Yep, Mayor John Engen is raking in the campaign dollars, but it isn’t necessarily a race.
The three other candidates aren’t bringing in a lot of dough, but for different reasons.
Dean McCollom doesn’t intend to fundraise because he wants to compete in the “idea arena.”
Peggy Cain wants a little more money, but she doesn’t like asking, and she also doesn’t want the mayoral election to be something you need a lot of money to win.
Michael Hyde is satisfied with the amount of money he has, even though it’s quite a lot less than the funds in the incumbent’s account.
Yesterday, I talked with the Commissioner of Political Practices about trends in fundraising. Commissioner Jonathan Motl said in local elections across Montana this year, more than 680 people are running for office, and only 65 of them are raising more than $500 and must file campaign finance reports.
“Your races (in Missoula) are pretty vigorously contested, and therefore your candidates generally are filing campaign finance reports,” Motl said.
On the other hand, he said some successful candidates don’t fundraise at all.
“We’re still small enough, rural enough and local enough in Montana that you don’t need to create a huge campaign to get your position out to the community and get elected,” Motl said.
I can’t remember a local candidate in Missoula that has won without raising money, but it’s probably happened somewhere along the way. Motl said sometimes, it takes an “Atticus Finch” kind of candidate known for a lifetime of integrity and drive.
The commissioner also said money may help misconstrue information rather than get a message across: “Sometimes, money is not an indication of a campaign, of a real campaign, as much as it indicates a false campaign. You build a false image using money. So I don’t think you can necessarily look at money as a definite indicator of whether someone is serious about public service.”
— Keila Szpaller
