PORT TOWNSEND — Even the cost of running for a low-profile county court clerk’s position isn’t cheap these days.
Appointed Superior Court Clerk Ruth Gordon and her staffer and opponent, Tammi Rubert, say they both have learned this lesson this year during their campaigns for the clerk position.
While the Superior Court system’s top administrative job pays between $49,000 and $50,000 a year, Gordon’s Sept. 13 Public Disclosure Commission report shows she has spent $15,531.58 in cash and in-kind expenditures.
That does not include the $4,000 loan to herself to get her campaign under way, according to the report made by Gordon’s campaign treasurer, Ellen Theisen.
Total cash and in-kind contributions total $18,964, according to Gordon’s PDC report.
“It’s astonishing what it costs to run a campaign,” Gordon said Monday after attending a Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce luncheon. She said the bulk of her campaign contributions went to newspaper advertising and postal expenses.
Considerably less
Rubert agreed with Gordon that it’s been an expensive campaign, although she spent considerably less than the appointed clerk.
“I expected the $10,000 range,” Rubert said, but certainly not near $20,000.
In her Sept. 13 PDC report, Rubert reported $10,110 in cash and in-kind contributions and $10,086.64 in total cash and in-kind expenditures.
Gordon’s campaign was boosted by a Jefferson County Democratic Party contribution of $6,000.