According to those filings, One BH reported total campaign contributions of $19,502.88 for the quarter compared to the SOS campaign’s receipts of $60,825.99. For the same period, One BH spent $16,267.26 for their campaign versus the $50,901.35 spent by SOS, but the respective categories of expenditures by each campaign differed dramatically according to details contained in their reports.
One BH candidates spent a little over half of their funds on direct mailings to residents. On the other hand, SOS candidates spent about forty percent of their donations to pay two campaign committee members for consulting fees.
SOS committee member Dan Lundmark was paid $12,500 for his consulting services, and Steve Knoop’s firm, First Chicago Advisors, Inc., was also paid $12,500 for consulting in the campaign. It’s unclear from the reporting what the hourly consulting fees were for these committee members, but it is worth noting they were both compensated at an equal level.
In addition to consulting fees, the SOS committee spent $7,642.50 of their quarterly donations for legal services provided to their campaign from the Law Office of John Fogarty, Jr., a firm specializing in political and election laws. Those fees equate to about 12.6% of SOS’s total financial intake for the quarter.
While first quarter campaign financial reports do provide a preliminary glimpse at campaign spending, we must remind readers they are by no means the final story regarding the overall campaign spending for the 2015 Barrington Hills Trustee election. Those figures will likely be revealed in three months when the second quarter financials are reported to the Board of Elections.
In the meantime, a copy of the One Barrington Hills campaign committee’s 2015 Q-1 report filing can be downloaded here, and a copy of the Save Open Space committee’s Q-1 report can be downloaded here.
– The Observer