If you're interested in how much is being contributed to City Council races here in Salem, you're going to love the reports that Jim Scheppke sent me -- which I've shared below in the form of screenshots.
A post-election story in the Statesman Journal said that Councilor Tom Andersen is looking into the possibility of limiting spending on the races, which points to the relevance of these reports.
For five positions that pay absolutely nothing to have more than $200,000 for political campaigns is alarming, said Salem City Councilor Tom Andersen.
"I think that's way too much of an influence of big money," he said in a meeting before the May 19 election.
Andersen said he was researching the option of amending the city charter and bringing the issue of campaign contribution limits to voters.
"It seems to me that it makes sense to let the citizens decide if we want all this money -- from whatever source -- funneled into city campaigns," he said.
There's a lot to digest in the information Scheppke has provided. Here's some headlines.
(1) As of May 22, $228,582 was reported to have been contributed to eight candidates in four City Council races.
(2) That's an average of $28,573 per 2020 candidate.
(3) By contrast, for races in 2014-2018, $11,999 was contributed to each candidate on average.
(4) Five business-related groups contributed $99,250 to conservative candidates in 2020.
(5) Thus those five business-related groups accounted for 43% of all 2020 contributions.
(6) Contributions to the four winning candidates averaged $7.96 per vote for them.
(7) Contributions to the four losing candidates averaged $13.06 per vote for them.
(8) In losing, Reid Sund was at $22.87 per vote, and Hollie Oakes-Miller was at 88 cents per vote.
(9) In winning, Jose Gonzalez was at $12.13 per vote, and Virginia Stapleton was at $5.50 per vote.
(10) The four candidates with the highest percentage of small donations were all progressives.
(11) The four candidates with the highest percentage of business PAC donations were all conservatives.
Here's the information Jim Scheppke has put together. I'll also share the PDF files.
Download Campaign Finance Facts 5-22 PDF
Download Historical Campaign Contributions
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