PORT ANGELES — Clallam County employees Shoona Riggs and Kim Yacklin have raised and spent similar amounts in their race to succeed county Auditor Patty Rosand for the nonpartisan position in the Nov. 4 general election, according to their state Public Disclosure Commission filings.
Riggs, 41, the county chief deputy auditor-elections supervisor, has raised $10,493, spent $10,066 and generated 35 contributions, 34 of which are from Clallam and Jefferson counties, according to Oct. 13 filings.
Riggs, a Port Angeles resident, has donated $4,067 in in-kind contributions for candidate filing fees, postage, printing and mailing services and a professional campaign photograph.
Yacklin, 50, the administrative coordinator for county health and human services, has raised $11,967, also from 35 contributions, the majority of which are not from Clallam or Jefferson counties.
Yacklin, also a Port Angeles resident, has spent $11,346.
Yackllin said the out-of-area contributions, including $3,350 from donors in Paris, Ohio, where her husband’s family lives, were from friends and family.
Her top 19 contributions are from out of the area, while 15 of the 16 remaining contributions are from Port Angeles, Sequim and Carlsborg.
She has taken some heat for her out-of-area contributions.
“I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal out of that,” Yacklin said Monday.
“I come from a family of eight kids,” she added.
Yacklin also donated $4,428 of her own money for in-kind expenditures, including $2,076 for yard signs.
Yacklin, who did not send a mailer to voters, said she spent most of her campaign funds on yard signs and newspaper advertising.
Expenditures also included parade candy, some of which included “Elect Kim Yacklin” stickers.
Riggs did not aggressively seek donations, sending letters to friends and family telling them she was running, she said
She also did a mailer and designed her own yard signs.
Both candidates said they were surprised that running for the largely nondescript position was so expensive.
The auditor’s office records real-property documents and marriage licenses, processes drivers licenses and oversees the county elections division.
Rosand, who is retiring and who has endorsed Riggs, told Riggs that she had spent $12,000 running for election “and I was shocked,” Riggs said.
“She told me a long time ago when I first began looking into it so I would be more prepared for it.
“I didn’t think the numbers would add up so fast.”
Yacklin, who has been endorsed by former county Auditor Ken Foster, said she had hoped to “mini-report” her campaign contributions — that is, spend $5,000 or less and not accept more than $500 from any single contributor.
Instead, Yacklin said, she has found the election effort “extremely expensive.”
Both candidates focused their doorbelling efforts on Port Angeles, they said.
Ballots for the election were mailed to voters Wednesday.
A list of Riggs’ and Yacklin’s campaign contributions and expenditures is at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Campaigndollars.
New filings should be available today, Public Disclosure Commission spokeswoman Lori Anderson said Monday.
Riggs donors
Below are contributors from the North Olympic Peninsula who have donated $100 or more to Riggs’ campaign:
■ $750: Ken Radon, Sally Radon, Port Ludlow
■ $700: Kathleen Melton, Port Angeles
■ $600: Patricia Rosand, Port Angeles
■ $500: Lon Riggs, Sherrie Riggs, Port Angeles.
■ $200: Mark DeRousie, Port Angeles
■ $100: Hoch Construction, Inc., Irwin Dental Center, Paul Martin, Gwendolyn Porterfield, Leland Porterfield, Cherie Temres, Larry Temres, Port Angeles; Alice McKeever, E.J. “Kip” McKeever, Sequim
Yacklin donors
Below are contributors from the North Olympic Peninsula who have donated $100 or more to Yacklin’s campaign:
■ $125: Ken Foster, Wendy Foster, Carlsborg; Charles Velie, Susan Velie, Pete Frederick, Katy Peters, Port Angeles; Soeren Poulsen, Sequim.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.