As the House District 36 Republican primary race comes to a close, we took a look at finance reports filed by each of the candidates. The reports, which are available on the Alaska Public Offices Commission website, cover the campaigns’ income and expenses through Aug. 9.
Patti Mackey is the CEO of the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau. She started the campaign with about $1,200 on hand, and has raised a total of about $12,000. According to the most recent report, she has spent all of that, and a little more, ending the reporting period about $100 in the red.
Of the 43 individuals who donated money to her campaign, 27 are from Ketchikan and one is from Wrangell. That doesn’t include non-monetary contributions or any money donated by Mackey herself.
The rest of the individual donations come from residents of Fairbanks, Anchorage, Eagle River and Juneau, plus a few from people in Washington State and Omaha, Nebraska.
Most of Mackey’s listed expenditures are for yard signs and other distributable material, although there is a $1,500 subscription for the “Door to Door” app, a mobile device application that helps track door-to-door canvassing activity. Mackey also traveled to Wrangell and Metlakatla.
Agnes Moran is an elected member of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly She reported earning nearly $13,000 for her State House campaign. Of that, she’s spent about $9,500.
Forty-seven individuals donated to Moran’s campaign – again, that doesn’t include her own contributions or any non-monetary support. Of those donors, 42 live within the district – three from Wrangell and the rest from Ketchikan.
Outside the district, Moran received financial support from two Juneau residents, one Fairbanks man, a resident of Washington State, and one contribution from Alaska’s former First Lady Nancy Murkowski, who lives in Fairbanks.
Moran’s largest expenses are yard signs and distributable material. She also bought radio and newspaper ads, visited Wrangell a couple of times, and went once to Metlakatla.
Chere Klein recently worked in Juneau for retiring House District 36 Rep. Peggy Wilson. Klein has raised more overall than Mackey and Moran. The total income reported was more than $16,000, with expenses at not quite $14,000.
Of the 49 individuals who have contributed to Klein’s campaign – again not including non-monetary contributions or any from the candidate – 39 are from Ketchikan. The others are from Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla, Arizona, California and South Carolina.
Klein’s largest expenses are for yard signs and other distributable material, newspaper and radio ads, travel to Metalakatla and Wrangell, and website design.
Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla are the largest communities within House District 36. Also represented by the district are Hydaburg on Prince of Wales Island, and Hyder – which is connected to the mainland on the Canadian border.
The winner of the local Republican primary race will face Ketchikan resident Dan Ortiz in the general election. The primary is Tuesday, and polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
You can see the detailed finance reports on the APOC website at http://doa.alaska.gov/apoc/