Sizable donations in two districts
Candidates vying for school board seats on the state’smostwatched school districts — Denver Public Schools and in Douglas County — have attracted nearly $900,000 in donations, according to the first round of campaign finance reports.
The four seats up for grabs in DPS drew more than $690,000 in cash and nonmonetary contributions in the reporting period that ended Oct. 10. Those candidates have spent more than $426,000 trying to secure a spot on the school board for the 84,000-student school district.
Douglas County school board candidates received more than $201,000 in campaign contributions and spent about $49,000 during the same period.
The campaign finance reports, which were due by midnight Tuesday, offer voters the first look at the money pouring into the school board races before the Nov. 5 election.
Candidates Barbara O’Brien, Mike Johnson, Rosemary Rodriguez and Landri Taylor collected nearly half a million dollars, dwarfing donations of more than $200,000 received by their opponents. The group supports DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg’s reform efforts, which include bolstering charter port.
Douglas County school board members Doug Benevento and Meghann Silverthorn, who are seeking re-election, along with James Geddes, a current regent for the University of Colorado, and Judith Reynolds, an exercise physiologist, have amassed more than $157,000 for their bids.
On the other end, Barbra Burke, Bill Hodges, Julie Keim and Ronda Scholting collected a total of more than $44,000 in contributions. Scholting received the most money with more than $15,500. Her key donors includedAttorney Jerri Hill, who gave $1,100, and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, DBoulder, who contributed $1,000.
About 90 percent of the donations for Benevento, Geddes, Silverthorn and Reynolds came from two businessmen: Alex Cranberg and Ralph Nagel.
Cranberg, CEO of Aspect Energy and a supporter of school vouchers, gave each candidate $25,000. Nagel, a longtimeRepublican donor who runs the Denver investment firmTop Rock Liquidity Fund LLC, contributed $10,000 to each candidate.