He Who Pays the Piper

It was announced recently that Beth Gottstein has decided not to run for reelection. I'm not a big fan of Gottstein, but I don't think her would-be opponent, Anne McGregor is any smarter. Given that choice, I would likely have voted for experience.

With Gottstein out of the 4th District race, the choice is now between Anne McGregor and economic development executive John Crawford. I don't yet know much about Crawford. I know he filed a Statement of Committee Organization with the Missouri Ethics Commission last week. If the appellation "economic development executive" means what it usually does in Kansas City—"tax-payer backed real estate developer"—I probably won't like him either.

I digress. The mainstream media likes to report a campaign's donation's. Frankly I don't think the raw numbers have much value. A little extra number crunching can get figures that I think have more value. Between now and the municipals, I'll reporting these numbers on candidates for City Council and for Mayor. Today I'm starting with Anne McGregor. (Crawford has not been in the race long enough to have filed a report.) These numbers won't have context until I can calculate them for multiple candidates. I have to start somewhere.

Average Donation

This is a simple calculation, total dollars divided by the number of donations. In my view, this number suggests the economic status of the candidate's support base.

Since January 1, Anne McGregor has received $14,425.00 in donations. Subtracting the $5,250.00 that she herself donated, that leaves $9,175.00 from 102 donations, or an average of $89.95/per donation.

Kansas City Support

Looking through MEC filings during the last municipal elections, I saw what I felt was an alarming number of donations from outside Kansas City, Missouri, particularly from Johnson County. It's not that I think people outside the city don't have the right to donate. I worry that residents of another city have an inherent conflict of interest.

There is one caveat to this, however. All candidates will have donations from friends and relatives who don'y live in the area where they are running. This is as it should be. A candidate who can't get a donation from an old college roommate or a cousin is not someone I would want in public office.

Again, I've removed Anne's own donation from the numbers. Of her 102 donations, 87 are from residents of Kansas City, giving her a local support ratio of 83.65%.