Campaign contributions for Aspen City Council candidates span thousands of dollars to zero raised
Candidate Kimbo Brown-Schirato leads with fundraising; challenger Jimbo Stockton fails to file campaign finance report
Aspen City Council candidate Kimbo Brown-Schirato leads in campaign fundraising, with just over $7,300 in contributions since Jan. 1.
Tuesday was the deadline for the first round of campaign finance reporting for the eight candidates running for two open council seats in the March 2 election, along with Mayor Torre and his challenger, Lee Mulcahy.
Brown-Schirato also leads in the number of contributors, with over three dozen people donating as much as $250 each.
She has spent just over $3,000 mostly on printing campaign materials, Facebook ads and other advertising.
Mark Reece comes in second with $5,100, of which $5,000 came as a self loan and one $100 donation. He listed no expenditures between Jan. 1 and Monday.
John Doyle has raised almost $3,500 and has spent just over $3,000, mostly on newspaper and digital ads, yard signs and mailers.
He listed over two dozen contributors.
Incumbent Ward Hauenstein has raised just over $2,500 from two dozen contributors. He has spent $149 on stamps and thank you cards.
Casey Endsley has raised just over $2,000, mostly from people who live out of state. Of the 16 contributors listed, five are local residents. He reported $94 in expenditures but did not itemize them.
Candidates Erin Smiddy and Sam Rose listed no monetary contributions.
Rose explained in an email the reason for not fundraising.
“I want it to be known that many people offered to contribute to my City Council campaign, but I respectfully declined as my campaign is a grassroots campaign that wanted to win on ideas and who I am and not on money received,” he wrote.
However, Rose has spent just over $1,200 of his own money on logo art, voter registration information, yard signs and chocolate, the latter of which was the largest expense at $634.
The final council candidate, Jimbo Stockton, did not file a campaign finance report.
Aspen City Clerk Nicole Henning said Tuesday Stockton will be charged a $50 fee for each day he does not report his campaign finances, per state statute.
Torre reported $490 of cash on hand from a previous campaign, along with $1,150 in six new contributions.
He listed no expenditures.
His challenger, Lee Mulcahy, who has been in a years-long legal battle with the city over his illegibility to live in a deed-restricted house at Burlingame Ranch, listed $25,000 in expenditures that come in the form of penalties levied by the court.
That is a result of Mulcahy refusing to leave the house even though the court has ruled that the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority is the owner of the property.
Mulcahy reported raising $699 in contributions, of which $250 came from his mother, $150 from his employer and $100 from a friend. Just under $200 came from individuals who gave less than $20 each and therefore do not have to list their names.
