PORT TOWNSEND — Kate Dean, a local Democratic Party favorite, is far outdistancing her opponent Tim Thomas, a Republican-turned-Democrat, in campaign fundraising as Tuesday’s Election Day approaches.
The two are vying for the District 1 seat now held by Phil Johnson, a Democrat, who is not running for reelection.
Dean, 42, received a single $10,000 contribution from the Jefferson County Democrats as part of the $32,688 she has raised, according to state Public Disclosure Commission filings on the agency’s website at www.pdc.wa.gov. as of Friday.
That compares with the sum total of $10,553 raised by Thomas, 46,whose largest single contribution is $1,000 from LD Richert Construction of Port Townsend.
Dean, regional director of the North Olympic Peninsula Resource Conservation &Development Council, said Friday the contributions helped her to reach out more to voters, mostly through advertising.
Her largest single expenditure was $4,123 to Nancy Biery of Nancy Biery Associates of Quilcene, a campaign consulting, political affairs and public relations firm.
Dean had 208 contributions to Thomas’ 53 as of Friday.
“I’m proud we had so many others who contributed,” Dean said. “The funds came in pretty easily.”
However, it was not without some effort, she added.
She said she sent out a fundraising letter to her circle of a couple of hundred friends and associates before the District 1-only Aug. 2 primary, in which she gained 2,526 votes, or 62 percent, against four other candidates.
Thomas, who gained 795 votes for 20 percent of the total, advanced to the general election, which is county-wide, as the second top vote-getter.
Dean sent a second fundraising appeal to about 400 people after the primary — though she insists she’s not sure how much the contributions will further her cause.
“I don’t feel that it’s clear that spending a lot more money equates to winning an election,” she said.
“I hope that’s not true across the board.
“I’m not counting my chicks before they are hatched.”
Thomas, president of Bernt Ericsen Excavating Inc. of Port Townsend, ran unsuccessfully as a Republican four years ago for a District 2 county commissioner position.
He did not see the fundraising disparity as a disadvantage, he said Friday.
“I quit fundraising once I had enough money to pay the bills,” he said, adding that his last fundraising event was Oct. 8.
“We could have spent more money, but I don’t know what we would have gained.”
He said the Jefferson County Democrats “hand-picked” Dean a couple of years ago.
“There was no way they were ever going to back me,” Thomas said.
He did not go all out to raise money for his campaign, he said.
“I was not having parities and all the stuff that [Dean] is doing,” Thomas said. “I just wasn’t into spending a bunch of money.”
Dean spent $3,800 on advertising, mostly via newspaper but some on Facebook, while Thomas stuck with a mailer, which was his largest single expenditure at $3,146.
His other expenditures included T-shirts, buttons, flyers and $100 for parade expenditures.
Thomas stayed away from newspaper advertising.
“I just didn’t feel it was that effective,” he said.
Jefferson County’s newest county commissioner will earn $77,959 not including benefits.
Here is information from financial disclosure statements for Dean’s and Thomas’ campaigns filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission that were listed on the PDC’s website as of Friday:
Kate Dean
• Total raised: $32,688.
• Total spent: $27,867.
• Cash contributions: $31,588.
• In-kind contributions: $0.
• Anonymous: $5.
• Personal: $0.
• Loans: $1,250.
• Small contributions: $895.
Contributions of $100 or more:
• $10,000: Jefferson County Democrats, Port Townsend.
• $1,000: Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 Political Action Committee, Silver Spring, Md.
• $750: Stephen Ramsey, Port Ludlow.
• $575: Bill Dean, Port Ludlow.
• $500: Mark Perrin, Woodinville; Michelle Sandoval, Port Townsend.
• $400: National Women’s Political Caucus, Seattle; John Fabian, Port Ludlow.
• $350: Grace Dumenil, Port Townsend.
• $300: Dave Woodruff, Port Ludlow.
• $250: Aimee Boulanger, Sarah Fairbank, Ned Hebert, Patricia Jones, Michael Machette, Bruce Marston, Linda Martin, Steve Moore, Judy Ruggles, Frank White, Mary Dean, Port Townsend; Herb Cook, Sequim; Phil Franzel, Steve Ramsay, Port Ludlow; Olympic Peninsula Building &Construction Trades Council, Olympia; Jim Yaekel, Quilcene.
• $200: Michael Felber, Sue Marett, Martha Breunig, Robert Friedman, Sarah Grossman, Patricia Jones, George Randals, Maura Clevenger, Port Townsend; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 77 Political Action Committee, Kate Roosevelt, Seattle; Frances Vancleve, Washington, D.C.; Tom Brotherton, Linda Herzog, Quilcene; Heidi Eisenhour, Port Hadlock; Bonnie Wright, Springfield, Ill.
• $150: Owen Fairbank, Martha Trolin, George Yount, Al Bergstein, Scott Walker, Carrie Rice, Port Townsend.
• $100: Barbara Allen, Fort Pierce, Fla.; Harold Andersen, Janie Anderson,Dan Burden, Tom Camfield; Joyce Cardinal, Kenna Eaton, Caitlin Harrison, Ron Hays, Alison Kaplan, Jon Kaplan, Kees Kolff, Fayette Krause, Peter Lauritzen, Carla Main, Bob Marett, N/A McKee, Shirley McRae, Carol Ann Modena, Teri Nomura, Wendy Nordquist, Deborah Pedersen, Ann Pougiales, Dave Robison, Sarah Rubenstein, Judith Rubin, Roger Schmitt, Don Schusler, Bob Simmons, Laurance Stay, N/A Tucker, Doug Van Allen, Kathleen Kler, Linda Yakush, Port Townsend; Brandon Cardinal, Bellingham; Nancy Edgerton, Lela Hilton, Chimacum; Judy Edwards, Connie Gallant, Stanley Nealey, Quilcene; Adele Govert, Kathryn Lamka, Juanita Luiz, Gerald Purdy, Robert McComb, Port Ludlow; Teri Hein, Tina Polodowski, Seattle; Jeannine Kempees, Olympia; Beth Lorber, Sequim; Lisa Painter, Nordland; Jane Roseco, San Anselmo, Calif.; Susan Slate, Bothell.
Tim Thomas
• Total raised: $10,533.
• Total spent: $5,855.
• Cash contributions: $9,783.
• In-kind contributions: $0.
• Anonymous: $210.
• Personal: $0.
• Loans: $500.
• Small contributions: $0.
Contributions of $100 or more:
• $1,000: LD Richert Construction, John Gieser, Port Townsend.
• $650: Marlene Ericsen, David Stanko, Port Townsend.
• $600: Duke Shold, Port Hadlock.
• $565: Carey Cantrell, Port Townsend.
• $550: Sandy Ellis, Port Townsend.
• $500: Joseph Daubenberger, Richard Hild, Port Townsend; Lawrence Johnson, Nordland.
• $448: Tim Thomas Sr., Port Townsend.
• $300: Ericsen Design Inc., Port Townsend.
• $200: Bernt Ericsen, Dave Sather, Jean Sather, Port Townsend; Sheryl Coyote, Chimacum.
• $150: Jewel C. Atwell, Port Townsend.
• $100: Jewel C. Atwell, Chet Boutilier, Stephen Bozac, Lonny Kvinsland, Geoffrey Masci, Mel Mefford, Port Townsend.
