Commissioner's race cost close to $50,000

Candidates and interested parties raised and spent at least $49,000 during the Flathead County commissioner campaign, an amount almost equal to the annual salary for the job.

Democrat Joe Brenneman, who won the open commissioner seat by a 131-vote margin, spent almost $12,000 in the final weeks before Nov. 2, most of it on print and broadcast advertising and mass mailings.

In the Oct. 17 to Nov. 17 reporting period, Brenneman's campaign added $3,850.50 to the $8,178.70 already in the bank and spent every penny, according to campaign finance documents.

That brings his total expenditures from June 24 to just over $24,100.

Denise Cofer, the GOP contender, reported $1,120 in donations between Oct. 17 and Nov. 19, which brought her campaign account to $8,375. She spent $8,332, leaving a balance of $43. Her expenditures since June 24 totaled $12,966 - about half of what her opponent spent.

A new group, Republicans for the Flathead, spent about $4,300 during the campaign and had a little more than $1,900 left over, treasurer John Hinchey said. The group was spearheaded by Hinchey, Paul Holland and Allen Sieler, all of whom lost to Cofer in the GOP primary election.

They threw their support behind Brenneman because they considered him the more moderate candidate.

Another political action committee, Truth in Politics, backed Cofer and spent $6,584 supporting her campaign between Oct. 17 and Nov. 17. The bulk of that funding - $4,000 - came from a donor named Jolene Dugan, who was identified in finance documents as a restaurant manager in Kirkland, Wash.

The Flathead County Republican Assembly, which bills itself as "the Republican wing of the Republican Party," also backed Cofer. Though the group's post-election report wasn't available - it was due Nov. 22 - on Oct. 22 it reported raising $4,132 and spending $1,950.

County commissioners are paid an annual salary of $53,865.

The largest Flathead County political action committee was relatively quiet in the final reporting period.

Excellence in Voting - a project of Semitool Inc. President Ray Thompson - earlier in the year spent more than $50,000 supporting GOP races statewide. In the final reporting period, the PAC spent $5,900, mostly on local newspaper advertising.

Reporter Alan Choate may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at achoate@dailyinterlake.com