EVERETT — Jim Johnson planned to spend the weekend holed up in an office working the phones.
The candidate for Everett mayor is calling every last voter he can.
How else can he reach voters when he can’t afford slick mailers and expensive advertising?
Johnson, like some first-time candidates, is running his campaign on a shoestring budget.
He’s paying for his campaign with $4,000 of his own money. He’s spending so little, he believes he doesn’t have to track his expenditures with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. His opponent, incumbent Ray Stephanson, reported his campaign contributions at $163,219.
How is Johnson doing a few days before Election Day?
“Considering he has $160,000 to spend, and I have $4,000 — how do you think I’m doing?” Johnson said.
He and other political unknowns face an election conundrum.
You need dollars to get your name out, but how do you get people to open their wallets when nobody knows you?
Political newcomer Ellen Hiatt Watson, a candidate for Snohomish County Council, said she has felt as though would-be donors are waiting on the sidelines, seeing if she can raise money before they give her money.
“You’re put in that Catch-22 situation,” Watson said. “‘I’ll give you money when I see that you have the ability to raise money.’”
In Johnson’s case, he said he’s chosen not to take money so he can remain independent.
That choice means he’s had to forgo cocktail fundraisers and professional photography. Instead, he spent his dollars printing flyers he designed and on establishing a Web site where he wrote the text.
Meanwhile his opponent, Mayor Stephanson, has reported spending about $100,000, including about $15,297 on postage alone. The Public Disclosure Commission reports Stephanson spent $16,800 for polling services, $4,241 on campaign signs and $27,959 for advice from a professional consultant. He shelled out $1,115 for campaign photos.
“When I found out how much money he had spent, that took the wind out of my sails,” Johnson said. “What a Don Quixote. I’ve been tilting at windmills.”
Ron Dotzauer, a longtime political adviser with his own company, Strategies 360, said that Johnson’s assessment is just about right. He called someone who runs for mayor or County Council with a few thousand dollars “a placeholder on the ballot.”
“You don’t win against an incumbent with that type of budget,” said Dotzauer, who ran Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson’s re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1982 and Booth Gardner’s successful gubernatorial campaign two years later.
Money doesn’t make a winner, but no money ensures a loser, Dotzauer said.
There’s no magical number a candidate has to raise. The size of the race and a candidate’s name recognition are just two factors candidates need to consider when they set fundraising goals.
As a general rule, candidates running against an incumbent need to raise twice what their opponent does.
In a County Council race or mayoral race, candidates would probably get the best bang for their buck with mailers, targeted phone calls and efforts to increase voter turnout, he said. For political newcomers, yard signs can be a cheap way to boost name recognition.
In the three County Council races, each of the incumbents has a huge advantage. The fundraising king, at least for council races, is incumbent John Koster. He pulled in more than $170,000 — that’s four times the amount for Watson, his opponent.
Most of Koster’s money came from homebuilders, local businesses and real estate agents. Watson received some of her biggest donations from Democratic organizations, unions and the Tulalip Tribes.
Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers said he loathes calling people and asking them to donate to his campaign.
“I’d rather sit at home and punch myself in the face,” he said.
Four years ago Somers was the fundraising underdog and he still managed to win the election. Then-incumbent Jeff Sax raised $100,000 more than Somers. That resulted in an onslaught of Sax political mailings that Somers thinks turned voters off.
“I was actually cheering him on: ‘More mail, more mail,’” Somers said.
Now Somers, with almost $100,000 in donations, is the one with most moolah. His opponent, restaurant owner and former Snohomish Mayor Steve Dana, has just a fifth that amount in his political piggy bank.
Dana’s donors were mostly individuals or small businesses.
“Those are all people who are putting their money up because they know me personally,” he said.
Somers’ money has come not only from dependable Democratic interests such as unions and environmental groups, but also from developers, the Business Alliance for Snohomish County and the Boeing Co. He said that shows he can bring opposing sides to the negotiating table. Dana called it “a hedge.”
“If Dave Somers prevails in an election, they want to have access to him,” he said.
Bob Meador, a Republican who is challenging Democrat Dave Gossett for a separate council seat, said he doesn’t need more than the $5,000 he’s spending.
“My campaign has been a simple one,” he said. “I have a voters pamphlet that has a message and I have a brochure that has a message.”
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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