Don't have to show 'em the money

It goes by many names: loot, lucre, dough, greenbacks, clams, moolah and cash.

Whatever name it goes by, it's hard to get elected, even to local office, without at least some of it. But a candidate needn't spend too much to make a good showing, experts say.

Candidates interact with money in two main ways on the campaign trail - getting it and spending it.

The getting, says Joe Capowski, former mayor pro tem, is just a matter of sending letters asking for funding from "400 of your closest friends."

Of course, sending those letters out generally requires some sort of seed money, which often comes from the candidate's own pockets - albeit somewhat indirectly.

A candidate often loans a little money to him or herself, then pays that money back once the donations start rolling in.

These contributions range from the small - council candidate Will Raymond netted $10 from Tom Jensen, leader of Students for a Progressive Chapel Hill - to the enormous. Paul Newton, running for Hillsborough Town Board of Commissioners, received $3,500 from one contributor.

Chapel Hill has a mandatory cap on donations from individuals of $200, and many accept no more than $100 from any given person.

The spending of the money falls neatly in one sector: advertising.

A half-page ad in The Daily Tar Heel for a nonprofit group runs more than $600.

Yard signs don't come cheap, though there are a few ways around printers' costs.

Council candidate Jason Baker bought sign stakes at Lowe's, and Bill Thorpe, another council candidate, got his stakes from Edith Wiggins, the town's departing mayor pro tem.

Other candidates have spent money on different types of items.

Newton ordered some candy. Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education candidate Jean Hamilton has an apron and a tote bag with her image and name printed on them. Thorpe ordered campaign T-shirts.

Baker says that campaign signs are his biggest expense, but that soon could shift to print ads if he decides to launch a high-intensity blitz in the late stages of the campaign.

Some question the importance of such media blitzes, noting that even if a candidate's message reaches voters, it may not resonate with them.

Capowski also notes that Chapel Hill's highly-structured election process, replete with forums and newspaper questionnaires, provides substantial free publicity to candidates running for offices.

In the last election, many top spenders did not place well, while the victorious candidates spent between $6,251 and $7,209.

"Two of the candidates who self-financed to well over $10,000 there didn't get all that many votes," says Baker, who has spent $558.77 on his campaign so far.

But Capowski says that the key issue is to craft a message that resonates with voters at large, not whip up the slickest advertising package.

"You don't run your campaign - for the town hall junkies, there's going to be a couple hundred people that really follow this stuff closely, but they're not going to be the target either, because there's only a couple hundred of them."

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.