EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series on Nov. 4 general election campaign contributions.
Hugh Haffner, the incumbent now holding a seat on the three-member Clallam County Public Utility District Board of Commissioners, is lagging behind his election challenger in both campaign contributions and spending a little more than a week before the Nov. 4 general election.
A separate campaign launched by a supporter of Haffner has a bigger war chest than either of the candidates.
Bob Jensen, a partner in the telecommunications company Capacity Provisioning Inc. and in Angeles Communications Inc., had raised $15,432.15 and spent $11,275.66 as of Friday, the state Public Disclosure Commission said.
Haffner, who has served 14 years on the PUD board, had raised $8,450 and spent $7,637.25 as of Friday, the PDC said.
The two Port Angeles men are running for the District 2 seat on the utility district , which provides water, sewer, electrical power and telecommunications service in Sequim, Forks and unincorporated areas of Clallam County.
Save Our PUD, a controversial campaign created by Jay Ketchum, a Sequim contractor, to support Haffner’s campaign, had collected $20,843.32 in contributions by Friday, the PDC said.
The contributions are listed as being from Ketchum’s wife, Jane Ketchum, in two $10,000 cash donations and one in-kind contribution of $843.32 for signs.
Expenditures were not available as of Friday.
Haffner says his re-election campaign is separate from Ketchum’s Save Our PUD campaign.
Fundraising
Jensen, 39, said he has done little to actively raise funds.
“I didn’t raise it. People donated it,” he said.
Jensen said people are donating to his campaign because “they are happy to see an ordinary citizen run for a position like this.
“They think I will do a good job.”
Jensen has 21 financial contributors, while Haffner, 61, has three, the PDC said.
Both candidates are the primary contributors to themselves.
Haffner has provided his campaign with $2,000 of his own money.
Jensen has given his campaign $5,750, according to the PDC.
Both candidates have taken out loans to support their campaigns.
Haffner has $6,100 in loans, of which he said he lent his campaign, and Jensen has $3,000 in loans.
The highest single donation to Jensen’s campaign is $500, the PDC said.
Those that provided that amount are:
• Kathi Jensen.
• Craig Johnson, who is also a partner in CPI.
• Paula Johnson.
• Roberta Knox, who donated $500 on two occasions.
• Bill Roberds, Excel Utilities Construction owner and a CPI founder. He ran unsuccessfully against Haffner in 2002.
• Sue Roberds, city of Port Angeles planning manager. She is married to Bill Roberds.
Those who donated to Haffner’s campaign are:
• Stephen Tharinger, Clallam County commissioner, $50.
• Beck Edie of Port Angeles, $100.
• Gary Saleba of Kirkland, $100.
Haffner has also received two $858.95 in-kind donations from Jay and Jane Ketchum for yard signs, the PDC said.
Haffner said the signs were not those erected by Ketchum’s Save Our PUD campaign.
Jensen has spent $4,524.70 on signs, $4,809.43 on newspaper and radio advertising, and $2,229.06 in other advertising costs, the PDC said.
Haffner has spent $3,600 for 75 new campaign signs. He said he has 25 signs that are still usable from previous campaigns, according to the PDC.
Haffner has also spent $981.42 on newspaper advertising and $2,361.71 on advertising through the mail.
County commissioner 2
In the race for the Clallam County commissioner, District 2 seat, incumbent Mike Chapman has outspent his challenger Republican Terry Roth two-to-one.
Chapman, 45, who previously ran as a Republican, is running as an independent for a third term.
According to the PDC, he has raised $6,545 and spent $6,294.41.
Roth, 67, who is the owner of the Odyssey Currency Exchange, has raised $5,650 and spent $3,114.43.
Information on contributors and expenses weren’t immediately available.
Tech levy
Port Angeles Citizens for Education has spent $4,835.20 in an effort to encourage Port Angeles School District residents to pass a four year, $4.6 million technology levy, according to the PDC.
The funding would buy new computers and software as well as pay for training teachers computer skills in Port Angeles schools.
The levy would place a property tax rate of 32 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation.
If approved, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay about $64 more in property tax in 2009.
The group has 39 financial backers.
According to the PDC, the five to contribute the most are:
• Port Angeles Education Association, which made two $1,000 donations.
• Sodexo, Inc. of Portland, Ore., $500.
• Ruddell Property Management, $300.
• Angeles Composite Technologies, Inc., $250.
• Dana Shaltry DDS, $250.
The group has spent $2,865.92 on signs and handouts, $4,819.08 on mailings, and $3,314.15 on newspaper and radio advertising.
Jefferson County
In Jefferson County, more than $250,000 has been spent in an attempt to sway public opinion on Proposition 1, an measure on the Nov. 4 general election ballot that would give voter approval to the takeover of electrical service by the Jefferson County Public Utility District.
Almost all of that money comes from Jefferson County Citizens Against Proposition 1, which is funded entirely by Puget Sound Energy, which now provides electrical service to East Jefferson County.
PSE is funding fights against similar measures in Skagit and Island counties.
According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, PSE had given the county Citizens Against Proposition 1 $244,874.80 in contributions, as of Friday. The group had spent $238,471.16.
Citizens for Local Power, which supports Proposition 1, had received $28,309.15 in contributions, and had spent $26,432.73 as of Friday.
If passed, the proposition would give Jefferson County Public Utility District the authority to provide electrical service to the area of East Jefferson County now served by PSE.
ON MONDAY — A report on contributions in state legislative races.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
