Campaign Finance: Big Dollars in Antonio, Sweeney Race

[Bill Call]

The Ohio Secretary of State has candidate finance reports available on line:

https://www.sos.state.oh.us/campaign-finance/search/

Pre- Primary finance reports show:

Sweeney forwarded $290,000, raised $62,000, spent $120,000 and has a balance of $232,000. Sweeney owes $30,000 in loans.

Antonio forwarded $92,000, raised $108,000, spent $91,000 and has a balance of $114,000. Antonio has no loans.

Bullock forwarded $3,200, raised $32,000, spent $26,000 and has a balance of $14,000. Bullock owes $34,000 in loans.

Skindell forwarded $18,300, raised $30,000, spent $20,000 and has a balance of $28,000. Skindell has no loans.

The Post Primary finance reports issued after the election will show how much more the candidates will raise and spend.

My advice to the candidates: Spend it all.

My observation: It’s important to a lot of party bosses that Antonio and Skindell lose. Since their opponents are deeply flawed and have no particular platform that leaves me wondering why.

[Bridget Conant]

My observation: It’s important to a lot of party bosses that Antonio and Skindell lose. Since their opponents are deeply flawed and have no particular platform that leaves me wondering why.

As you have pointed out before- Follow The Money

[Dan Alaimo]

The Ohio Secretary of State has candidate finance reports available on line:

https://www.sos.state.oh.us/campaign-finance/search/

Pre- Primary finance reports show:

Sweeney forwarded $290,000, raised $62,000, spent $120,000 and has a balance of $232,000. Sweeney owes $30,000 in loans.

Antonio forwarded $92,000, raised $108,000, spent $91,000 and has a balance of $114,000. Antonio has no loans.

Bullock forwarded $3,200, raised $32,000, spent $26,000 and has a balance of $14,000. Bullock owes $34,000 in loans.

Skindell forwarded $18,300, raised $30,000, spent $20,000 and has a balance of $28,000. Skindell has no loans.

The Post Primary finance reports issued after the election will show how much more the candidates will raise and spend.

My advice to the candidates: Spend it all.

My observation: It’s important to a lot of party bosses that Antonio and Skindell lose. Since their opponents are deeply flawed and have no particular platform that leaves me wondering why.

How old/up-to-date is this data? Have they spent most of this money by now?
With early voting, the timetable for campaigns has changed, but are the candidates aware of this?

And why Summers opposition to Nickie and support for the despicable Sweeney.

[Michael Deneen]

My observation: It’s important to a lot of party bosses that Antonio and Skindell lose. Since their opponents are deeply flawed and have no particular platform that leaves me wondering why.

There are lots of reasons why the machine wants Skindell and Antonio's heads on a platter, but one clue just leaked at ESPN.com.
"Browns Begin Study of Downtown Development that Could Include New Stadium".
http://www.espn.com/blog/cleveland-brow ... ew-stadium

If you recall, the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus tried to fight the recent subsidy of the Q Arena, but was circumvented by the Party Machine.
Jackson, Budish, and Company ignored 20,000 signatures that demanded a vote on the Q Transformation.

The "Insiders" have lots sore corporate welfare planned, and they don't want any muckrakers from the CCPC asking questions.
It's vitally important to them that CCPC endorsed candidates lose.
Skindell, the one who dared to question the hospital deal, is at the top of the hit list.

[Dan Alaimo]

Good grief. A dome maybe (they should have done that on the first place), but a new stadium already? You don't have to be of any particular political persuasion to think poorly of that idea. Except maybe if you are Summers, Bullock and Sweeney.

[Bridget Conant]

A new stadium means more construction jobs, more people downtown spending money! Rah-rah! Who wouldn’t be for it?

Sigh. Heard it all before.

[Bill Call]

How old/up-to-date is this data? Have they spent most of this money by now?
With early voting, the timetable for campaigns has changed, but are the candidates aware of this?

And why Summers opposition to Nickie and support for the despicable Sweeney.

The report covers contributions and expenditures through April 18, 2018.

Direct mail is expensive but seems to be very effective. They say yard signs don't have much affect. Direct voter contact is very effective.

How about newspaper endorsements? I had a short email exchange with Elizabeth Sullivan, Director of Opinion at Cleveland.com. I pointed out that the newspaper did a lot of reporting on local governments refusal to provide public records but did no reporting on the situation in Lakewood. I informed her of Tom Bullock's efforts to hid public records and sent her a copy of a totally redacted email from Tom Bullock. I'd like to think that I might have influenced her but I tend to over state the influence of my efforts. As of now I haven't seen an endorsement in the Skindell v. Bullock race. That seems odd.