New Reports Show Saxton, Kulongoski Far Ahead in Money Race

(SALEM AP) - With just five weeks left until the May primary elections, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ron Saxton and incumbent Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski have raised much more money than their opponents, new campaign finance reports show.

As of March 30, Portland attorney Saxton had a cash balance of $1,018,878 to spend on the television ads and voter outreach he'll need to overtake his chief rival, former Salem Rep. Kevin Mannix, who beat Saxton in the 2002 primary despite being outspent.

A third Republican candidate in the race, State Sen. Jason Atkinson, R-Central Point, reported having $114,112 to spend as of the end of last month, a solid total for a candidate who is generally considered a longshot by political pundits because of a low statewide profile.

Mannix has an edge in name recognition because of three unsuccessful campaigns for statewide office, and a key endorsement from Oregon Right to Life. But as of March 30, the Mannix campaign had a cash-on-hand balance of $333,430, less than one-third of Saxton's total. Moreover, the candidate still owes $350,000 in unpaid debts from his narrow 2002 loss to Kulongoski.

Mannix, an attorney, has also been dogged by news reports about his accounting practices during his long tenure as a candidate and as chairman of the Oregon Republican Party. The Oregonian reported Sunday that over the last 10 years, Mannix has moved more than $837,000 in political and charitable money to himself, his law firm or businesses he controlled. Mannix has defended the practice, saying he followed campaign finance rules.

Jack Kane, a spokesman for Mannix, said the $350,000 is owed to debtors who have agreed to delay repayment until after the primary or the general election, and that current contributions won't be diverted for debt repayment. And he noted that since September, Mannix has reduced his debt amount by about $110,000. That figure includes about $90,000 in loan repayments made to Mannix himself.

Mannix's cash-on-hand figure also includes about $49,000 that he has given to his own campaign over the past six months. Notations next to such loans indicate that they are to be repaid within a few months, at no interest.

Between the two, Saxton has far more big-money givers, mainly concentrated among CEOs and timber industry magnates. His campaign received $100,000 apiece from Richard Wendt, the founder of Jeld-Wen, the Klamath Falls-based window and door manufacturing giant, William Swindells, the CEO of now-defunct timber firm Willamette Industries, and Norm Brenden, the president of Salem-based Holiday Retirement Corp., one of the nation's largest developers of retirement homes.

By contrast, Mannix has only a single donor who has given him over $100,000 - longtime supporter Loren Parks, a medical equipment parts manufacturer who now lives in Nevada and has given Mannix $381,000 since last September.

"Fully one third of all the money Mannix has raised comes from a single source," said Felix Schein, Saxton's campaign manager. "That should give voters pause when considering, what does this person get for $381,000?"

Kane, though, countered that an individual donor's total was, "not important. (Parks) has supported various causes and is concerned with crime and lower taxes. His money buys TV spots and pays for mail just like anyone else's."

Neil Nedelisky, a Clackamas County-based developer who gave Mannix $75,000, said he donated because he believed that Mannix would, "put Oregonians back to work. And he is all about family, traditional values, which I am concerned about as well."

But the Mannix campaign is still waiting for its promised second-largest donation, $200,000 that the CEO of Las Vegas-based Rainmaker Services Inc., an oil production firm, promised to the campaign back in September.

Kane said the campaign remained hopeful that that promised donation would materialize.

Calls made to a handful of other leading GOP donors were not immediately returned Monday.

In the Democratic race, Kulongoski's campaign fundraising dwarfs that of his two Democratic challengers - even though Kulongoski has yet to get money from public employee unions that are upset with his moves to roll back state retirement benefits.

Kulongoski has raised more than $845,000 in total contributions, compared with $110,986 raised by former State Treasurer Jim Hill and $48,366 by Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorenson, according to reports filed with the secretary of state's office.

Angered by the incumbent governor's decision to push for reforms of the public employee pension system in 2003, the largest labor union of state workers recently endorsed Hill over Kulongoski in the May 16 primary election.

The Service Employees International Union contributed $7,000 in cash to Hill's campaign, according to the latest report, and a similar amount in "in-kind" contributions such as printing and phone banking services. The SEIU endorsed Kulongoski in the 2002 primary and gave him roughly the same amount as Hill is getting.

Lisa Grove, spokeswoman for Kulongoski re-election campaign, said the governor believes he can mend fences with the public employee unions and gain their support in the fall election.