,426, raised $311,380, spent $89,874, ended Jan. 30 with $269,932 cash on hand, and $16,525 of debt. Most of the funds are from Alaska small donors. This is more money than Gov. Parnell and Gov. Walker raised at this point in their re-election campaigns; neither of them won their re-election.
$100,268 – Chris Kurka, Republican, plus $3,599 raised for Paul Hueper, who is Kurka’s running mate and who is now receiving the donations, since Kurka cannot raise money as a sitting lawmaker. Kurka began with $4,847, spent $35,429, and closed out with $69,686 cash on hand. Kurka made it to the $100,000 mark by declaring about $15,000 in non-monetary contributions, such as furniture, used sign frames and in-kind consultants; and he posted a $10,000 check from himself to his campaign.
Charlie Pierce, Republican. Pierce filed a letter of intent on Jan. 22, but has not yet filed a year-start report for the eight days in January prior to the Jan. 30 APOC deadline. His year-start report shows $1,000 from his own bank account.
$667,943 – Bill Walker, undeclared. The former governor spent $94,605, and had $ 573,338 cash on hand, with just $12,500 in debts owed. An additional report he filed with APOC shows him bringing over $46,699 from a prior campaign.
$533,583 – Les Gara, Democrat. He began with $5,901 cash, reported income of $533,583, spent $84,778 so far, and had just $1,047 in debt.
Walker has a lot of big donations, with more than 100 donors giving the maximum of $1,500; Gara has 60 donations of $1,500 or more.
In comparison, Dunleavy has gotten nearly all his donations from small donors. Some 1,387 of the 1,800 total donors to the Dunleavy campaign were in the $5-200 range, which indicates his base is still with him. He has far more donors than either Walker or Gara.
Dunleavy donations averaged $174, while Walker’s donations average $571 and Gara’s donations average $257.
Gara, who is is raising a lot of money from out-of-state lawyers, shows $21,500 raised from Washington (mostly Seattle area) lawyers.
As of Feb. 1, 82 attorneys gave to Gara, who is an attorney, while 61 attorneys gave to Walker, another attorney, and 31 gave to Dunleavy, a former school teacher and superintendent.
