First-time candidate Democrat Scott Harper has gone toe-to-toe in fundraising this year with established incumbent Republican Congresswoman Judy Biggert in the 13th District. The fundraising picture is largely summarized by grassroots support, special interest PAC money and total receipts.
Grassroots Support
Democrat Scott Harper as a first-time candidate has done well with small dollar donors, those contributing under $200, which is considered a measure of grassroots support. In the first quarter 2008, Harper brought in $10,203, almost 2-1/2 times the small donor dollars of incumbent Judy Biggert ($4,115) in the same quarter. Today the Harper campaign reported more than doubling last quarter’s small donor contributions, with $21,032.72, almost four times Biggert’s small donor funds ($5,649) for the quarter. Small donors have made up about 10% of the Harper campaign’s contributions in 2008, and over 20% in Harper’s limited 2007 fundraising period.
Special Interest PAC Money
While Scott Harper has dominated small donor dollars, incumbent Judy Biggert has dominated special interest PAC money in the race.
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There is no doubt that both candidates get substantial sums from PACs, but while Harper has reduced the percentage of PAC money he has taken from the first to the second quarter (from 27% to 19% of contributions), Biggert has actually raised her percentage slightly (from 45% to 46%), and it represents close to half of her contributions. Put another way, almost one out of every two dollars Judy Biggert collects comes from special interests. These interests include the disgraced Countrywide mortgage company that the Illinois Attorney General recently brought suit against, accusing it of having “engaged in unfair and deceptive conduct on a large scale in creating, originating, marketing and servicing unnecessarily risky and costly mortgage loans for Illinois homeowners.” Biggert also collected funds from PACs representing insurance, energy, and telecommunications interests.
Total Receipts
For the first time Scott Harper has beaten Judy Biggert in total receipts for a quarter. Without his $50,000 loan that put him over the top, Harper brought in $228,193 this quarter to Judy Biggert’s $240,971 – the first-time candidate essentially tying the incumbent’s receipts for the quarter. That’s incredibly impressive – few congressional challengers come anywhere close. Sarah Topy, Campaign Manager for Scott Harper for Congress, said,
“For a challenger to out-raise a five-term incumbent Washington insider speaks to how excited people here are by this race and this campaign…. Scott’s message is resonating with the voters of this district and their support has been extraordinary.”
Conclusion
Democratic first-time candidate Scott Harper has momentum going into the fall against incumbent Congresswoman Judy Biggert. While Biggert has a bigger war chest, Scott has started chipping away at it, and he is raising enough money to wage a competitive campaign against the incumbent. Come November voters in the 13th District will have a real choice. They can vote for first-time candidate Scott Harper who dominates the small donor and individual donor contributions – or they can vote for the established incumbent, who gets almost half her money from special interests and most of the other half from large donors. With Scott Harper and Judy Biggert it’s the people vs. the PACs. The money may be getting close – but who you should vote for isn’t close at all.
Comments 4
Harper’s biggest contributor is Harper himself. He loaned himself another $50,000 this time, according to his FEC report. That loan came on the last day of the filing period.
Looks like Harper is padding his account like Chris Lauzen CPA.
It’s hardly grassroots when nearly a third of all your money comes from your own checking account. And you took the bait; hook, line and sinker.
Posted 16 Jul 2008 at 7:49 am ¶I think it’s great that Harper is willing to put his own money where his mouth is while Biggert gets almost half her contributions from fatcat special interests. He’s showing the kind of dedication no Democrat has ever shown in this district before and forces Biggert to keep going back to the well of vested interests she’s vowed to protect in DC.
Go through her contribution page. It’s infested with the banks, and mortgage, insurance & pharmaceutical companies that have been feasting at the trough at taxpayer expense over the last 8 years. She should take her bounty and retire. We can’t afford her anymore.
Posted 16 Jul 2008 at 10:07 am ¶I think all candidates for the big offices are going to have some contributions from special interest groups, so I don’t fault a candidate over the other for that. That said, without regard the PAC issue, I do find it remarkable that Harper’s grassroots efforts are succeeding.
Posted 25 Jul 2008 at 3:01 pm ¶Let’s not forget that Biggert voted for the $5-7 trillion war that was based on another lie from the pathological liar and that will bankrupt our country. Along with her 7 pay raises.
Since there are now MORE terrorists and so many measly billions unaccounted for or given to Cheney’s no-bid contractors, I think the great republic of ours is gone. How will we get the money for homeland security or to pay our military and build more weapons? What can we produce that some other country can’t do cheaper? It’s over folks. Sorry.
(BTW, the word “Homeland” came from Hitler after their own “9-11.”)
And we’re too far into fascism to ever go back. When did treason, torture and preemptive war strikes based on lies become legal. And having a paramilitary to delay the draft until he’s out of office is kinda smart. Money is no object. Just print more of it. China won’t let us down, either.
You know the liar I’m referring to. He giggles and winks every time he slurs something out. I challenge someone to name one single time where he actually told the truth about anything. I think he’s even lying about his drinking. That’s a given, because no one could be that stupid.
But there is good news. Cheney promised to give the proceeds from his 660,000 Halliburton stock options to “charity.” If he doesn’t leave the country he destroyed first.
Yeah, someone who used to stick firecrackers up the anuses of frogs and brand people in his fraternity is the guy I want to see Biggert supporting 80 percent of the time. Shows her character.
The guy also murdered 1.2 million civilians. (The American Red Cross says that’s more than Hitler’s supposedly only exterminated 273,000.) I wouldn’t doubt it if Biggert, like so many other brainwashed zombie right-wingers wants the entire 1.8 billion Muslim population exterminated. But what they don’t think about is that there may be other nuclear capable countries that want their fair share of the goodies too.
W is even more pathetic than OJ. And lying about stopping golf for the dead soldiers is just psychotic. Reminds me of OJ pretending his gloves didn’t fit.
Yeah, Judy likes the guy. And the no child left behind program must be working because 90 percent of Americans can’t even spot their own country on a map. But you won’t hear that on FOX, Rupert won’t have that. Can you believe that that actually feel they have to advertise that they are “fair and balanced?” What a joke.
Yeah, I sure trust Biggert and blindly believe everything she says about herself. Retire lady, for god’s sake. You did NOTHING in your years in office. Go home and bake a cake. And live off of all your investments from your wonderful friends.
It’s over folks. And we know who to thank for it.
Posted 20 Aug 2008 at 10:24 pm ¶