Branstad’s money, and Shawn Crahan for Mayor
“Bruce Rastetter owns Terry Branstad,” a big-time Iowa Republican told Skinny the other day. But if that’s the case — if it’s based on campaign contributions — then Gary Kirke and Denny Elwell and Eldon Roth and Jan Krantz and Ed Ochylski are sizable investors.
That, at least, is the picture you get after scrolling through the 8,000 or so campaign contributors listed on the 780-page report Branstad filed with the Iowa Campaign Finance and Ethics Board for the reporting period that ended May 19. While he and Democrat Chet Culver raised about the same amount of money — $1,638,085 for Branstad and $1,478,042 for Culver — the way they raised it was remarkably different. Half of Culver’s came from the Democratic Governor’s Association and a big chunk came from labor, but the governor’s biggest personal contributions from within the state were $5,000 checks from just six individuals. In all, he had about 1,000 contributors, many from out of state.
Branstad got nothing from the Republican governors’ group and very little from business PACs, but he got a bushelful of big contributions from individuals. He received 89 checks of at least $5,000, and nearly all of them came from Iowans or ex-Iowans. Rastetter, the hog and ethanol guy, added $40,000 to the $25,000 he gave Branstad earlier. (His brother Brent also is in for $25,000). Kirke added $25,000 in this cycle to the $25,000 he had given earlier (he also gave $25,000 to Culver). Elwell and his wife chipped in $50,000, Eldon Roth of Dakota Dunes, S.D., added $50,000 and Jan Krantz, through Adventureland, tossed in another $50,000. Ed Ochyiski, the former Iowa Pack guy who now lives in Vero Beach, Fla., added $30,000.
While Branstad had thousands of givers of 10, twenty, fifty or a hundred dollars, people whose names are seldom in bold-face type, they were joined by plenty of bold-face names with big checks. Kyle Krause wrote a check for $25,000, and Joe Crookham, the Musco owner from Oskaloosa, wrote two checks totaling $30,000. (His daughter, Republican activist Diane Crookham-Johnson, added $10,000.) Dubuque businessman Mark Falb gave $25,000, and there were all kinds of people in for $10,000, including Jim Cownie, Don Lamberti, Chuck Long, Chuck Johnson and former Maytag boss Leonard Hadley, who now lives in Cedar Rapids.
Skinny has no idea what all this means — except that there are a whole lot of people in little towns like Reinbeck and Lawler and Blairsburg and Melrose who are willing to give thousands of dollars to put Branstad back in office or, depending on how you look at it, to take Culver out of office.
But while Skinny can’t interpret all this, the column’s Chief Statistician has an analysis: Put the money-raising together with the absentee-ballot program, and Branstad is better organized than Culver. As proof, the Chief Statistician dug into the absentee-ballot numbers this year for the Republicans in Polk County. As of Thursday morning, there were 1,225 Republican votes sent in to Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald, this guy says. That’s more than three times the 359 received in all of 2008 and five times as many as the 248 of 2006. Branstad sent a huge absentee-ballot-request mailing to his supporters, and they have responded. Only around 300 Democrats have voted early in the county.
“This seems to be the first time since 2002 that there has been a concerted effort by Republican candidates to use and implement an early-voting program,” he says. What’s more, “Looking at the number of early votes by [city and suburb] would lead me to speculate that State Senator Brad Zaun has run an effective ground effort up to this point. He is the only candidate that has a defined support base from his time as Mayor of Urbandale and now as its State Senator.”
While taking in $1.6 million, Branstad made a couple of contributions during the period. He wrote two checks — both to Republican Attorney General candidate Brenna Findley, whom he often mentions in his speeches. He gave her $1,000 in April and followed up with a $50 check in May. He gave to no other individuals. But that was $1,050 more than Chuck Grassley gave to any candidates last period, though his wife, Barbara, gave $1,100 to six candidates — including $300 to Findley, whom the Republicans seem to think is the person who can finally unseat Tom Miller. Findley raised $124,000 during the period and had $95,528 on hand at the end. Miller, who seems to be taking re-election for granted, raised just $15,748 and had $105,200 on hand on May 19. His biggest contribution, $2,500, came from David Epstein of Los Angeles.
In the county, the three supervisors up for re-election, all Democrats, all had nice cushions in case the Republicans put up candidates against them. John Mauro had $26,685, Tom Hockensmith had $46,177 and Angela Connolly had $70,388, though all could quickly add lots more if they get any serious competition. ...
With the untimely death of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray, the future of the Des Moines-based band is in question. Prior to Gray’s passing, Slipknot’s Shawn Crahan was named as one of 25 people Cityview said would be good governors, and that apparently got him to thinking. ContactMusic.com, a Web site, reported a few weeks ago “Crahan...admits the [Cityview] article has made him consider a career in politics in the future. He tells Britain’s Kerrang! magazine, “I swear that one day, I’ll run for mayor. I want to bring people together. If I wanted to get a little more twisted or worldly, in a crazy way, politics would be it. But, right now, I’m a fucking rock star.
“I was talking to my kids (about the article). I was like, ‘Isn’t this funny? Half of Iowa would think it would be cool. The other half would bash me over the choices I’ve made in my life. A person like me will always get bashed, for the songs I write and the crazy shit I’ve done in Slipknot. But, as mayor, I could cut through all that crap and get things done and make a difference.”
Right here, right now, Cityview endorses him. For anything. Against anyone. Except the Food Dude. CV
