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Election season gets a lot of money in circulation and no organization is reaping the rewards of this campaign season more than Arkansas Valley Publishing (AVP).
AVP, parent company to the Chaffee County Times and Mountain Mail newspapers, shows revenues of $7,328 from the expenditure reports of the county commissioner campaigns through the Oct. 14 reporting period. This excludes any AVP advertising purchased by District 2 County Commissioner candidate Jerry Mallett since Sept. 11. At 10 a.m. Oct. 16, the most recent campaign finance report, due to the state on Oct. 14, had not yet been filed by Mallett’s re-election committee. Mallett campaign ads in the Mountain Mail have been plentiful in recent weeks so the total of Mallett’s spending with AVP is likely to rise.
The biggest consumer of media so far this campaign season is Republican District 1 Commissioner candidate Dennis Giese, who has spent $2,836 on local radio and $1,589 on advertising with AVP for a total media spend of $4,425. Giese’s opponent, Susan Bristol, put all her media buying to date in the AVP basket for total media expenditures of $3,418.
In the District 2 Commissioner race, the Mountain Mail has reaped nearly equal financial attention from the candidates with incumbent Mallett spending $1,151 through Sept. 11, while Republican challenger Frank Holman spent $1,170 through Oct. 14.
Finishing a distant second to AVP in terms of campaign largesse is Chaffee Printing, which has so far enjoyed $3,068 in candidate campaign expenditures.
In funds raised among the commissioner candidates through the Oct. 14 report period, Giese, Holman and Bristol are within a thousand dollars of each other with Giese in the fundraising lead at $12,890 followed by Holman at $11,538 and Bristol at $10,467. Mallett had raised $11,339 through Sept. 11.
The next and last campaign finance report to be filed before the Nov. 4 election must be filed with the state by Oct. 31.
Campaign finance reports can be found online at the Secretary of State’s Election Center campaign finance website.
With only one paper in the valley election season is the proverbial golden egg.
The “Schools, Heart of Salida” 3A-3D ballot campaign spent approx. $2000 with the Mountain Mail in advertising.