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Gerlach’s gubernatorial campaign was broke (Updated)

CLARIFICATION APPENDED (See bottom)

When Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6) abandoned his race for governor, he did so citing fundraising challenges. He didn’t say that the campaign was effectively broke. But newly filed campaign finance information shows that Gerlach’s state political action committee ended 2009 with a balance of zero dollars.

Gerlach raised just under $743,000 toward his gubernatorial campaign in 2009. He spent exactly the same amount he raised. In his statement withdrawing from the race, he said he had raised more than $1 million. For that to be true, he would have had to raise more than a quarter-million dollars in the first week of 2010. [See clarification at bottom.]

Of the money he raised, $112,000 came from his federal campaign account, which he is now in the process of replenishing. He spent $20,000 on an opposition research company, more than $20,000 on polling and more than $15,000 on mail costs. But the biggest expense by far was well over $150,000 paid to the firm of his longtime political adviser Mark Campbell.

Clarification: A Gerlach campaign spokesman says that when the congressman referred to raising more than $1 million, he was including money raised by his congressional campaign in late 2008 and early 2009. Including the money raised by his congressional campaign starting after the 2008 election, the total raised comes out to slightly less than $1 million, but a margin small enough that the campaign could have easily crossed that threshold before dropping out.

February 4, 2010 at 12:41 pm

--pa2010.com Staff

Tags: Jim Gerlach, PA-6

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