Regnitz, Reynolds lead fundraising
Finance reports show who raised the most for campaigns in Porter County
Republican Barb Regnitz, who is running for the Center District seat on the Porter County Board of Commissioners, and Democrat David Reynolds II, candidate for sheriff hoping to take the reins from his father, are the two biggest fundraisers ramping up to Election Day, according to campaign finance reports.
Regnitz put $200,000 of her own money into her campaign, took it out, and put it back in with an additional $13,000 for good measure. Reynolds’ campaign, meanwhile, was the benefactor of $73,185.53 shortly before his father, David Reynolds, disbanded his old campaign committee in the spring.
“You’ve got to do it right and both of them are doing it within the bounds of campaign finance,” said Kenard Taylor, who has been treasurer for candidates from both parties in Lake and Porter counties, though he is not serving in that capacity for Regnitz or Reynolds.
He also vets campaign finance forms for Porter County, looking for errors and sending them back to candidates to be rectified.
“You may not like the law but that’s what the law is,” he said.
The forms were due by noon on Oct. 21, per state campaign finance laws.
Regnitz’s form shows $394,559.23 in contributions and receipts through this year and $322,086.67 in expenditures for the same time period.
Regnitz said she decided $200,000 was the optimal amount for her campaign after looking at what other candidates spent in recent years. The funds, she added, came from the sale of her financial advising practice.
“In 2021, I lent my campaign $200,000 and the reason I did that is, nobody knew me as a candidate,” she said.
Early on, Regnitz said, her campaign didn’t have any expenses and as a financial adviser, she wasn’t
thrilled with her money sitting there and not earning any interest. She pulled the money out and replenished her campaign fund when invoices for this year’s primary started rolling in.
“I have lent $213,000 to my campaign and I have raised $35,000 and I have $72,000 left,” she said, adding she bumped up her loan to her campaign because her campaign strategist suggested a plan that required more money and she didn’t know if she would raise it in donations.
The bulk of her spending was during the spring primary, when she faced Mike Brickner, an at-large member on the Porter County Council.
Regnitz wanted to fund her own campaign because she didn’t want anyone to think she owed them a favor for a campaign donation, she figured campaign funds would be hard to come by given the economy, and there were other candidates who needed the money more than she did.
She doesn’t regret self-funding her campaign but is rethinking how she put the funds in, took them out and replenished them.
“In hindsight, and if anybody asked me, I’d say don’t do that because all it does is cause so much confusion,” she said.
By comparison, Democrat contender for the commissioner’s seat Julie Giorgi raised $27,653 through this year, according to her report.
Reynolds said he’s a firm believer that the sheriff’s office should be nonpartisan but anyone interested in the post needs to win a campaign. That said, he noted that it’s “clearly an advantage” to have resources he can access through his father’s campaign.
“If someone is giving you $5 or $5 million, it’s an advantage,” he said, adding that a campaign donation shouldn’t have an influence on a candidate and there’s always a question about what someone’s motive is when they donate a large sum of money.
His father is completing his second consecutive term in office and also served two consecutive terms after first being elected in 1998. Under state statute, the sheriff can’t serve more than two consecutive terms in office.
“I’ve been at this my entire life and I understand the different perceptions that are out there,” he said. “You take the $70,000 out (from his father) and I raised a significant amount of money with hard work.”
Overall, Reynolds’ campaign raised $207,228.03. Republican Jeff Balon, Valparaiso’s police chief, has raised $134,452.91 year to date, according to his campaign finance report.