PORT HADLOCK — The two candidates for Jefferson County Public Utility District present a contrast in styles as different as wine is from water, a review of their campaign contributions and expenditures indicates.
Tony De Leo, 65,and Kenneth Collins, 68, are running for the nonpartisan, six-year seat that incumbent Ken McMillen will lose after coming in third in the Aug. 5 primary to Collins, the top vote-getter, and De Leo.
Collins, co-owner with his wife, Judith, of Marrowstone Vineyards, has actively raised $12,704, including $1,701 in in-kind donations that include contributions of wine for fundraiser and meet-and-greet events from him and his vineyard, according to the latest filing as of Oct. 20 with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
A former consultant for Pacific Gas & Electric in California, Collins has spent money on campaign postcards, yard signs, rack cards, a full-page newspaper advertisement and food for campaign events.
His 102 contributions include $250 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 77 of Seattle.
The Nordland resident said Sunday he also has gone door to door for votes for 250 hours, he said Sunday.
“It’s the way I do things,” Collins said.
“If I’m going to go for something, I work hard at it.”
De Leo, also a Jefferson Healthcare hospital commissioner, has $260 in contributions, one of which is $200 from Brisa Charters Ltd. in Port Hadlock, he said Saturday.
The Port Hadlock resident has put $2,405 into his own campaign and has fewer state reporting requirements than Collins because he has pledged to spend less than $5,000.
De Leo has not sponsored any fundraisers, is not actively seeking donations and, on principle, is not going door to door for votes.
“I don’t particularly appreciate someone showing up at my door without warning,” he said.
“All my friends who are political types say that’s suicide.
“It’s not that I don’t care what people think, I just don’t like invading other people’s privacy.”
De Leo has purchased newspaper advertising and campaign buttons, and had campaign booths at the Jefferson County Fair and county emergency services picnic.
He also writes on his campaign blog and appears at debates and public speaking engagements, he said.
That Collins would spend the money he has on the election “makes me wonder,” De Leo said.
“Is that the kind of person I want to spend my local tax dollars?
“I want to have a person who functions frugally and does not throw money at issues, but that’s probably being naive.
“I hate to think of the idea that local political offices like this go to the highest bidder.
“An election should be decided on the qualities of a candidate, not on how much wine he wants to buy you.”
In response, Collins used an intended pun.
“I think that’s sour grapes,” he said.
“He didn’t make the effort to do fundraising, he didn’t make the effort to go door-knocking.
“People contributed because they knew me, they like me, and they believed in the positions I had taken.
“I’ve spent enough time over the years with my own business doing marketing and being paid as a marketing professional,” he said, adding he also took the advice of Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan.
“He said door-knocking was absolutely essential,” Collins said.
He has sponsored four fundraising events and two meet-and-greets.
He said the primary purpose of the meet-and-greets “was to give people the opportunity to tell us what their concerns were.”
The PUD commissioner position pays $27,420 a year and up to $15,960 annually in per diem payments for PUD-related meetings.
Ballots for the Nov. 4 general election were mailed to voters Oct. 15.
Collins donors
The list of campaign contributions and expenditures for Collins’ campaign is at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Campaigndollars.
■ $500: Judith G. Collins, Nordland
■ $300: Roger Risley, Port Townsend
■ $250: Deborah Jahnke, Richard Jahnke, Port Townsend
■ $200: Marcia H. Perlstein, Sequim; Bruce L. Carlson, Lisa T. Painter, Nordland
■ $175: Don White, Sylvia White, Port Townsend; Joyce Zodiaco, Vince Zodiaco, Nordland
■ $150: George B. Yount, Rodger Schmitt, Port Townsend; John Ammeter, Port Hadlock;
■ $125: Andrea L. Carlson, Nordland
■ $100: Kristine Burns, Steve Burns, James L. Driscoll, Nordland; Thomas W. Engel, Brian Roe, Port Townsend; Kelly Hays, Barry H. Lerich, Ellen B. Lerich, Virginia McNew, Paula Purcell, Richard Purcell, Marvin T. Ivers, Patricia P. Ivers, Rita Kepner, John Matthiesen, Nordland
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
