LITTLE ROCK — For some candidates in Arkansas, running for office has meant going into debt.
A dozen have sunk more than $100,000 each into their own campaigns this election cycle, and others have dropped smaller amounts.
That’s not money out of their campaign contributions - though it runs through their campaign coffers - but out of their own pockets as loans to their campaigns or from banks on notes that the candidates guarantee.
They did it while running for offices that pay as little as $15,869 a year (state Senate)to $145,204 (Supreme Court) to $174,000 (Congress).
One might reasonably ask: Why dip into one’s own pocket in these races?
And one would be told:
Because asking others for contributions is uncomfortable.
As an outsider not backed by the political establishment, it’s hard to raise a lot of money.
But there’s another question: Why is winning the office at so high a personal price worth it to them?
“I was willing to invest in the idea of myself,” answered L.J. Bryant, 23, of Newport, the Democratic nominee for land commissioner.
The establishment largely supported his Democratic primary opponent, state Rep. Monty Davenport of Yellville, he said.
Bryant so far has made loans to his campaign of $118,911 and $62, 501 . He reported paying back about $14,000 of that.
Davenport was a lender also, shelling out $50,000 to his own campaign.
As a young candidate, he has more working years in which to pay debts, if it comes to that, Bryant said.
“Regardless if I win or lose, I will take time to raise money to pay off that debt,” he said.
It will be easier, of course, if he wins, since losers usually don’t attract as many wouldbe helpers as those who win.
“This is certainly a risk you have to be willing to take,” said Bryant, who owns a tax service and rents out farmland.
John Thurston of Bigelow,the Republican nominee for land commissioner, has made an issue of Bryant’s campaign debt, but Thurston obtained a loan for his campaign as well, Bryant said.
Thurston, who describes himself as an employee at the Agape Church in Little Rock, got a $4,945 loan from Regions FIA Card Services to his campaign.
The land commissioner job pays $54,305 a year.
THE BIG ONE
Those loans pale in comparison to the $1.17 million that Bill Halter loaned his campaign for lieutenant governor in 2006.
He won and has steadily raised contributions to pay himself back since then.
The reported debt had fallen to $85,986 as of Sept. 30.
Halter this year lost a bidfor the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
He declined a request to be interviewed for this story.
Halter spokesman Bud Jackson said Halter plans to continue to try to raise money to pay off the debt to himself.
The lieutenant governor’s salary is $41,896 a year.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
The Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, Mark Darr of Springdale, loaned his campaign $150,310 and so far has reported getting about $40,000 of it back.
Darr said he felt that God called him to run for lieutenant governor. That was almost two years ago, he said, and at that time he didn’t know that he was going to sell a restaurant that produced the money he lent to his campaign. Nor did he know that Halter wasn’t going to seek re-election.
“To me, it wasn’t about the money,” said the owner of two pizza places and an insurance agency. “I felt called to run for that office and that money was available, so I used it. It is just hard to raise money.
“I really didn’t have that money to blow, but I spent it anyway. If you are called to run for something, you have to make sacrifices. I guess that is my sacrifice,” he said.
“Twelve days before the election, I am fine with loaning my campaign,” said Darr, in a battle with Democratic state Sen. Shane Broadway of Bryant. “Ask me 12 days later.
“If I win, I hope to raise money to pay myself back,” he said.
“If I lose, I have pretty much lost that money,” he added.
SECRETARY OF STATE
The Democratic nominee in the secretary of state’s race, Pat O’Brien of Jacksonville, has reported making loans of $50,000, $49,900 and $61,600 to his campaign. He reported paying back about $56,000 of the debt.
He declined the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s request for an interview for this story.
O’Brien’s finance reports speak for themselves, his campaign spokesman said.
O’Brien, Pulaski County clerk, is running against a Republican, state Rep. Mark Martin of Prairie Grove.
The secretary of state’s salary is $54,305 a year.
KEET
In the governor’s race, Republican Jim Keet of Little Rock took out a $100,000 loan for his campaign from Delta Trust and Bank of Little Rock. He also loaned his campaign $42,648.
Keet, a Little Rock businessman, said making such loans to his campaign is justified because the stakes are so high.
“Borrowing money to put into the campaign is a small price to do my part in protecting our freedoms,” he said.
The nation’s founding fathers “literally put everything on the line,” he remarked.
“My assumption is that I can raise funds to repay the loan regardless of whether I win or I lose,” Keet said.
BAKER, FOX AND HENRY
Supreme Court races have drawn some big loans as well.
In one, Court of Appeals Judge Karen Baker of Clinton and Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox of Little Rock have both made six-figure loans to their campaigns.
Baker lent hers $250,000.
Fox lent his $100,000.
The annual salary of an associate justice at the Supreme Court is $145,204.
Baker said she is not sure she would have decided to run “had I known exactly how much of a personal [financial] commitment it would be. I certainly wish fundraising had gone better. I guess once I decided I was committed to the race I wanted to put enough into it that I ran a credible campaign and I think that office is important.”
Win or lose, Baker said, she’ll “do our best” to raise money to pay off the debt to herself.
Fox could not be reached for comment for this article.
Appeals Court Judge Courtney Henry of Fayetteville reported loaning $111,302 to her successful campaign for the Supreme Court earlierthis year. She later reported a debt of $9,588 to herself from the loan.
GREENBERG AND COWLING
Two unsuccessful candidates for the state Senate reported loaning their campaigns more than $100,000 this year. They are state Rep. Dan Greenberg, R-Little Rock, and former state Rep. Ken Cowling, D-Texarkana.
The annual salary for a state senator is $15,869.
State lawmakers also receive various expense reimbursements that vary widely.
Greenberg reported lending $185,000 to his campaign against former state Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson of Little Rock for the Republican nomination in Senate District 22, part of Saline and Pulaski counties. He reported a campaign debt of $174,314 to himself.
Cowling lent $133,511 to his campaign versus state Rep. Steve Harrelson of Texarkana for the Democratic nomination in Senate District 21, which includes Lafayette, Little River and Miller counties and parts of Columbia, Hempstead and Sevier counties.
“If you are a serious candidate you are going to pay a high personal price in terms of time campaigning and away from your career,” said Greenberg, an attorney. “I think just about everybody pays a pretty high personal price who is not unopposed.”
He said he’s also “really bad at raising money” - he said one woman gave him a $100 check and he told her he couldn’t take it because she needed it more than he did.
“It is extremely difficult to ask money from people. It is unpleasant and I feel weird doing it,” Greenberg said. “On some level, it just seems like an imposition to ask people for money. People have all sorts of things they want to do with their money.”
Candidates are supposed to use their connections, including those with family and friends, to raise money and “at times I feel like I am straining those relationships,” he said.
Cowling said he didn’t get into the race to spend that much of his own money.
But he said he was competing with congressional candidates and constitutional-officer candidates to raise funds, some businesses have cut their contributions to candidates, and Harrelson had “a natural calling card” as an attorney.
“Do I wish I hadn’t spent that kind of money? Sure. Would I do it again? It’s a tough call. I wish there were a spending cap where you didn’t have to spend that type of money. It is ridiculous it takes this type of money in order to try to get your message out to voters in the district.”
CONGRESSIONAL LOSERS
Three unsuccessful congressional candidates reported loaning more than $100,000 apiece to their campaigns: Democrat David Boling of Little Rock and Republicans Kurt Maddox of Gravette and Steve Lowry of Fayetteville.
Maddox, a businessman, lent his campaign $242,300 and received a repayment of $477 as of Sept. 30.
Boling, an attorney and former chief of staff to Democratic U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, lent $168,200.
Lowry, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, reported loaning his campaign $133,850.
Loans may be more numerous these days, but they did not start just this year.
The Boling, Maddox and Lowry loans are dwarfed by $425,000 in loans made by unsuccessful 3rd District congressional candidate Jim Hendren of Gravette to his campaign in a 2001 special election.
“I wasn’t going to spend three hours a day on the phone begging for money,” said Hendren, an owner of a plastics company. “I just wasn’t going to do that.”
Hendren hasn’t received any money from his campaign for loan repayments, according to his latest report with the Federal Election Commission.
He said it’s not very likely that he’ll be able to raise any to pay the debt the campaign owes himself.
“I am not holding my breath for that to happen,” said Hendren.
WILLS
Arkansas Speaker of the House Robbie Wills, a Democrat from Conway, lent $33,000 to his unsuccessful congressional campaign and later received a $2,000 repayment.
Asked why pursuing the office at so high a personal price was worth it to him, Wills replied, “I wouldn’t say it was worth it since I didn’t win.
“I certainly didn’t plan to go into debt.
“I’d never done that in any of my previous campaigns.
“However, the congressional race was more complex, confusing and expensive than I ever dreamed, and there were many outstanding bills at the end of the runoff that had to be paid.
“I had one small debt-relief fundraiser in July and then took out a personal loan which I then loaned to the campaign to pay everyone.
“The campaign now technically owes me, but I have no future plans to raise money from others to pay it off.
“I’ll just go back to work and pay it off myself,” Wills said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/24/2010