Grant County commissioner candidates

GRANT COUNTY - Campaign contributions for incumbent Grant County Commissioner LeRoy Allison and his opponent Carolann Swartz totaled $23,378, according to figures provided Wednesday by the state Public Disclosure Commission.

With $16,528.45, Swartz received the highest amount of contributions. Allison's total was $6,850.

Public office candidates are required by law to report their contribution amounts and names of contributors to the commission.

The state Public Disclosure Commission works to bring transparency about who is financing campaigns, government and lobbyists, said commission spokesperson Lori Anderson.

Swartz's contributions ranged from $17.50 per person to $500 per person.

Her top 10 contributors are: Lucy Jacques, $500, Dale Walker, $500, Jerome Brotherton, $250, Sharon Brotherton, $250, F. Etter, $250, P. Etter, $250, Roger Fair, $250, Peter Romano, $250, Susan Romano, $250, Dorren Wardenaar, $250 and Ray Wardenaar, $250.

According to Allison, his contributions ranged from $150 to $750.

His top 10 contributors are: Peter Gross, $750, Jacob Gross, $750, Jim Cherf, $500, Paul Bernsen, $500, Justin Donovan, $500, Kevin Richards, $500, Aaron Golladay, $500, Finn Clausen, $500, Shawn Clausen, $500, John Gross, $500, Jeff Cochran, $500 and Terry Cochran, $500.

The PDC does not have detailed contribution or expenditure information on donations and contributions received by Allison, according to the PDC Web site.

The agency cites four reasons for not having the information, including the jurisdiction population is too small to require reports, candidate selected mini-reporting which limits the amount of contributions, candidate intends to raise and spend small enough amounts to not require electronic filing or the candidate has not filed a report yet.

Please note, amounts are combined in cases where people contributed more than once.

Also, some contributors may have donated smaller amounts at earlier dates that aren't reflected in the top 10 amounts.

Ballots started arriving in Grant County voters' mailboxes this week.

But that doesn't mean people don't have to stop contributing to the county commissioner races.

People can give money to those candidates up through the election, Anderson said.

If a candidate has a debt after the election, the candidate can continue to fund-raise, she said.

But from Oct. 14 through election day on Nov. 4, individuals are only allowed to contribute $5,000 per person, Anderson noted.

Campaign materials, such as signs, count toward the $5,000 individual limit, she explained.