Unopposed candidates raised most for election
Every election is scramble for two things — votes and money. Typically, the more a candidate raises, the better his or her chance of winning the election. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but for the most part, the November 2012 local elections held close to that trend.
Ironically, the campaigns that raised and spent the most money belonged to candidates without opponents.
Below is campaign finance information for all the local candidates who opened finance committees with the Union County Board of Elections. All contributions and disbursments are reported by the individual campaigns and are public record.
Campaigns that do not collect more than $1,000 in contributions are not required to file finance reports with the board of elections according to state law.
Most campaigns took smaller individual donations up to $100. The below information notes the donors who gave the largest amounts to each candidate based on third quarter finance reports submitted to the Union County Board of Elections.
UNION COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Kevin Stewart
Stewart beat District 2 incumbent Carolyn Lowder by just a few votes and fellow challenger Chris Randall by a large margin.
Total raised $1,500
Total spent $868.60
Top donors
Samuel O. Starnes - $500
Marion Cox - $500
Allan Baucom - $400
Both Michael Guzman and Lynn Southern ran for two at-large school board seats against five other candidates. They were the only two to start campaign finance committees.
Michael Guzman
Guzman received the second highest vote county behind overall winner Christina B. Helms.
Total raised $2,645 as of 10-31-12
Total spent $1,589
Lynn Southern
Southern received only 9.01 percent of the vote, the lowest of all seven candidates.
Total raised $1,695 (as of 10-26-12)
Total spent $1,677
Top donors
Richard C. Wilkinson Family Trust - $1,200
Richard Yercheck
Yercheck ran against Dennis Rape for the unexpired district 3 seat vacated by Dean Arp.
Total raised $100
Total spent $0
REGISTER OF DEEDS
Crystal Crump
The incumbent Union County Register of Deeds, Crump had a little over $200 cash on hand at the beginning of the election cycle. She ran unopposed.
Total raised $0
Total spent $0
COUNTY COMMISSIONER
Both Helms and Aikmus ran unopposed for the two open seats on the Union County Board of Commissioners. Yet, both raised an impressive war chest.
Richard Helms
Total raised $24,000 as of 10-25-12
Total spent $2,766
Top donors
Himself - loan of $20,000
Frank Aikmus
Total raised $12,860 as of 10-29-12
Total spent $10,353
Top donors
Bobby Cox - $530
Delano Cox - $500
Kenneth Cox - $500
Marion Cox - $500
Ruth Cox - $500
Samuel Starnes - $500
Todd Aycoth - $500
Butch Kelly - $400
Louis Philippi - $1,580
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 68
Incumbent Rep. Horn easily beat Baker. Horn raised an impressive $31,125, mostly from donations from political action committees. Baker, who spent nothing, won only 34 percent of the vote.
Kenneth Baker
Total raised $100
Total spent $0
Craig Horn
Total raised $31,125 as of 10-25-12
Total spent $12,616
Top donors:
PACs
N.C. Advocates for Justice - $1,000
N.C. Home Builders Association - $750
Piedmont Natural Gas - $500
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Employees PAC - $500
Samuel Oren Starnes - $500
N.C. Hospital Association - $500
Harold J. Brubaker campaign - $2,000
Eastern Bank of Cherokee Indians - $500
Rural Election Action Program - $500
First Citizens Combined PAC Federal - $500
N.C. Poultry Federation PAC - $500
N.C. Voters for Animal Welfare PAC - $300
Bank of America PAC - $500
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Employee Committee for Good Government - $250
NC Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association - $500
Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants - $1,500
Carolink Telephone Cooperative - $500
Carolinas AGC - $300
NC Pork Council - $500
Nationwide Carolina Political Participation Fund - $500
Individuals
James Turner - $1,000
Barbara Littell - $500
C. Scott McLanahan - $1,500
Norman Cohen - $500
Curtis Blackwood - $500
Mason Alexander - $500
Chase Burns - $4,000
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 55
The Dstrict 55 battle was fierce, but ultimately Brody won, despite a last-minute effort to draw attention to his legal troubles. He outraised Nelson and won just shy of 70 percent of the vote.
Dale Nelson
Total raised $8,681 as of 10-22-12
Total spent $5,541
Top donors:
Elizabeth Taylor - $500
James Dennis - $250
Harvey Leavitt III - $250
Lynn Clodfelter - $250
Mark Brody
Total raised $11,705 as of 10-31-12
Total spent $14,328
Top donors:
Horn for House - $1,000
Dean Arp for NC House - $1,000
Samuel Oren Starnes - $1,000
Allan and Marie Baucom - $400
Union County Republican Party - $2,000
Mike Hagan - $5,000
Edgar Starnes Campaign (state rep) - $250
Neva Helms - $545
Samuel Starnes - $1,000
STATE SENATE DISTRICT 35
Tommy Tucker ran unopposed, yet raised the most money of the other candidates, and outspent them. Most of his contributions came from political action committees, but a good bit were from individual donors.
Tommy Tucker
Total raised $38,400 (as of 10-23-12)
Total spent $53,026
Top donors
PACs:
NC Realtors PAC - $1,500
NC Farm Bureau PAC - $1,00
Petroleum and Convenience Marketers PAC - $500
NCDC PAC - $500
First Citizens Bank PAC - $500
NC Rural Electic Co-Op PAC - $500
Bank of America PAC - $500
Coca-Cola Consolidated Employee PAC - $500
American Anesthesiology Association of the Southeast - $3,000
Nationwide of Carolina PAC - $1,000
NC Dermatology Association PAC - $2,000
Health Network Solutions PAC - $500
NC Dental PAC - $750
RJ Reynolds PAC - $1,000
NC Homebuilders Association PAC - $1,000
NC Assisted Living PAC - $500
Presbyterian Anesthesia Association PAC - $2,000
OrthoCarolina, PA Federal PAC - $2,000
Carolinas Healthcare System Employees PAC - $2,000
N.C. Hospital Association PAC - $1,500
Individuals:
Curtis Blackwood - $500
Dennis Moser - $1,250
T. Lane Ormand - $2,000
E. Lynn Raye - $1,000
Calvin H. Hall - $1,000
Billy F. Norwood - $1,125
Tom E. Williams - $500
Dean Harrell - $1,000
Marion Cox - $2,500
Grant E. Hall - $1,000
Samuel O. Starnes Jr. - $500
Russel F. Cox - $1,000
John R. Bass - $750
Thomas Proffit - $500
Roy Richardson - $500
Gary Summerfield - $500
Thomas J. Hall - $1,000
Jeff Edwards - $1,000
UNION COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Trey Robison also ran unopposed for the seat he was appointed to in early 2011.
Trey Robison
Total raised $33,448 (as of 10-23-12)
Total spent $24,240
Top donors:
Charles Brooks - $1,200
Marion Cox - $2,000
Peter Dwyer - $750
William Kingsley Goldfarb - $300
Kenneth Honeycutt - $2,500
Cress Horne - $1,000
Carol H. Kendrick - $2,473
James Mezzanotte - $500
Thomas Lynn Ogburn III - $750
Kenneth Swain - $1,498
John R. Cox - $1,000
Sarah Glaser - $500
James Harrington - $500
Bradford F. Icard - $1,000
Spiro Kaltsounis - $1,075
John Painter - $3,000
Annie T. Reeves - $1,000
Samuel O. Starnes - $1,000
Kenneth Swain - $1,000