The Rev. Melvin Hargrove leads with $4,295; Unified race wide-open
BY PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, March 28, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - Four candidates raised close to $11,000 combined in the race for the Racine Unified School Board, according to campaign finance documents filed this week with the school district. The donations came in amounts large and small from community members, local business leaders, current School Board members and state political organizations.
The Rev. Melvin Hargrove raised the largest sum so far, $4,295, in the months leading up to the Tuesday election. Hargrove raised almost twice as much as the nearest opponent.
Six candidates are running for three open seats on the School Board.
Dennis Wiser, former executive director of the Racine Education Association, raised the second largest sum, $2,865. Pamala Handrow raised $2,705 and John Leiber raised $1,050.
Campaign finance reports were due Monday and covered the fundraising period between Feb. 5 and March 17. Some candidates also raised money during the spring pre-primary period, from Jan. 1 through Feb. 4.
Handrow received the single largest contribution, $500, from the political action committee of the REA, the local teachers union. The contribution came with the union's endorsement.
Handrow was the only candidate the union endorsed in the upcoming election after meeting with five of the six candidates.
The two remaining candidates, Karen Norton and Carly-Anne Ravnikar, were exempt from filing campaign finance reports, according to district officials.
Candidates do not have to file if they do not plan to raise more than $1,000 or take contributions larger than $100 in a calendar year, officials said.
Candidates endorsed by the Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce - Handrow, Hargrove and Wiser - also received a $300 contribution to their campaigns from the business organization.
The same three candidates also received $250 donations from H. Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of SC Johnson.
The same three candidates received $325 donations from Progressive Majority Wisconsin, a Madison-based chapter of the national Democratic political advocacy organization.
The group has endorsed candidates in past local elections, including Racine Democrats Rep. Cory Mason and Sen. John Lehman.
Leiber had the smallest campaign war chest to date, with a total of nine individual contributions, including $100 from Cathy Stepp, a former state senator from Sturtevant.
Two current School Board members dipped into their own campaign war chests and donated to two candidates. Board president Tony Baumgardt donated $200 to Handrow and $100 to Hargrove.
Bill Van Atta donated $150 to both Handrow and Hargrove. Van Atta raised more than his opponents last year when he ran for the board and won.
During this election, Hargrove has outspent his opponents in an effort to get his name out in the community.
He spent $1,774.85 so far for things like campaign signs, buttons and advertisements.
Leiber spent the least, $753 on campaign signs and postcards, according to his campaign finance reports.
The amount candidates raised this year is slightly less than that raised by the three candidates who won last year. The three winning candidates in 2007 together raised roughly $12,000 and spent about $8,500.
The race for three seats on the board is wide-open this election. No incumbents chose to seek re-election. Hargrove was appointed to the board at the end of 2007 to fill the remainder of former board member Randy Bangs' three-year term.
Voters will elect three candidates to three-year terms. School Board members are paid $3,600 annually.