Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 19

4u star 1 992 Election Funding T. L. 0 Dl Tuesday. January 12, 1993 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo 92 election winners spend less flhan in '90 Kunz, Maxfield top campaign spenders Top spending candidates elected to Wyoming Senate, 1992 1 April Brimmer Kunz (SD4, R-cheyenne) Top spending candidates elected to Wyoming House; 1992 LBuddBettS (HD22, R-Dubols) Total spent In 1992 election: $19,377 5,628 Opponent Pat Hacker (D) SDent $9,406 Total spent In 1992 election: $14,020 Opponent Suzanne Young (D) spent $11,323 Primary: 1 ,558 General: $9,764 Election outcome: Betts: 2,914 1 ff If I Primary: $1,201 General: $8,205 Election outcome: Kunz: 3,917 Hacker: 3,361 2. Pete Maxfield (SD10, D-Laramie) 2.

Carolyn Paseneaux (HD38, R-casper) "tt Total spent in 1992 election: $9,729 Primary: $3,245 General: $6,484 Opponent Cathy Killean (D) spent $6,378 Election outcome: Paseneaux: 1,667 Killean: 1,392 Total spent In 1992 election: $16,712 Primary: $2,516 General: $14,196 Opponent Terry Guice (R) spent $12,409 Election outcome: Maxfield: 3,489 Guice: 2,840 3. Robert Trent (SD22, R-Kaycee) 3. Ray Sarclettl (HD17, D-Rock Springs) By CHARLES PELKEY Star-Tribune Laramie bureau Analysis LARAMI The average cost of winning a scat in the Wyoming Legislature dropped slightly in 1992 compared to 1990, a Star-Tribune analysis of spending in the campaign shows. The cost of winning an election varied widely among individual races, however. Rep.

Virginia Wright did not spend a cent to win her district in Sheridan. But Sen. April Kunz spent nearly $19,400 to win the scat representing Senate District 4 in Cheyenne. According to post-election campaign spending reports filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State's office, successful House candidates spent an average of $3,832 during the 1992 campaign, the first election since last year's reapportionment battle ended in the creation of new single-member districts. That's down from an average of $4,280 spent by House candidates in the 1990 campaign.

In both years, losing candidates spent an average of about $600 less than did their winning opponents in the general election. Similarly, average spending by successful candidates in Wyoming's 30 state Senate Districts dropped slightly from $5,786 in 1990 to $5,676. Losing candidates spent an average of about $4,679 on their primary and general election campaigns. Most of the drop particularly in the state's most populous counties can be attributed to the reshaping of the state's political map into single-member legislative districts, several legislators said. While average spending dropped, candidates spent huge amounts in some races.

As was the case in 1990, the state's most expensive legislative campaign involved the race for a Senate seat from Albany County. Sen. Pete Maxfield and his incumbent GOP opponent Terry Guice spent a total of $29,121 in the race for Laramie's Senate District 10. Maxfield spent a total of $16,712 in the campaign compared to (Juice's $12,409. (Juice was the biggest individual campaign spender in 1990 Senate races when he spent about $18,000.

Former Rep. Pete Wold. R-Natrona, was the largest spender in the House in 1990, at about $15,000. In 1992 Republican Sen. Kunz emerged as the single targest spender in the state during her campaign in Senate District 4 in Cheyenne.

Kunz spent a total of $19,377 to run against Democrat Pat Hacker's $9,406. Both were members of the House who decided to run for a Senate scat. Kunz was unopposed in the primary. "I took this election very seriously," Kunz said last week. Two newcomers participated in what became the most expensive House race in the state.

Rep. Budd Betts, a Dubois Republican recently elected from House District 22 spent $14,020 during the 1992 campaign. His Democratic opponent Suzanne Young spent more than $11 ,000 in her effort. While Betts' total spending was higher, Young put more money into her general election campaign than Betts, who also faced a three-way GOP primary race in August. Betts says he "may have overspent" during the 1992 campaign, "but I had no idea what I should be spending.

I probably won't do nearly as much next time." In addition, District 22 may be a uniquely expensive district in which to campaign, because the northwestern Wyoming House district includes three separate communities, Dubois, Pinedale and Jackson. "I had to advertise in three local papers. I did some TV. I spent an awful lot just getting around the district to campaign," said Betts. While reapportionment may have led to higher costs in some parts of the state, it has reduced campaign costs in others.

Rep. Bruce Hinchey said last week that the 1992 campaign proved to be "significantly cheaper" than were his previous two runs for the House. "I think reapportionment did a Please see SPENDING, D6 Total spent in 1992 election: $16,522 Primary: $6,258 General: $9,994 Opponent Peggy Sanders (D) spent $9,331 Primary: $3,275 General: $6,056 Election outcome: Trent: 3,698 Sanders: 3,453 Total spent In 1992 election: $9,545 Primary: $5,412 General: $4,133 Opponent Fred Parady (R) spent $5,789 Primary: $993 General: $4,796 Election outcome: Sarcletti: 1,777 Parady: 998 4. Susan Anderson (SD28, R-casper) 4. Glenda Stark (HD58, R-Casper) Total spent in 1992 election: $8,978 Primary: $1,625 General: $7,353 Opponent Linda Burkhart (D) spent $4,876 Primary: $1,529 General: $3,347 Election outcome: Stark: 1,396 Burkhardt: 1,179 Total spent in 1992 election: $13,788 Primary: $8,552 General: $5,228 Opponent Keith Goodenough (D) spent $4,637 Primary: $1 ,072 General: $3,565 Election outcome: Anderson: 3,374 Goodenough: 3,338 1 Vwt 5.

Cynthia LummiS (SD5, R-Cheyenne) 5. Doug Chamberlain (HD4, R-LaGrange) Total spent in 1992 election: $8,971 Primary: $3,766 General: $5,176 Opponent Susan Myers (D) spent $5,076 Total spent in 1 992 election: $1 1 ,661 Primary: $999 General: $10,662 Opponent Elizabeth Byrd (D) spent $9,878 Primary: $1,691 General: $8,187 Election outcome: Lummis: 3,434 Byrd: 3,062 primary: 3 uenerai: jh.ooi Jl Election outcome: 7 Chamberlain: 1,989 Myers: 1,358 NOTE: Had Casper Republican Martha Rakestraw won nor race in House District 59, she would have ranked among the five top campaign spenders in the PACs still dominate state elections Individual contributions up 42 over '90 campaigns House. Rakestraw spent a total of $9,062 during the 1992 campaign: $2,625 in the primary and $6,437 In the general elections. Her opponent, Rep. Dick Sadler (D), spent a total of $3,924 on the race, $3,531 of it during the general election campaign.

now nine members of the House and two members of the Senate who were elected without any help from Political Action Committees. Part of the overall growth of individual contributions this election can be attributed to the 15 additional Senate races being contested as a result of reapportionment. Individual contributions to the 30 winning Senate candidates totalled $62,340. That compares to the $32,250 which individuals contributed to 15 winning Senate candidates in 1990. A Natrona County lawmaker again topped the list of largest recipients of PAC contributions in the House during the 1992 campaign.

Bruce Hinchey received $5,625 in contributions from PACs during his third campaign for the House. Former Rep. Peter Wold received about $4,700 in his 1990 race, making him the largest PAC recipient in the House that year. Among winning candidates in the Senate, Republican April Kunz received PAC contributions totalling $6,920. Defeated GOP in- Legislative candidates carry thousands away from campaign coffers State law does not restrict use of surplus contributions Maxfield raises $10,000 from individual contributors, PACs give Guice $8,100.

By CHARLES PELKEY Star-Tribune Laramie bureau Analysis LARAMIE Political Action Committees continue to be the dominant contributors to winning Wyoming legislative campaigns, campaign spending reports show. But individual contributions to those who won 1992 House and Senate races increased by more than 42 percent. In 1 990 PACs accounted for almost two-thirds of all funds contributed to successful candidates running for House and Senate scats, according to reports filed by the candidates themselves. That dominance narrowed in 1992 winning campaigns, however, in which PACs contributed about 55 percent of the funds received by winning campaigns. A slight drop in PAC contributions, coupled with a substantial hike in the total amount given by individuals to candidates in the 90 legislative races contested in 1992 reduced the dominant role of PACs in legislative campaign funding.

Total PAC contributions to winning campaigns dropped by about 1 2,000 in the 1 992 races as compared to 1990, declining from $210,840 in 1990 to $198,419 in 1992. But total contributions by individuals to winning campaigns rose from about $115,000 in 1990 to about $164,000 during the 1992 campaign. Contributions by PACs to politicians who won in the 1992 primaries but lost in the general election totaled $124,834. Individuals contributed $106,916 to those campaigns. With reapportionment requiring the election of the entire Legislature, however, there were 90 scats up for election in 1992.

In 1990, 15 Senate scats and 64 House seats were contested, for a total of 79 seats. Maxfield raised $10,021 from individual contributors, making him the largest such recipient in the Senate. Many of Maxfield's contributors gave less than $50 and were, therefore, not reported among the Star-Tribune's list of individual contributors. Not all individual contributors gave in small amounts, however. Maxfield and others enjoyed several large individual contributions, equaling or approaching the state's cap of $1,000 on individual contributions.

R. E. Holding, owner of the Little America motels and refineries, contributed to several House and Senate campaigns, lending his support to incumbents more than members of a specific party. Some contributors, however, directed all of their efforts to only members of a specific party. On the Republican side the so-called "3-T Fund" forwarded money to Republican candidates from members of the True family of Casper and which were listed as individual contributions.

H. A. True separately contributed to a number of campaigns as an individual. True companies also contributed to candidates through their own PAC, known as the True Responsible Government Fund. Likewise Democratic national committeeman Robert Schuster spent several thousand dollars in individual contributions to several House and Senate candidates from his party.

While PACs are not held to any limit for the amount they might give to a specific candidate, there were only rare examples in the 1992 campaign when PACs actually gave more than $1,000. While industry-related PACs outspent single-issue and labor union PACs by about a thrce-to-one margin, the average size of the contributions tended to be smaller. The average contribution from in-Plcase see PACS, I6 By CHARLES PELKEY Star-Tribune Laramie bureau LARAMIE Winners and losers in Wyoming's 1992 legislative races carried away about $77,000 in unspent contributions to their campaigns, money they now can spend as they choose. Defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Terry Guicc ended the campaign with the year's largest surplus at $8,1 12, after spending 1 2,409 in the state's most an expensive race in Albany County's Senate District 10.

Republican Rep. Bruce Hinchey ended his successful campaign in Casper's House District 36 with the largest surplus among Mouse candidates at $4,739. Both said last week they will probably bank the funds for future races, though Guice said he remains uncertain as to "exactly what I will do with it. I still have to decide what my political plans are." According to Assistant Secretary of State Margy White, Wyoming has no rules governing Ihc use of excess campaign funds 'once an election is over. In many cases, said White, candidates will hold the funds for future races, but there are no laws that say they have to.

"As long as it is declared on your income tax, that money can be used as personal income," said White. "I don't personally know of anyone who has, but we wouldn't have any way of knowing if they did because there are no reporting requirements." While legislation has already been introduced this session to require complete reporting of how surplus funds are eventually used, sponsor Chris Boswcll, HD39, D-Grccn River, said this week he intends to withdraw the bill. "I don't think it will go anywhere." The amount of leftover 1992 campaign funds varies greatly from politician to politician. The 58 elected legislative candidates who had campaign fund surpluses hold a total of about $56,500 among them. Among defeated candidates, 25 ended the campaign with excess funds totalling about $20,300.

According to campaign spending reports filed last fall, 17 victorious Senate candidates had funds left over at the end of the Please sec SURPLUS, 1)6 cumbent Albany County Sen. Terry Guice, received the largest level of PAC contributions among contenders for the Senate, as he did in 1990. Guice received a total of $8,100 in PAC contributions all of it during his general election race against Pete Maxfield. In 1990, PACs donated about $7,900 to Guice for his primary and general election races. Hinchey and Guice are also the two candidates who have the largest amounts of unspent campaign funds leftover from the 1992 campaign.

Maxfield, in winning the District 10 Senate race, accepted no PAC contributions. He and Sen. Greg Philips, SD15, D-Evanston, are among a growing number of House and Senate candidates who have refused to accept help from PACs. In 1990, only one successful Senate candidate declined PAC contributions. Six members of the House did the same that year.

According to 1992 reports, there are But in the House individual contributions jumped from $83,000 to 64 winning candidates in 1990 to about $1 15,000 to 60 winning candidates in 1992. Some legislators say the increase in individual contributions can be attributed to the characteristics of the new single-member district races. They said voters may identify more closely with political contests in single-member districts than they did in some of the larger, multi-member districts in Wyoming's more populous counties. According to an analysis by the Star-Tribune, the largest growth in individual contributions took place in Natrona and Laramie counties. Contributions to those two counties' winning candidates in 1992 was about 75 percent higher than it was in 1990.

Rep. Budd Betts, HD22, R-Dubois, was the largest recipient of individual contributions in the House with $12,134 much of it from members of his ow family..