Bloomington mayor: Thomson raises $100K+, dwarfing Griffin Jr., Sandberg campaigns

Bloomington mayoral candidate Kerry Thomson raised more $100,000 in the first 14 weeks of the year and has now spent more than twice as much on the campaign as her two opponents —  Don Griffin Jr. and Susan Sandberg — combined.

Thomson, former CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, relied heavily on her real estate/contractor connections. Three of Thomson’s donations — $12,700 from Michael Doran May, of Interior Mythos Journeys; $10,000 from Elliot Lewis, of real estate firm ER Lewis & Co.; and $7,500 from the political action committee of Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller — exceeded Sandberg’s total 2023 haul of $29,733. Griffin Jr. collected just over $47,000.

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Sandberg is a long-time member of the Bloomington City Council. Griffin Jr. is the owner of local real estate business Griffin Realty. The three candidates are trying to become the Democratic Party nominee for mayor of Bloomington. Mayor John Hamilton is not seeking re-election. No Republican has filed in the race. The primary is on May 2. Early voting has begun.

Political candidates had to file pre-primary campaign finance reports on Friday. The reports provide voters with information about how much money the candidates have raised, where the money comes from and how they’re spending it. According to statistics website fivethirtyeight.com, money matters greatly in political campaigns: For example, in contests for the U.S. House of Representatives, 90% of the candidates who raise the most money win the race.

Thomson started the year with a big lead in money raised and has widened the gap in the most recent reporting period, Jan. 1 to April 7. Since the start of the campaign, Thomson has raised nearly $183,000, compared to $73,000 for Griffin Jr. and $47,000 for Sandberg. Adjusted for inflation, Thomson’s haul is just below what Hamilton raised in 2019.

Contributions the candidates have to report include cash, but also in-kind services, such as mailings, which a donor may handle for a candidate.

Where did the candidates' money come from?

In the most recent campaign finance report, Thomson got contributions of at least $1,000 from donors including Bloomington real estate firms Seminary Square, Omega Management and Cedarview Management, local realtor Lori Todd, real estate developer Mae Siffin and architect DLZ, which the Monroe County commissioners recently hired to design a new justice complex. Thomson also got $5,000 from Blackwell Contractors and $3,000 from the DPBG political action committee, which is bankrolled primarily by executives of Indianapolis infrastructure company American Structurepoint.

Griffin Jr., too, got lots of dollars from the real estate sector. Among the donors who gave him more than $1,000 were four architects, two engineering consultants and a real estate professional.

Griffin Jr. got his biggest donation, $10,000, from the John Hamilton for Mayor political action committee. Griffin Jr. served as deputy mayor under Hamilton. Griffin Jr.’s second biggest contribution, $5,000, came from Indiana University men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson.

Sandberg’s biggest contribution was an in-kind donation of coaching/consulting from Bloomington-based executive coach Caroline Dowd-Higgins. The consulting/coaching donation was valued at $3,000.

Sandberg’s second-largest contribution, $2,500, came from Bloomington resident Betty Rose Nagle, former professor of Classical Studies at Indiana University and a frequent commenter at public meetings. Nagle’s comments in the last few years have indicated her positions overlap with Sandberg’s on major issues. For example, both opposed annexation and allowing more duplexes in core neighborhoods.

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How much did the candidates spend? And on what?

Through mid-April, Thomson had spent nearly $114,000, or about 62% of her total haul.

Nearly 60% of that, or $67,000, went to New York City-based public relations firm Berlin Rosen. Thomson’s second-largest expenditure, of nearly $14,000, went to Bekeley, California-based polling firm Change Research Public Benefit Corp.

During the same period, Griffin Jr. had spent $36,000, or about half of what he had raised. Griffin Jr.’s largest expenditures by far were for payroll and an Indianapolis-based direct mailing business, which cost a combined $21,000. He also spent nearly $6,300 on digital advertisements with Chicago-based Change Media Group.

Sandberg, through mid-April, had spent $9,500 on her campaign so far, or about 20% of what she has raised. She listed as her biggest expense a $3,000 in-kind expenditure for executive coaching from Caroline Dowd Higgins. Sandberg had only two other expenditures exceeding $1,000: She spent $1,210 for a fundraiser with the Monroe County Democratic Party, and gave a $1,000 donation to Beacon Inc. Friends Place homeless shelter.

You can access full campaign finance reports at the county document center: tinyurl.com/3ehw9dn2.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: How much Bloomington mayor candidates raised, spent before primary