BENTONVILLE -- Spending on political campaigns in Benton County varied widely in the 2016 election, but candidates on both sides of the ledger agreed money matters.
Campaign expense reports were due in the Clerk's Office by Dec. 30, according to Dana Caler, elections administrator. There's no automatic penalty for not filing the report on time and several candidates hadn't done so, Caler said.
Campaign contributions
Arkansas law requires candidates report campaign contributions and expenditures: A candidate, a political party or a person acting in the candidate’s behalf shall keep records of all contributions and expenditures in a manner sufficient to evidence compliance with Arkansas Code 7-6-207 — 7-6-210. The records shall be made available to the Arkansas Ethics Commission and the prosecuting attorney in the district in which the candidate resides, who are delegated the responsibility of enforcing this subchapter, and shall be maintained for a period of four years.
Source: Staff report
Barry Moehring reported spending $85,274 in his race for county judge, from the Republican Party primary in March through the Nov. 8 general election. More than $80,000 of those costs were incurred in the primary campaign. Bob Clinard, the incumbent Moehring defeated in the primary, reported spending $8,818. Ronnie L. Smith, Moehring's general election foe in November, spent $35 on the Libertarian Party filing fee and nothing else.
Smith, who has run for county judge in two other elections, said he spent more in the past, but the nature of the 2016 campaign changed after Moehring won the Republican Party nomination. Smith decided to run, anticipating a race against Clinard. Moehring won the general election with 67,167 votes to Smith's 23,522 votes.
"Once my target changed, it wasn't as much excitement," Smith said of the race. "I didn't ask for or receive any money. On average, I think about $4,000 was what I spent in the past. I didn't see much use in trying to compete with the special interest money in this election."
Moehring's contributors for the primary election included eight members of the Walton family and others with ties to Wal-Mart. Smith said he decided to run a one-man campaign, including using his home-made signs from past elections.
"I didn't do any advertising," he said. "I used all my campaign literature and signs from the last election. I used a little gasoline. I guess that was my only expenditure. I think I did pretty good for that."
The changing nature of Benton County, with a growing population and more diverse electorate, has changed the nature of politics as well, Moehring said. In the primary, he had to overcome Clinard's advantages of a six-year incumbency and greater initial name recognition. Moehring served two terms on the Quorum Court before running for county judge.
Moehring said spending in the race for sheriff also shows the cost of campaigns in the county. Shawn Holloway spent $69,269 in winning the five-candidate Republican Party primary campaign. Holloway reported spending $5,500 in the general election campaign against independent Glenn Latham.
"A countywide race in a county of this size and sophistication requires some spending," Moehring said. "You've got to be prepared. There are about 250,000 people in the county. I know there's fewer than that who vote, but we are looking at a high number of voters you have to try to reach."
In the Rogers mayoral race, incumbent Greg Hines reported spending $48,515; Carrie Perrien-Smith, his challenger, reported spending $13,728. Hines won the race with 13,346 votes to Perrien-Smith's 6,628 votes.
Hines cited growth in Rogers as a factor in the cost of campaigning. He also said his campaign style raises the cost.
"They're all different but I approach them all the same way," Hines said of his campaigns. "Full on, high energy. My position on this is if you're going to run for office you need to run your own campaign the same way regardless of who you're running against. You'd better run scared. If you don't, you might be surprised."
Hines said when he first ran for a seat on the City Council in 1998 he spent about $9,000.
"That was probably five times as much as anybody had ever spent on a City Council race," he said. "I think you need to identify what needs to be done and do it."
Perrien-Smith said she expected an uphill fight when she decided to run. She said challenging an established incumbent is always difficult and Rogers' growth has compounded that problem.
"You don't go into a race with the situation I was facing and not know it's a long shot," she said. "You go in hoping to raise enough money to compete. When the other candidate draws the first spot on the ballot and gets to put 'mayor' in front of his name it's a big disadvantage."
Perrien-Smith said Hines used his advantages well, pointing to the discrepancy between her direct mail effort and his as an example. According to her final report, Perrien-Smith spent $1,245 on direct mail, while Hines spent $7,545 on direct mail from July 12 through Oct. 29 and another $10,177 on direct mail in the last 10 days of the campaign.
"Probably 90 percent of the time the candidate that raises the most money wins the election," she said. "Direct mail is where you spend most of your money. It's difficult to reach the people who are going to make the decisions through other means. Direct mail is now the preferred way to reach a voter and it's the most expensive. He hit it hard and it was very effective."
NW News on 01/15/2017