Outside spending riles primary candidates
With the District 13 aldermanic primary coming up on Tuesday, the biggest spender so far isn't any of the candidates.
Not by a long shot.
It's an independent campaign spending organization started by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.
The organization, Leadership MKE, spent $24,705 on mailing service and $7,500 on online advertising in support of candidate and City Plan Commission Chairwoman Patricia Torres Najera. The group didn't contribute to her campaign but rather spent independently on her behalf.
The outside spending didn't sit well with some of her competitors.
"It feels like someone who doesn’t have a connection to a district coming in and saying, here’s your new alderperson," said Scott Spiker, the legislative assistant to former District 13 Ald. Terry Witkowski.
Witkowski stepped down from the position in May, opening the door for the special election. The general election will be held Aug. 13 after the field is narrowed to two on Tuesday.
Spiker said he found out about the spending when he started getting expensive mailers listed as having been paid for by Leadership MKE.
He said he didn't think District 13 residents needed a millionaire telling them who to vote for.
"When I found out about it, I mentioned it at a few doors and people are frankly shocked," he said. "We’re not used to seeing that kind of money in a local race here, and people here are very independent and they don’t like being told what to do."
Torres Najera said in a statement that she had been thinking about running for the seat for a long time and that she was proud to count Abele among those who have endorsed her.
“During this short campaign, I’ve talked to leaders across Milwaukee and neighbors throughout the district about our need for better public safety, more city services, and a real plan for business development,” she said.
She said she would be an independent voice for the district.
“Chris Abele is supporting Patricia because they share the same goals for Milwaukee residents: to fix our roads and streets, to make our neighborhoods safer, and expand economic opportunity,” Abele’s campaign spokesman, Andy Suchorski, said in a statement.
“Chris will continue to do everything he can to help elect more progressive women to local office who share these goals, as he has for many years.”
In contrast to that sum, the candidates themselves have raised and spent considerably less, according to the available July campaign finance reports.
Torres Najera reported having spent $1,588 and raised $11,033 between May 24, when she joined the race, and July 1.
Of the funds raised, $5,930 was money she loaned her campaign.
Abele personally donated the maximum allowable contribution of $794, as did the campaign of Ald. José Pérez.
At the time of the report, Torres Najera had a cash balance of $9,445.
Of the other candidates:
Patty Doherty, legislative assistant to Ald. Bob Donovan, received contributions from south side Alds. Donovan, Mark Borkowski and Tony Zielinski.
She reported raising $13,317 between May 28, when she entered the race, and June 30. She has loaned her campaign $3,500. She also made $600 in in-kind donations to her campaign.
Donovan and his wife, Kathy, each donated $700. Donovan's campaign also gave an in-kind contribution of $523 for printing and postage for a campaign fundraiser.
Borkowski donated $100 to her campaign. Zielinski gave $250.
The Milwaukee Police Association gave her $500 while the Milwaukee Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 215 gave her $794.
Doherty ended the period with
$5,589 cash on hand.
Spiker, who anticipates filing his report by Monday's deadline, said he had raised about $12,000 and had loaned his campaign about $4,400. He had spent about $4,000 and had about $8,000 cash on hand.
James Krickeberg, a real estate broker whose team works for RE/MAX Realty 100 in Greenfield, had given his campaign $3,201 as of July 1. He is selffunding his campaign.
"The whole point of my campaign is I think that people really want someone who is going to listen to them and then stand up for them, and I didn't want money to get in the way of that at all," he said.
Other candidates had raised significant money outside the district and he said he thinks it's valid for voters to question where their loyalties lie.
Former Milwaukee state Rep. Josh Zepnick had raised $2,050 as of July 1 and had spent $739, leaving him with a cash balance of $1,310. He contributed $100 to his campaign.
Jacob Krieg, the general manager at Canfora Bakery and a member of the Marine Corps Forces Reserve, raised $683 and spent $562 as of July 1. Of the sum raised, he gave the campaign $394.
His mother, Karen Krieg, also donated $169 for T-shirts.
He said his goal was never to raise a lot of money for the race. He said he is running a grassroots campaign relying on volunteers who contribute time, not money.
"The point is to be face-to-face, the point is to go door-to-door to talk to people," he said.
Walt Love did not file a campaign finance report under an exemption for candidates who do not expect to raise or spend an aggregate of more than $2,000 on a campaign in a calendar year.