Harrisburg City Councilman Brad Koplinski had a great performance at the Democratic state committee meeting last week, which makes his financial report this week such a shock.
Koplinski’s campaign revealed that they raised $57,940 in 2013. This includes a $15,000 loan from the candidate and $4,000 from his previous campaigns.
Perhaps more distressing for the campaign, however, is the fact that Koplinski spent $41,521, which means he has only $16,418 cash on hand.
$13,680 of Koplinski’s total was received from donors giving less than $100 while $25,260 came from donations of more than $100, so he’s been able to build a broad base of support that unfortunately lacks monetary depth..
His largest PAC donation was from the IBEW who gave $2,000. He also got large checks from influential Pennsylvanians like Ritchie Tabachnick ($3,250) and Shanin Specter ($2,500).
Koplinski’s disappointing numbers could shake up recent perceptions that the Councilman was becoming the front-runner in the race. For instance, our last reader poll showed you thought he would collect more petition signatures than any other Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
At Democratic State Committee last weekend, Koplinski earned more votes during the endorsement process than any other candidate. He fell short of the endorsement but clearly had strong support among the Democratic establishment.
Whether this report is merely a snapshot of a period right before Koplinski turns his momentum into cash or a warning signal that could scare donors away remains to be seen.
Money isn’t as important in the Lieutenant Governor’s race, as Scott Conklin defeated Jonathon Saidel in the 2010, despite raising just a fraction of Saidel’s total.
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12 Responses
I’m gonna say Critz.
Fed Up-
So which campaign are you working for?
Brandon Newman – what a waste. He was running for over a year before his big (non) announcement the other day. I never saw a less well-spoken candidate and he thinks he’s a golden boy. Ugh. He’s had what, a whopping term and a half in the PA House? Newman should try to stay in the House (if he can even hang on to that seat because he is no prize there) and learn something there before going for a higher office.
No one wants Stack outside Philadelphia and maybe a few areas of the SE. People are sick and tired of Philly running this state.
And with all that, Conklin only beat Saidel by a half a percent. 4,000 votes out of 900,000 cast.
It’s not like Conklin ran away with it. Stack and Smith will be able to outspend the others where it matters, on direct voter contact. Stack might even be able to outspend *Saidel* in that regard. If he’s smart about where he puts his money.
There is nothing shocking about the fact that Koplinski has so little money. Smith and Stack dropped their numbers early, which indicated that each of them thought he had outraised the field.
Each of the other candidates held off for as long as possible. Which meant that they didn’t have the money to compete with Smith and Stack and they knew it.
The reason Jonathan Saidel lost despite raising more money that Doris Smith Ribner and Scott Conklin had to do with two things. First, geography screwed him. It was the Philly vote vs. the rest of the state (Ribner from Pittsburgh and Conklin from Centre), and that’s impossible to overcome. The vote this time will be fractured, with Smith a legitimate contender from NEPA [which doesn’t have as many votes as the rest], Koplinski and Alton taking the center of the state (Dauphin) and Critz and Neuman splitting the Pittsburgh vote. Meanwhile Stack has SEPA all to himself.
Second, while Saidel outraised the field, he spent money on nothing. Saidel left the Philly controller’s office at the end of 2005 with $1,050,497.63 in his account. He entered 2010 with $755,540.66 in the bank (God only know what he spent that $300,000, but I’m not going to check that out.)
In Cycle 1 2010, he spent $155,386.65. The entirety of that was for consulting, payroll, and attending events. Nothing on direct vote contact. Cycle 2 he spent nothing. Cycle 3 [the last report before the primary election] he spent $474,258.29 of the $641,045.78 he had left in the bank, leaving $166,000 and change unspent for some reason. He spent $300,000 for a commercial to air in Western PA, made $75,000 worth of contributions to Philadelphia City Committee, and the rest of the expenses for on incidentals and GOTV money. It also looks like he paid for $20,000 of mail on a credit card.
To be generous, out of a campaign that spent a million dollars, Saidel spent $320,000 on direct voter contact. That’s why he lost. Not because money is ineffective, but because he used it in ineffective ways.
Alton may not get on the ballot. Even if she does, she may not survive a challenge by other candidates.
I would subtract outstanding loans/debts from “Cash on Hand” numbers.
However, if it’s the candidate lending to himself, then it’s not a real “debt”, because he’s not going to come around and threaten to break his own legs. 🙂
Alton may win – she’s the only female candidate in a low information race, where none of the candidates will spend a lot of money.
LG is always a low money raised, high burn rate race. Gas money, event ticket money, paying some people on the side, yard signs, printing and maybe a mailing or two. Stack was raising money for a Governor run which is why he has so much more than everyone else. Anybody from Neuman, Smith, Stack, Kaplinski or even Critz could pull this off. Although Stack and Smith has money leads at this point, their leads aren’t enough to bury the competition let alone have a real legitimate tv buy. At this point it is a shoe leather race and Brad and Mark know that best. I’m interested in Brandon Neuman because I think there is some intrigue to his candidacy. Stack wouldn’t be good because he is another Philly guy. Smith is from an area that doesn’t help in the general and he has some ties to gas. Alten is a joke. Kaplinski and Critz have their benefits and negatives.
Why should this be a shock he is the councilman from a distresed city like harrisburg
NOBODY who knows anything about Pennsylvania politics thought Koplinski “was becoming the front-runner in the race” for LG. He has been a candidate for LG far longer than Smith, Alton, Critz, Stack, or Neuman, yet he raised only a few thousand dollars. He concentrated on state committee members, and when he failed to secure the party endorsement (and nobody thought he would get the 2/3 vote required), he missed his only chance to win the Democratic primary.
Can politicos stop reporting candidate loans as revenue? The SEC wouldn’t look too happy on a company that gave that kind of an accounting treatment.
In reality, Koplinski has only $1,418 in COH. There are school board candidates with more funds right now.