June 18, 2009
Now that the last round of elections is finally over, it's a good time to take stock of how much of a factor money was in the races. In most races, money was the key. The more you had, the better you did in the election.
Well, except for Melina Castro. She spent a boatload of money, not counting the giant lottery check for the $30,000 she paid off to the City, and still got thumped at the polls pretty handily. Judging by the fact that she skipped her last council meeting, despite knowing she was going to receive an award, she doesn't appear to be taking the loss very well.
As I said, other than Castro, the more money you spent, the more votes you got. Money is an important part of a campaign and is a necessary evil. Even the most altruistic candidates have to have enough money to get their message out to the voters and drum up a little name recognition. It's a lot like any other advertising campaign, you need to be able to get your message out in order to position your brand well.
Not only is it interesting to see who raised the most money, what is even more fascinating is to see who did the most with the money. Much has been said about the money raised by the candidates, but not much has been said about the money SPENT by each candidate. Below is a break down of expenditures to see just exactly how much money each candidate spent to buy a vote -- the money spent by a campaign, the number of votes won, and a cost-per-vote tally. The results may surprise you, especially given the fact that many candidates touted themselves as fiscal conservatives yet spent money like a bail-out bureaucrat.
Hope they do a better job with public funds than they do with their campaign money! (The following figures are from the latest reports, the post-election reports have not yet been posted so candidates who were in a run-off will have different numbers once the reports have been filed.)
The Mayor's Race:
Just less than 31,000 people cast a vote in the Mayor's race in the last election. These are the candidates that filed campaign finance reports with the city.
Candidate Money Spent Votes Cost Per Vote
Mayor John Cook $95,330.60 18,731 $5.08
Alfrank Catucci $7,197.01 769 $9.35
Gus Haddad $56,238.72 8,483 $6.62
Carlos Rivera $6,950.26 1,767 $3.93
District 2 City Council Race
Susie Byrd $17,025.53 1,975 $8.62
Yamil Chaheine $3,716.99 962 $3.86
Howard Barton $1,600.00 401 $3.99
District 3
Emma Acosta $29,158.55 2,819 $10.34
Jose Alejandro Lozano $16,803.72 1,165 $14.42
District 4 (Only Run-off Candidates Listed)
Melina Castro $17,856.19 1,336 $13.36
Carl Robinson $5,648.51 2,858 $1.97
*This figure does not account for final expenditures in the run-off election.
District 7
Steve Ortega $21,324.03 1,949 $10.94
Trini Munoz $3,400.64 812 $4.18
Robert Larson $750 510 $1.87
Following the money is important (click here for the contribution Web site) because it lets you know who has the ear of the candidate or elected official. Large amounts of money donated to a candidate is never done without an agenda. There is always a motive behind a big contribution, no matter how much it is denied publicly. That motive may be something as harmless as expecting phone calls to be answered faster than others, all the way to flat-out dictating a position to a candidate. As slimy as it feels, the political reality is that money is a necessary evil that often influences the candidate or elected official who receives the money.
Who gives away money for nothing?
No one.
They will never admit to this publicly, but if someone gives large amounts of money to a campaign, most candidates/elected officials feel compelled to at least pay a little more attention to that donor than a normal person.
Sometimes, a little too much attention.
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Abeytia writes the Lionstar blog and is a political animal who spends way too much time traveling the wilds of El Paso politics. Reach him at lionstar@thelionstarblog.com.