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Q2: Sestak Raises $210K

Sestak announce videoThe 2016 elections may be three and a half years away, but as always in politics, it’s never too early to start raising money.

Last May, former Congressman Joe Sestak announced that he would be exploring a rematch against Senator Pat Toomey. In the first financial report since his entrance into the race, Sestak raised just over $210,000 and currently has $618,000 on hand.

It’s a considerable amount for a race that’s more than three years away. But it lags Toomey, whose second quarter haul totaled over $950,000. He has $3.1 million in total cash on hand.

Sestak also raised significantly less than he did in his first quarter – before he specified which office he would run for – when he brought in $460,000.

A Sestak campaign source defended their total, stating that the campaign had hit its fundraising goal for the second quarter.

He said Sestak’s fundraising push didn’t really begin in earnest until June. The source went on to mention that they received a strong response from donors after they went after Comcast executive (and Democrat) David Cohen for holding a fundraiser for Toomey.

The first poll of the race taken by Quinnipiac in June, showed a narrow 42% to 37% lead for Toomey. Any time an incumbent is under 50% they are usually considered vulnerable. That’s true of any Republican running statewide in Pa. in a presidential year.

8 Responses

  1. Update/correction:

    The FEC site finally posted the form where Sestak’s new Treasurer, Edwin Wee, DID amend the committee filing to update his new status. It was postmarked July 13th, and arrived the 15th.

    So, he didn’t forget to file the form, it just took the FEC a few extra days to get it scanned in and online.

    I’m still not sure why it was filled to recently though. Edwin got the bump from $2000/month to $2500/month for two paychecks, which I’m assuming is for his new duties as treasurer. So, why wasn’t this filed months earlier if he was doing the job, depositing the checks, etc?

    I chalk it up the the way Sestak runs his well rusted machine.

    BTW: The campaign bought about $1,400 in computer equipment, but there is no campaign office (and no rent payments). I wonder if it’s stored with the $32,000 they spent on stationery?

    Well, it’s not like Joe has his wife and kid living at the Edgmont home. It must make for a great storage facility. It must have been filled with disappointment in Nov 2010. 🙁

  2. Tommyd-
    Sestak ran over my party. Sestak ran over the down ballot candidates. Sestak ran over the troops when he betrayed them by voting twice for Bush’s Iraq war funding, without accountability. Sestak ran over minimum wage laws (and the ethics of his union supporters) when he underpaid his staff and mistreated them. Sestak ran over women’s rights in the workplace when his district manager told a staffer to “shut up” because she was “hired for her looks, not her opinions” and her “job was to look good for Joe”, and the staffer quit and the manager stayed on with raises and bonuses.

  3. Quick thought on comment: “He said Sestak’s fundraising push didn’t really begin in earnest until June.”
    Almost all of Joe’s contributions last quarter “arrived” in the last two weeks of March, many on Sunday the 31st. Gee, you would expect a lot of late checks the first week of April (if the entire thing hadn’t been entirely contrived).

    I haven’t had a chance to examine the electronic filling, but I’ll analyze it later by date. (Sestak’s paper filing is alphabetical by donor).

  4. “A Sestak campaign source defended their total, stating that the campaign had hit its fundraising goal for the second quarter.”

    100% pure political BS. How about asking that same source, what the “goal” is for third quarter BEFORE the quarter actually is over?

    A little quick analysis of the filing:
    1) Joe’s campaign spokesperson, Edwin Wee, is listed on the report as the Treasurer (despite Joe’s sister still being listed as the committee’s treasurer). Did Edwin forget to file a form?
    BTW, Edwin appears to have gotten a salary bump from $2,000 to $2,500 a month.

    2) The filing is 410 pages vs 96 for the last filing. The campaign had $50,000 is expenses this quarter, vs only $10,000 last quarter. So, in terms of ratios: The campaign took in 40 times what it spent last quarter, but only 4 times what it spent this quarter.
    Overall, for the two quarters, the ratio is 10 to 1.
    Toomey spent $218K to take in $544K in the first quarter, and $247K to take in $954K this quarter. Of course, Toomey is already way ahead with $3 million cash on hand and raising cash at quite a clip. Would guess that Sestak’s (forced) announcement/reveal of his stealth campaign spurred some fundraising activity by Toomey’s staff.

    4) Sestak spent $32,310 at Kennedy printing for “stationery”. That seems excessive for an “exploratory committee”. Oh.. right… it’s not an exploratory committee. Joe’s just pretending that it is so he can hold onto that Bradley Chair and use it to develop his campaign speeches and talking points.

    5) The campaign is still keeping Joe’s brother on the payroll for $84.87 each month. In the past filings, Joe’s brother was the only one listed on the payroll for this approx amount, BUT the campaign was paying out hundreds in healthcare premiums. Seems a bit shady to me. I wonder what the FEC would say?

    6) This quarter, Joe’s average contribution, per entry, was $180. Now, I haven’t had a chance to analyze the contributions in depth as to how much was for Primary vs General. Last quarter, most of Joe’s contributions were max for both Primary and General. Assuming Joe doesn’t have a primary, then it’s all going to get used against Toomey (and possibly for his brother’s health insurance).

  5. Dr. Bob, Aren’t you the guy who supported nut job republican Ron Shegda for State Representative several times?

  6. Multiple loser? He lost once, in a tight race, in a Republican wave year, with a weak Dem Gov candidate. In a Presidential election year, it will be a much different scenario.

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