At first glance, Dickie Bell got his late-starting 20th District House campaign up and running pretty quickly. At second glance, State Del. Chris Saxman got it up and running for him.
Cash and in-kind contributions from the Saxman campaign to the Bell campaign accounted for more than 60 percent of Bell’s receipts in the July 1-Aug. 31 reporting period, according to an AFP analysis of financial data reported to the State Board of Elections.
The Saxman campaign made a $5,000 cash donation to Bell and a $9,000 in-kind contribution of polling data and other campaign information. Bell reported cash and in-kind contributions of $22,006 in the period.
Bell also reported spending $9,716 and had a cash balance of $12,290.
Democratic challenger Erik Curren raised $11,170 in July and August, listing 88 cash and in-kind donors, nearly three times the donors on Bell’s report.
Curren spent $8,231 in the period and had a cash balance of $3,537.
Year to date, Curren has raised $19,686 and spent $16,149.
Saxman, who dropped out of the race in July, reported contributions in the 2008-2009 campaign cycle of $120,472 and cash on hand as of Aug. 31 of $49,987.
– Story by Chris Graham