Seawell tops in dollars raised, spent [UPDATED]

Denver Public Schools at-large candidate Mary Seawell is outspending all other DPS board candidates, including her opponent Christopher Scott, at a rate of four to one, according to early campaign finance filings.

Seawell had raised nearly $80,000 – $79,525 plus $17.65 in in-kind donations – as of Oct. 8, according to reports filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.

In contrast, Scott had raised $16,951.47 plus $14,860.11 in in-kind donations. The latter include contributions such as $8,000 from DPS parent David Jarred for Scott’s campaign web site.

Seawell spent $71,253.84, the filings show, compared to Scott’s $9,227.03.

Of the five candidates vying to represent northeast Denver, Vernon Jones reported raising the  most at $32,555. The two candidates to represent southwest Denver were close, with Andrea Merida reporting  $20,707 and Ismael Garcia reporting $18,830.

Jeanne Kaplan, the incumbent in District 3 representing central Denver, is unopposed. She reported raising $29,110 and spending $25,093.27, mostly before determining she was the sole candidate.

The first finance reports, covering the period from Oct. 30, 2008 through Oct. 8, 2009, were due Tuesday.  Candidates will file one more report, due Oct. 30, before the Nov. 3 election and one more, due Dec. 3, after it’s over.

Scott and Seawell are vying for the only citywide seat vacant during this election, which historically draws the most dollars of any DPS board race. This year’s campaign is no exception and the Seawell-Scott race could wind up setting a record for dollars raised during the typically low-key board races.

Consider that, in the most recent board elections in 2007, incumbent Bruce Hoyt led all candidates in fund-raising in the first campaign reporting period. His total for the period was $33,800.

Seawell’s top donors

Seawell’s biggest donations came from four men in related businesses. Three of them – James Lakin, a former owner of Timpte Inc., Douglas Walliser, a current owner of Timpte Inc., and John Pfannenstein, founder of Rockmont Capital – gave $12,500 each.

The fourth man, Thomas Gamel, an owner of Timpte and a founder at Rockmont, gave $7,500. Gamel declined much comment Tuesday.

“I care about the kids of Denver,” he said when asked about the donations.

And his partners? “We’re all like-minded,” he said.

Gamel’s involvement in DPS has until recently been focused on reforms at the Cole Arts and Science Academy in north Denver, where his mother attended school.

But in recent months, he has been meeting with a variety of community members involved in DPS, gathering information about the direction of the district and its achievement.

Gamel also is a former business partner of University of Colorado President Bruce Benson, who gave heavily to DPS school board candidates in past elections before taking the CU job. The two were board members – and Benson was CEO – of United States Exploration Inc., an oil and gas company. 

Benson had “absolutely no influence” on his giving to Seawell and other candidates, Gamel said.

“Bruce and I were business partners at one point, that’s all,” Gamel said Thursday. “We both share a passion for education.”

Timpte’s roots in Denver run deep. The company began in the 1880s when two brothers named Timpte started a business supplying and repairing wagons, buggies and carriages.

It’s since grown to a national transportation company focused mainly on semi-trailers.

Gamel and Lakin were among the Timpte employees who bought the company in 1966. Gamel later founded Rockmont, an investment company also based in Denver, with Pfannenstein.

Seawell said Gamel has invested heavily in Cole, where a majority of staff voted last spring to become an innovation school – meaning the school has waivers from some district policies and union agreements.

“I know he’s giving because he’s really worried … he’s going to lose a school board that’s open to innovation and supportive of innovation,” she said.

In meeting with Gamel, Seawell said, “I’ve been very up front and honest with him about where I stand and if he wanted to give to my campaign knowing that, then I accepted it.”

(The four  men also donated to Jones’ campaign and Gamel also gave to Garcia. See details below. Altogether, the four donated a total of $74,600 to the three candidates.)

Scott’s biggest givers

The number of individual donors giving to Seawell’s campaign tops 120, or more than twice that of Scott’s donor count.

In part, Seawell said she’s been “aggressive” about fund-raising because of concerns that Scott may be able to tap into big money through his teachers’ union endorsement.

Scott’s top donor was the political arm of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, which gave him $10,000 or more than half of the dollars raised.

He had no donations in the first reporting period from the Colorado Education Association, though the statewide union gave to at least one other DPS candidate endorsed by the DCTA.

The CEA donor committee has a healthy bottom line at $457,460.63 as of Oct. 14, its latest finance report.  But while the statewide union has invested heavily in some school board races – $225,000 in a heated Colorado Springs contest in 2005 – that’s been more the exception than the rule.

(In the period from July 1 through Sept. 30, the CEA committee reports it gave $16,701 to 14 school board candidates statewide, including its largest donation of $5,000 to DPS candidate Nate Easley, running to represent northeast Denver. See more about Easley below.)

The DCTA gave a total of $28,000 to its three endorsed candidates as of Oct. 8, with $10,000 to Scott, $15,000 to Andrea Merida in southwest Denver and $3,000 to Easley.

Scott said he, like Seawell, has been up front with his biggest contributor about his beliefs.

“I like to think of it as I had a check written by 3,200 teachers who paid dues to DCTA ,” Scott said. “That does not necessarily mean I am beholden to the teachers’ union but I am beholden to teachers, because they’re the no. 1 contributing factor to our kids’ academic performance …

“But I’ve said to (DCTA President) Henry Roman on a number of occasions that there is much of what they do that I am supportive of. And there are a number of things that I’m not terribly supportive of.”

For example, he said he called at one candidates’ forum for teachers to be evaluated every year, which netted angry e-mails from some teachers.

“The union has taken some good steps in that direction but they have to police themselves,” Scott said. “There has to be a strong, noticeable commitment to getting people out of the classroom that shouldn’t be in the classroom.”

Nancy Mitchell can be reached at nmitchell@pebc.org or 303-478-4573.

Details from the campaign finance reports:

At-large candidates

Christopher Scott

Funds on hand at end of reporting period: $7,724.44

Funds raised during reporting period: $16,951.47 plus $14,860.11 in non-monetary contributions

Funds spent during reporting period: $9,227.03

Donors: Total of 51, including Scott himself. Notable names include Nita Gonzales, CEO of Escuela Tlatelolco, a DPS contract school, $25; Maria Guajardo-Lucero, executive director, the Mayor’s Office for Education and Children, $100; Jeanne Kaplan, DPS board member, $500; and active parent Roxana Witter, $200.

Biggest contributors:  Denver Classroom Teachers Association, $10,000; Arturo Jimenez, DPS board member, $1,500.

Biggest expenses: $4,462.44 for phone calling; $2,585.28 for promotional materials.

Mary Seawell

Funds on hand at end of reporting period: $8,271.16

Funds raised during reporting period: $79,525 plus $17.65 in non-monetary contributions

Funds spent during reporting period: $71,253.84

Donors: Total of 121, with notable names including Daniel Ritchie, former DU chancellor and now CEO of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, $2,000; Susan Daggett, wife of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, $200; Jill Conrad, DPS at-large board member,  $200; and Kristin Richardson, chair of the DPS Foundation board, $5,000.

Biggest contributors:  James Lakin, owner, Timpte Inc., $12,500; John Pfannenstein, principal, Rockmont Capital, $12,500; Douglas Walliser, owner, Timpte Inc., $12,500; and Thomas Gamel, chair, Rockmont Capital, $7,500.

Biggest expenses: $54,600 to On-Sight Public Affairs Inc. of Golden for campaign mailings; $8,722.15 to 3PG Consulting of Denver for campaign management.

 

Candidates for District 2, southwest Denver

Andrea Merida

Funds raised during reporting period: $20,707

Funds spent during reporting period: $9,006.37

Donors: 34. Notable names include Nita Gonzales, CEO of Escuela Tlatelolco, a DPS contract school, $50; former DPS board member Lucia Guzman, $100; and DPS board member Jeanne Kaplan, $100.

Biggest contributors: Denver Classroom Teachers Association, $15,000; Arturo Jimenez, Jimenez for School Board fund, $1,500; United Food and Commercial Workers, $1,000.

Of note: Merida is one of three candidates endorsed by the DCTA, and received the most of any of the three during this reporting period. The other DCTA-backed candidates – Christopher Scott and Nate Easley – received $10,000 and $3,000 respectively.

Ismael Garcia

Funds raised during reporting period: $18,830

Funds spent during reporting period: $10,738.31, including a $5,000 returned donation

Donors: 31. Notable names include Colorado businessman Phil Anschutz, $500; DPS School Board President Theresa Pena, $100; and Linda Childears, CEO of the Daniels Fund, $100.

Biggest contributors: Thomas Gamel, Rockmont Capital, $7,100 ( Gamel also gave to at-large candidate Mary Seawell, see story above for more information on Gamel); Steven Halstedt, Centennial Ventures founder, $1,000; Richard Saunders, Saunders Construction, $1,000.

Of note: Garcia returned a $5,000 check from the Gary-Williams Energy Co., the oil company that funds the Piton Foundation, uncertain over campaign regulations about accepting donations from corporations. State law prohibits it but Denver, where “home rule” rules, apparently does not – Gary-Williams gave similar large donations to school board candidates in the 2007 race. However, Denver county candidates, including school board candidates, can now file finance documents with the state and will be required to do so in 2010. Garcia said he is being cautious because “I don’t want this to get in the way of what I’m trying to do for the kids and the district.”

 

Candidates for District 4, northeast Denver

Jacqui Shumway

Funds raised during reporting period: $3,126

Funds spent during reporting period: $3,052.79

Donors: 40, including Shumway herself. Notable names include state Rep. Joel Judd, D-Denver, $50; Denver City Council member Marcia Johnson, $100; Denver City Council member Carla Madison, $50; retired DPS teacher Mary Sam, $50.

Biggest contributors: Shumway loaned her campaign $1,000.

Andrea Mosby

Mosby had not filed a finance report with the Denver city clerk or the Secretary of State’s Office as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

 

 

  

 

Vernon Jones

Total raised during reporting period: $32,555

Total spent during reporting period: $26,983.67, including a $5,000 returned donation.

Donors: 36. Notable names include Kristin Richardson, chair of the DPS Foundation board, $2,500; former City Council President Elbra Wedgeworth, $100; Anna Jo Haynes, Mile High Montessori president, $100; David Greenberg, founding board member of the Denver School of Science and Technology, $100.

Biggest contributors: James Lakin, Timpte Inc. owner, $6,250; John Pfannenstein, Rockmont Capital principal, $6,250; Douglas Walliser, Timpte Inc. owner, $6,250; Thomas Gamel, Rockmont Capital principal, $3,750. (The four men also gave to at-large candidate Mary Seawell, see above story for more about them.)

Of note: Like District 2 candidate Ismael Garcia, above, Jones returned a $5,000 contribution from the Gary-Williams Energy Co., uncertain over campaign regulations about accepting donations from corporations. State law prohibits it but Denver, where “home rule” rules, apparently does not – Gary-Williams gave similar large donations to school board candidates in the 2007 race. However, Denver county candidates, including school board candidates, can now file finance documents with the state and will be required to do so in 2010. Jones said he “erred on the side of caution” in returning the donation.

Nate Easley

Total raised during reporting period: $18,264

Total spent during reporting period: $12,307.46

Donors: 73. Notable names include Wayne Vaden, former Denver clerk and recorder, $250; J.D. MacFarlane, former Colorado Attorney General, $2,000; Janet Gullickson, College Invest administrator, $100.

Biggest contributors: American Federation of Teachers Colorado, $1,500; Public Education Committee of the CEA, $5,000; Denver Classroom Teachers Association, $3,000.

Of note:  Easley is the only DPS candidate who has to date received funding from the Colorado Education Association, the statewide teachers’ union. He received that group’s highest single donation this reporting period.

Alton Clark

Total raised during reporting period: $0

Total spent during reporting period: $653.08

Of note: Clark, during a candidate forum on Tuesday, said he would not “cow down” to anyone, including DPS leaders. “That’s why I don’t get contributions,” he said. “I cannot be bought.”