Chuck Basye maintains fundraising lead in final report before school board election
Columbia school board candidate Chuck Basye maintained his fundraising lead over the other six candidates in the race in the final campaign report before the April 4 election.
The reports were filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The candidates are Basye, Paul Harper, John Potter, Chris Horn, James Gordon, John Lyman and April Ferrao. The top three vote-getters next week win three-year terms on the school board.
Ferrao, Lyman and Harper each received $500 donations from the Missouri National Education Association Political Action Committee. They received endorsements from the Columbia teachers' union. Basye and Potter also had a benefactor with retiree John Beckstrom.
Basye raised $29,315 for the election and has spent $19,552. He had $9,763 remaining on hand.
Beckstrom donated a total of $3,474.40 to Basye, spread out over different dates and different amounts over the reporting period.
Basye also received $1,500 from Mighty Missouri Political Action Committee. The PAC supports conservative candidates.
Basye spent $15,916 on radio ads.
Gordon raised $14,226 for his campaign and has spent $9,733.06.
Many of his donors contributed $104.15 and amounts in the $100, $200 and $300 range. A few of his donors are Columbia Public Schools employees. His largest donation for the period was $1,000 from Bernice Wahler of Sandwich, Mass. He also received $600 from Cafe Berlin.
His money has gone toward yard signs, mailers and printed materials.
Ferrao has raised $6,105 in her campaign and spent $4,234. She had $694.27 on hand.
In addition to the MNEA PAC contribution, Ferrao got $50 from State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, former teacher and teachers' union president. A $200 contribution came from Lara Wakefield, an advocate for students on special education plans.
Her spending has been on postage, postcards and yard signs.
Harper raised $5,255.73 in his campaign and has spent $4,021.10. He had $173.90 remaining.
Besides the MNEA PAC donation, he also received $50 from Steinhoff. Most of his donations were in the $25 and $50 range.
His spending has been on signs and pizza.
Horn raised $3,990 in the campaign and spent $1,419.48. He had $1,727.52 on hand for the final campaign sprint.
Donations included $250 from Jim and Kathy Ritter, a former CPS superintendent and his wife. He received $500 from Stayce Smith, Shelter Insurance vice president of human resources.
Horn has spent $75, $50, $35 three times and $50 on Facebook ads.
Potter's campaign has raised $3,793 and spent $1,598.93. He had $2,194.07 remaining for the final days of the campaign.
Beckstrom, the retiree, donated amounts of $100, $200, $300, $400, $500, $600, $700 and $800 to Potter's campaign, for a total of $3,600 of Potter's overall support.
Lyman's campaign raised $2,710 and spent $2,348. He had $461.23 on hand.
His report included a $1,000 donation to himself.
His money has gone toward signs and mailings.
His campaign has spent money on a website, sign hardware and business cards.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here's how fundraising looks as Columbia school board election nears
