Minnesota Lawyer
Former investment executive Scott Honour has the largest stockpile of campaign resources among Republican gubernatorial candidates, though much of his stash has come via personal loans to his campaign. Honour’s financial commitment to the campaign is now approaching the $1 million mark. (File photo)
Candidates for the governor’s office are busy these days shaking hands with potential primary voters and waving to the largest crowds they can find. The mid-summer period is also a key time for their respective campaign treasurers, who, earlier this week, filed pre-primary fundraising reports documenting progress through July 22.
The reports are a final snapshot of financial progress among the four Republican candidates seeking to challenge Gov. Mark Dayton this November, and give a full account of how the various contenders are spending — or saving — their resources in the hopes of arranging a head-to-head election battle with the Democratic incumbent.
The most recent round of fundraising disclosures finds the top-tier field picking up where they left off earlier this summer, which means each of the four GOP entrants is well behind Dayton’s strength in monetary terms. Dayton has some $847,000 in cash-on-hand as of the reporting date and, with his Republican opponent yet to be determined, will likely enter the general election season with that amount or more at his disposal.
Sitting on their money
Within the quartet of GOP candidates, former investment executive Scott Honour has the largest stockpile of campaign resources, though much of his stash has come via personal loans to the Honour for Governor campaign. Honour’s financial commitment to the campaign is now approaching the $1 million mark, thanks to his recent contribution of another $500,000 toward the effort.
Jeff Johnson, the Hennepin County Board member and Republican endorsee, seems unconcerned about Honour’s wealth. Johnson conceded that winning over potential donors is difficult in the crowded field, but said he had managed to reach a larger and more generous crowd since securing the GOP endorsement in late May.
“A lot of people are just sitting on their money through the primary, which I understand,” Johnson said. “But winning the endorsement definitely opened a lot of doors for us that weren’t open before.”
Johnson reported a total of $213,000 in donations during this year, with much of that sum coming in the last couple of months. During April and May, the most recent fundraising period captured in disclosure filings, his campaign took in just $11,000 as he focused on winning support from party delegates rather than donors.
The Johnson campaign has about $122,000 in its bank account, according to the report, ranking him third among GOP candidates. His list of recent donors includes Steve Scheel, president of the Scheels All Sports chain of stores, who gave the maximum $4,000. Also pitching in at the maximum amount was Mark Wegscheid, owner of the Broadband America installation company and a founding member of the Liberty Minnesota political group.
Aside from his newfound strength among individual donors, Johnson can also count on support from the Republican Party of Minnesota and its smaller political units. Local operations have sent nearly $15,000 to Johnson’s campaign, and the party itself spent more than $10,000 on lawn signs for the endorsed candidate.
Grassroots campaigning
Even with that boost, Johnson trails former House leader Kurt Zellers, who reported $259,000 raised during 2014 and had $145,000 at his disposal at the reporting deadline. Zellers has tapped into a large base of donors contributing in small amounts, and many have taken advantage of the renewed donation refund for individuals giving $50 or couples who give $100. Zellers disclosed nearly $100,000 in non-itemized donations, or those less than $200, and said utilizing the refund program has explicitly been a part of his pitch to contributors.
“The real show of support, to me, is how many donors you have,” Zellers said. “We have 6,500 donors who have given to my campaign, and they come from all over the state.”
University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs said he was impressed by Zellers’ grassroots campaigning, and said his network of small-dollar contributors could double as a foundation of volunteers in the run-up to the August 12 primary vote.
“Zellers is out there working hard — he’s talking to everybody,” Jacobs said. “I’m not saying he’s going to win, but I think he’s going to do a lot better than some of the polls have showed he’s doing.”
Too quiet?
Those same polls have consistently found that Honour, a political newcomer, is still relatively unknown to most potential primary voters, despite his expenses of $635,000 during this year. Honour’s July 21 loan of $500,000 to his campaign fund brings his self-funding total to $901,000 during the campaign; he also reported having raised $361,000 from individual contributors in 2014. Honour’s last-minute loan brought his current cash-on-hand to about $542,000, making him the clear leader on the Republican side of the ledger.
Campaign manager Pat Shortridge, former chairman of the state GOP, said Honour’s willingness to spend on his own behalf is an asset to the effort, and not a detriment.
“It’s all about having the resources to get the message out as people are voting,” Shortridge said. “We’re going to be able to deliver the message to Republican voters, and [Honour] will have the most robust campaign in terms of identifying voters and turnout.”
Jacobs, meanwhile, said Honour’s relatively low name recognition is still problematic, especially given how much money his campaign has already spent on political advice and public relations services.
“With so much going out in expenses, it kind of raises the question of, is this money just going to the consultant class,” Jacobs said. “I think there will be a lot of second-guessing of Honour’s spending if he performs in the primary the way he’s been doing in some of the recent polls.”
The fourth Republican candidate, Marty Seifert, has raised about $193,000 during the year, and reported $71,000 in his campaign account, the smallest amount among top-tier candidates. Seifert’s approach in recent months has relied largely on using local media outlets to spread his message, either through staging public events with local Republicans or appearing as a guest on local radio or television.
As the primary date approaches, campaigns are forced to decide how much to spend and how much to save, knowing that the inevitable contest with Dayton will start with any of the GOP candidates well behind the office holder in financial terms.
Said Johnson: “If I believed that the person with the most money was going to win, I wouldn’t be in the race. Mark Dayton is going to have more money than any of us in the end.”
Republican activist Jeff Kolb said he wished the conservatives seeking the nomination would have devoted more resources already, pointing out that he, “a declared undecided primary voter,” had yet to receive a single piece of campaign literature. Though Johnson, Honour and Zellers have all purchased television advertising, Kolb argued those media buys have failed to gain purchase with the general voting public.
“I’ve seen little to no evidence that there’s an election coming up in two weeks,” Kolb said. “This election has been frustratingly quiet, and I’m kind of scratching my head, trying to figure out what that’s all about.”
Tallying the money
Candidate Total raised Total on hand
Scott Honour $1,163,788* $542,242
Jeff Johnson $213,011 $122,886
Marty Seifert $193,807 $71,018
Kurt Zellers $259,103 $145,603
* $800,000 of Honour’s total has been self-funded.
