Michael Jacob, 245-0894 or 262-5176
David Austin, 250-0420 or 266-2253

For Immediate Release

Nearly a quarter of a million dollars spent over control of the County Board 
Progressive Dane says expensive campaigns shut out citizens

The trend toward expensive county board campaigns continued this past spring according to a Progressive Dane analysis of campaign finance reports. A total of $239,218 was spent by 61 candidates running for County Board last spring. This amount does not include spending during the final two weeks of the campaign by four candidates* who have not filed their final reports yet. 

"Good people with good ideas are being priced out of the opportunity to represent their neighbors in local government," says Michael Jacob, chair of Progressive Dane's Clean Government Task Force. "The prerequisite for running for office is no longer simply wanting to serve one's community, now you have next to no chance unless you have quick access to nearly ten grand." 

Progressive Dane decried several stark facts about the cost of campaigns in 2000: 

• Six candidates spent more than $10 for each and every vote they received. Four of those were in losing efforts. Michelle Staude, district 8, spent the most per vote at $15.62 for each of her 295 votes. This figure does not include the amount spent during the last two weeks of the campaign as she has not reported those expenditures yet, in violation of campaign finance law.

• Only one challenger, Wayne Bigelow, won. Bigelow defeated fellow challenger Scott Kowalski. They both finished ahead of incumbent Judith Pederson in the primary. 

• The top 11 spenders were challengers or involved in open seats. Eight of them lost. 

• The top spending race-- Eileen Bruskewitz versus Sherrie Gruder – cost a combined $21,879 in the open seat vacated by Brian Butler. This eclipsed the highest combined spending in 1998 of $20,798 which happened to be in the same district when Butler defended his seat. 

• The cost of running for an open seat is prohibitively expensive. The 12 candidates running in open seats spent $86,229 or $7,186 on average. This compares to $144,249 spent by candidates running in races where an incumbent was challenged; 33 such candidates spent an average of $4,371. 

"This kind of money changes the very nature of campaigns," says David Austin, elections committee chair for Progressive Dane. "Instead of one-to-one campaigning built on local issues and volunteers, voters get sacked with a deep pile of direct mail that is shamefully shallow on substance." 

Complete lists of spending and the cost per vote of the candidates can be found at http://www.disclosure.freeservers.com. 

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* The candidates are Semmi Pasha (Dist. 5), Michelle Staude (8), Gail Rutkowski (14) and Maureen Hoverson (22). The reports were due on July 20. These candidates could face fines of up to $50 for each day the report is late. 

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