Daugherty pays for most of his Evansville mayor campaign himself

EVANSVILLE — 50-50. That was the ratio of his money to other donors' money that Libertarian mayoral candidate Michael Daugherty said he was raising in September. But pre-election campaign finance reports tell a different story.

Until he received an infusion of $5,000 from Vanderburgh County Attorney David Jones' law firm and $2,500 from the Indianapolis-based Libertarian Party of Indiana on Friday, Daugherty's campaign for mayor of Evansville was almost entirely funded by Daugherty himself.

Pre-election campaign finance reports that covered the period through Oct. 13 indicated 86% of the $37,607 Daugherty reported raising came out of his own pocket. Daugherty listed the money as a loan, telling the Courier & Press he hopes his campaign can pay him back. Also listed as a loan: $2,000 to the City-County Observer, a local website, for advertising.

Daugherty embraced his decision to pay most of his campaign expenses himself as a political advantage over opponents Stephanie Terry, a Democrat, and Republican Natalie Rascher.

"I don’t want to owe any favors when I get into office, so I’m not going to accept any money from corporations, PACs or lobbyists," Daugherty said. "Zero favors owed, that’s my end goal. I owe no one anything."

Daugherty has said he retired as owner of Abstract Technology Group LLC after 14 years in 2022, having sold the business.

Daugherty pointed to the $526,819 that Rascher reported she paid BrabenderCox, a self-described "full-service political marketing, public affairs, strategic communications and advertising firm" in the Washington, D.C. area. The firm has worked for current Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, Rascher's most high-profile political patron.

"I had to put my boots on the ground and actually outwork my opponents," Daugherty said. "I didn’t pay a company out of Leesburg, Virginia $600,000 to run my campaign for me. I had to do it myself. So I didn’t have time to have these lavish, high-dollar plate fundraisers."

That's one way of looking at it, said Nick LaRowe, a political scientist at the University of Southern Indiana.

Candidates who fund their own campaigns are fully entitled to argue that they are steering clear of potential obligations to influential donors if elected, LaRowe said. That argument has political appeal. But voters also are entitled to wonder just how much support a self-funding candidate really has, the political scientist said.

"Another way of thinking about donations is, that’s an indicator of how deep and how broad your support is," LaRowe said. "Perhaps you didn’t have a choice besides to self-fund. I don’t know what the case for Daugherty is, but that can be true."

Daugherty likely has to win the Nov. 7 election if he wants to retire his campaign's debt to him, LaRowe said. Otherwise he would be asking people to pony up money to a defeated candidate − a big ask even in the world of local politics.

Daugherty acknowledged his hopes of recouping the money he loaned his campaign ride on him defeating Terry and Rascher.

"If I don’t win, obviously, it’ll probably just be a bad debt," he said.

The $5,000 from attorney Jones' law firm and $1,000 from Jones' own pocket in September make him Daugherty's biggest donor. The veteran local lawyer worked as city attorney under Democratic Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, who served from 2004 until 2012. He also has been the County Council's lawyer and attorney to the Vanderburgh County Drainage Board.

Jones didn't want to talk about his support for Daugherty on Tuesday.

"Nothing to say," he said by text in response to inquiries.

Daugherty reported that as of Oct. 13, he had spent $29,333 and had $8,275 cash on-hand. The combined $7,500 he got from Jones and the state Libertarian Party on Friday allowed him to nearly double that amount.

The money Daugherty has spent has paid for signs, postcards, T-shirts, buttons, lanyards, stickers, door hangers, fliers, a $1,025 sponsorship to Right to Life of Southwest Indiana and $2,000 to the Evansville Police Foundation, among other smaller expenditures. About half of Daugherty's expenditures went to paid media.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Daugherty pays for most of his Evansville mayor campaign himself