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Sullivan
surges in campaign donations. |
Democrats
sweep Story Hill; neighborhood voters
reject marriage amendment, death penalty
Rest of the state occasionally disagrees
Nov.
13, 2006 -- Democrats swept Story Hill in Tuesday's
election, and neighborhood voters said "no" to
the marriage and death penalty referendums and "yes"
to withdrawing troops from Iraq.
Democrat
Jim Sullivan, in his successful, hotly-contested challenge
to incumbent State Sen. Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) took
66% of the votes cast in Ward 282, which includes Story
Hill, and 56% of the votes cast in the Milwaukee portion
of the 5th Senate District.
Sullivan
is a Wauwatosa alderman.
His
overall margin of victory was a slender 1.2 percentage points,
according to preliminary returns. He won 50.6% of the 5th
District vote, while Reynolds took 49.4%.
In
a very different race that seemed to consist of a few mailings
and not much else, Democratic incumbent State Rep. David
Cullen won re-election, gaining 69.4% of the votes in Ward
282, 66.2% of the votes in the Milwaukee portion of Assembly
District 13, and 64.7% of the votes district wide.
Cullen
easily trounced Republican challenger Rick Baas.
The
Story Hill area backed other successful candidates as well,
including Gov. Jim Doyle, who won 62.5% of the ward 282
vote, 70.8% of the Milwaukee vote, and 52.8% of the statewide
vote.
The
city and the Story Hill area strongly backed Kathleen Falk,
who apparently lost the race for attorney general to J.B.
Van Hollen. Falk won 61.4% of the Story Hill area vote,
69.1% of the city vote, and 49.8% of the statewide vote.
Falk has not ruled out seeking a recount.
The
neighborhood, like the city, opposed reinstatement of the
death penalty. Some 58% of Ward 282 voters voted "no"
on the referendum, as did 54.7% of city voters. Statewide,
however, 55.5% of voters favored the death penalty in some
instances.
The
Story Hill area broke with the city and the state by voting
"no" on the marriage amendment. Some 59.6% of
Ward 282 voters opposed the amendment, but only 46.6% of
city voters did. Around the state, 59.4% of voters approved
the same sex marriage ban.
On
the Iraq withdrawal referendum, 69.7% of Ward 282 voters
said "yes," as did 71.7% citywide.
Ward
282 and city returns for contested Story Hill elections
are here.
Preliminary statewide returns are here.
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Sullivan
surges in campaign donations
Reynolds overstates contribution totals
by 47%
Nov.
6, 2006 -- Democratic challenger Jim Sullivan raised
$68,000 more in campaign donations this year than did incumbent
5th District State Sen. Tom Reynolds, records show.
Sullivan's
fund-raising advantage surges to better than a 2-to-1
ratio when Reynolds' in-kind contributions to his campaign
are not counted.
Reynolds' latest finance report overstates the year's
contributions to his campaign by 47%, records show.
The
Oct. 30 filing said the West Allis Republican raised
a total of $144,211 from individuals through Oct. 23,
but the individual contributions listed in the three
reports filed this year add up to just $97,393 a $46,818
shortfall, a storyhill.net analysis shows.
Reynolds'
report also said that he raised $13,595 from political
committees, but the committee donations total $9,770.
Reynolds'
overall donations this year totaled $107,093 according
to the three filings, not the $157,806 claimed in his
October filing.
storyhill.net
has sent a number of questions about the campaign filings
to Reynolds' campaign and his attorney, Thomas Frenn,
and will post a follow-up story if a response is received.
Frenn has not responded to previous inquiries, however.
Sullivan,
a Wauwatosa alderman, raised a total of $175,250 this
year, including $156,307 from individuals and an additional
$18,943 from political committees.
Sulivan
did not count his own labor as a campaign contribution,
but Reynolds did. Reynolds was, in fact, the biggest
contributor to his own campaign, giving in-kind donations
he valued at $33,739, or 31% of the total raised by
the campaign.
All
other donations to Reynolds totaled $73,354, or just
42% of the amount Sullivan raised.
Reynolds
appears to have even inflated the total value of his
own in-kind contributions. He reported contributions
of $6,106 on June 30; $10,750 on Aug. 28; and $16,883
contribution on Oct. 23. Those amounts total $33,739,
but Reynolds reported donating a total of $47,995 thus
far this year.
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DA
says Reynolds' campaign funds paid utilities at rental property
address
Nov.
6, 2006 -- State
Sen. Tom Reynolds used campaign funds to pay for utility
bills for a building that shares an address with a rental
property he owns, not his home, according to Milwaukee County
Assistant Dist. Atty. Bruce Landgraf.
Landgraf
said it was an understandable error to believe that Reynolds
used the money to pay utility bills for his home because
he listed his home address as his campaign mailing address,
and said he used campaign funds to pay utility bills for
his campaign headquarters office.
The
State Senate Democratic Committee, whose ad prompted the
probe, said the investigation "revealed new questions
about unreported contributions and possible violations of
state campaign finance laws."
The
committe said it would ask the State Elections Board to
conduct a formal investigation "to better determine
the extent of Reynolds’ use of his Capitol office
for his re-election campaign."
The
SSDC said Reynolds' listed his capitol office phone as the
contact number for information about the utility bill matter,
which was a campaign issue.
