PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioner candidate Kathleen Kler has raised six times more than her opponent, Daniel Toepper, in an effort to replace retiring Commissioner John Austin.
Toepper is trying to counter the advantage with an up-close-and-personal campaign strategy to make his case to voters, he said.
Kler, 64, a Quilcene Democrat who’s been running for the position since spring, has raised $33,095, spent $25,152 and loaned her campaign $2,500, according to the most recent financial statements the candidates filed by Monday.
The documents were filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
The former nurse and current artist at DoeRun Studios has generated 310 contributions, more than any candidate running for office on the North Olympic Peninsula in the Nov. 4 general election.
Ballots for the election were mailed Wednesday to all registered voters.
Toepper, 54, a retired Port Ludlow heavy-equipment operator, has raised $4,995 and spent $2,631.
He expects to loan his own campaign about $2,000.
Toepper has garnered 36 contributions, his largest $1,900 from the Bothell-based International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 Segregated Political Fund.
Toepper, who filed listing no party preference, is a former Republican Party precinct committee officer who said he did not vote for Barack Obama in the past two presidential elections.
He is countering Kler’s wide fundraising advantage by “basically canvassing,” he said Friday.
“I figured by meeting and talking to people and doing the forums, that would be as effective maybe as advertising,” he said.
Toepper estimates he has visited 9,000 to 10,000 homes in an effort to win the four-year position.
“I doorbelled a thousand homes in Port Ludlow alone,” he said.
He and his wife, Robin, designed, laid out and printed the fliers they have distributed, and he has enough to do one mailing to the county’s more remote areas that he has not visited.
“We probably used up a printer in the process, when everything is said and done,” Toepper said.
“The money involved in politics now has gotten to be crazy,” he said.
“Maybe I won’t win, but without money, I can still be successful.”
Kler says she has visited as many homes as if not more than Toepper and visited every precinct in the county.
She’s purchased yard signs, magnetic signs, post cards, fliers, campaign pins, stickers, decals, business cards, beer and wine for kickoff events — and helium balloons.
“It’s called branding,” Kler quipped.
“We did everything we could think of.”
She exceeded Toepper’s fundraising total in her effort to fund that branding by receiving $5,500 alone from Jefferson County Democrats and the Jefferson County Democrats and Central Committee.
Kler appreciates the advantage she feels money has given her.
“It’s enabled me to do mailing and advertising,” she said.
“I think the other thing it shows, though, is the extent and depth of my support, and if support is an advantage in an election, I think that’s what it’s all about.”
She feels good about the future, she added.
“I am confident, and part of that confidence comes from how hard I’ve worked and how wide I’ve gathered my support,” she said.
“This has been a very intentional, deliberate campaign.”
A complete list of campaign contributions and expenditures is at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Financing.
Kler donors
Below are contributors from the North Olympic Peninsula who have donated $100 or more to Kler’s campaign:
■ $4,000: Jefferson County Democrats.
■ $1,500: Jefferson County Democrats and Central Committee.
■ $950: Aaron Comsia, Linda Herzog, Quilcene.
■ $500: Cass Brotherton, Tom A. Brotherton, Kit Kittredge, Quilcene.
■ $325: Fayette Krause, Port Townsend.
■ $250: Herb Cook, Kathleen Cook, Sequim; Michael Felber, Karen Hackenberg, Nelson Ludlow, Linda Martin, Port Townsend; David Saterlee, Christine Sydneysmith, Charles Thrasher, Quilcene.
■ $200: Carolyn Eagan, John Fabian, Merrily Mount, Gerald E. Purdy, Port Ludlow; Nancy Fowler, Deborah Jahnke, Richard Wojt, Port Townsend.
■ $175: Eric Anderson, Quilcene; Gabe Ornelas, Robin Ornelas, Port Townsend.
■ $150: Mark Clark, Robert Marett, Susan Marett, Port Townsend; Art Kobayashi, Juanita Luiz, Port Ludlow; George Randels, Port Hadlock.
■ $140: Robert Friedman, Port Townsend.
■ $125: Brian Barker, Carol Barker,Kathy Boyker, Joan Purdy, Chuck Thrasher, James Yeakel, Quilcene; Beverly Stapf, Richard Stapf, Port Townsend.
■ $100: Linda Abbott Roe, Kevin Clark, Juelanne Dalzell, Ruth Gordon, Leigh Pay Kennel, Steve Kennel, David King, Kim Rafferty, Susan Raley, Brian Roe, Michelle Sandoval, Sheila Westerman, Jeannette Woodruff, Dave Woodruff, Linda Yakush, Rick Zajicek, Port Townsend; Elizabeth Bindschadler, Carol Christiansen, Judith Dziuba, Connie Gallant, JD Gallant, Lisa Hames, Madelyn Pitts, Sandy Shea, Quilcene; Nina Richards, Ronald Richards, Port Angeles; Steve Tharinger, Sequim; Elizabeth Van Zonneveld, Port Ludlow.
Toepper donors
Below are contributors from the North Olympic Peninsula who have donated $100 or more to Toepper’s campaign:
■ $950: Olympic Labor Council, Port Angeles.
■ $300: Pam Botnen, Chimacum.
■ $250: Robert Knutson, Port Ludlow.
■ $200: Wayne Schlaefli, Brinnon.
■ $100: Glen Huntingford, Chimacum; Jewell Newlin, Lyle Newlin, Port Ludlow; Margaret W. Reep, Port Townsend.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
