Most GOP congressional hopefuls tap traditional sources for funding

AUGUSTA – The four Republicans battling for the nomination in the 2nd Congressional District are raising money from many traditional GOP sources, such as businesses and thousands of individuals. But there are some significant differences.

For example, Dick Campbell of Orrington, Stavros Mendros of Lewiston and Tim Woodcock of Bangor are getting a majority of their campaign cash from in-state sources. Kevin Raye of Perry is not.

An analysis of the reports filed with the Federal Election Commission as of May 28 indicates Raye has gotten 64 percent of the more than $203,000 he has raised from out-of-state individuals and political action committees. Campbell has raised 99 percent of his $110,000 from in-state sources; Woodcock has raised 89 percent of his $190,000 in Maine; and Mendros has raised 77 percent of his $109,000 from in-state contributors.

The election reports also show metropolitan areas where the most contributions came from for each candidate.

Raye’s top metro area for contributions is Washington, D.C., followed by New York and Bangor. Woodcock’s top metro area is Bangor, followed by Portland and Washington, D.C. Mendros’ top fund-raising area is Lewiston, followed by Portland and Washington, D.C. Campbell showed up in only two metro areas, Bangor and Portland.

Both Mendros and Campbell have contributed significantly to their own campaigns, with 35 percent of Mendros’ campaign resources coming from his own pocket. Campbell has paid for 16 percent of his effort. Woodcock has put in $775 of his own money into his race, which is less than 1 percent, and Raye has not contributed any cash to his own campaign.

When individual campaign contributors are analyzed by occupation, retired folks are major donors to all of the candidates.

The top contributors to Raye’s campaign were people who identified themselves as retired and who donated a total of $17,350. The second-highest contributors to Raye were employed in the securities and investment fields and gave a total of $10,750.

Top contributors to Woodcock were retirees, who gave $14,550, and lawyers and others in the legal profession, who gave $5,426.

Campbell’s top donors also were retirees with $9,302 in contributions and health professionals with $1,570 in contributions. The most contributions to Mendros came from people employed in miscellaneous businesses at $7,178 and business services at $3,925.

The detailed reports are available on the Federal Election Commission’s Web site at www.fec.gov, and are the result of federal laws aimed at informing voters about how candidates finance their campaigns.

Raye’s three top contributors are the American Trucking Association and the Republican Main Street Partnership PAC with $5,000 each and Bushmaster Firearms with $4,000.

Woodcock’s three top contributors are Sargent & Sargent with $6,000, Prentiss & Carlisle with $5,000 and Alternative Energy Inc. with $3,000.

Campbell’s three top contributors are Dawson Bradford ERA with a $2,400 contribution, DiCenzo Brothers with $2,000 and Maine Distributors with $2,000.

Mendros’ top three contributors are Bristol Savings Bank with $2,000, Central Maine Medical Center with $1,100 and Authorq with $1,000.

The candidates are continuing to raise funds and total amounts contributed to them will not be known until after the election. But analysts say it’s not likely the overall percentages concerning where the money is coming from will change dramatically unless a candidate puts a significant amount of his or her own money into the race during the final days.