Fw: Local Campaign Costs--need to check the distribution list

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Joe Bruner

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Jul 12, 2013, 8:38:44 AM7/12/13
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JOE BRUNER

Elizabeth--TNT is a 501c3 organization which means that we cannot be involved in political campaigns as an organization.  The entire TNT board is in this distribution list, so I am asking everyone a favor.  Elizabeth is clearly energetic and has gotten a good deal of interesting information and if you would like to continue to get emails about the political campaigns please email Elizabeth esta...@gmail.com and let her know.  She has also started a facebook page called Tuscaloosa Municipal Elections: 2013 if you want to keep up with things that way. 
 
Elizabeth, can you then continue to update the folks that express an interest as an individual.  Thanks so much for understanding.
Joan Barth, President
Tuscaloosa Neighbors Together
joanm...@aol.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Stanard <esta...@gmail.com>
To: John Earl <jo...@photographybyearl.com>
Cc: Joan Barth <joanm...@aol.com>; Gabriella Merriman <gmer...@bama.ua.edu>; Lib Davis <buckeye...@yahoo.com>; Tom Fanning <tomg...@comcast.net>; Gary Limmroth <zap...@hotmail.com>; Patricia Dotson <pdot...@bellsouth.net>; Jil Chambliss <dana...@comcast.net>; Debra Brown <dbrow...@aol.com>; Sharon Pate <shar...@juno.com>; Joe & Freddie Bruner <joebr...@yahoo.com>; Easty Lambert-Brown <borg...@bellsouth.net>; Laurie Johns <jo...@dbtech.net>; Diane Hall <dmh3...@att.net>; cha...@gmail.com Crawford <cha...@gmail.com>; Anne R. Gibbons <arg...@att.net>; sander...@gmail.com Head <sander...@gmail.com>; Kelly Fitts <k2rf...@gmail.com>; bill....@me.com Fitts <bill....@me.com>; Ted Miller <mille...@gmail.com>; Kelly Horwitz <kellyh...@mac.com>; Rebecca Rothman <rebecca...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, Jul 11, 2013 3:18 pm
Subject: Re: Local Campaign Costs

It begs the question if there are any PACs worth exploring out there to start funneling money into or whether to start yet another one. And this is in regards to the long term really, and also the state level politics for next year.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 11, 2013, at 2:39 PM, John Earl <jo...@photographybyearl.com> wrote:

I spent an hour and a half pouring over campaign contributions records at the County Courthouse this morning. I took notes on the Mayoral and Council campaigns for the 2009 election.  ( I only looked at a couple of candidates for the City Board of Education. )

The reported cash expenditures for campaigns ranged from $213,782 ( Mayoral ) to as little as $6850 for a Council race. Most Council races cost more than $10,000. 

Most of the contributions from individuals were in the $25-$500 range. There were some supporters who routinely gave more, as much as $5500,00 in the case of one contributor ( Charles Sealy ) to the Mayoral campaign. There were individuals who supported several candidates in varying amounts across the board.

The biggest cash contributions came from Political Action Committees ( PACs ). The locations given for the PACs included Montgomery, Birmingham, Huntsville,  Tuscaloosa and even one ( the Election PAC Spectum Capitol ) from Jackson, Mississippi.

The most frequently seen contributor ( one that contributed as much as $10,000 to the Mayoral campaign and, more routinely, as little as $1000,00 to candidates for the Council ) was The Tuscaloosa Firefighter Public Relations Fund. Although the Franklin PAC ( Montgomery ) contributed $25,000 to the Mayoral candidate.

The TUSCO PAC made contributions to many of the candidates, ranging from $5,000.00 to as little as $500.00. The Green Tree PAC, the Progressive Political Growth PAC ( Birmingham ), the Future PAC and the Alabama Builders PAC ( Montgomery ) contributed to several candidates. 

Other PACs that were contributors were: The Tuscaloosa PAC, the Tuscaloosa Association of Realtors, , the AT&T Alabama PAC, the Ecodev PAC, the Alabama Family Medical Center PAC, the Campaign PAC, the Penny PAC ( Montgomery ), the Sound Economy PAC ( Birmingham ), the Election PAC, and the TRD PAC ( Huntsville ).

Campaign contributions also came from the Arbor Committee ( Montgomery ), the United States Steel Workers, Palisades West, the Original City Association, the Police Officers For Progress, and the Fund for Alabama Childrens' Education.

The PACs can derive funding from lawyers & lobbyists ( Franklin PAC ) or from business representatives ( TUSCO ), etc. The actual names of contributors to PACs are not routinely disclosed ( except to the candidates ) For example, the developers Stan Pate or Charles Spurlin could support candidates through a PAC. Neither of them was listed as an individual contributor. Most of the PACs supporting local politicians are actually based in cities other than Tuscaloosa.

Lee Garrrison spent three times as much running for the City Council in 2009 as Dan Meissner spent on his campaign for Chairman of the Board of Education, the office that Garrison now is running for.











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