Governor hopefuls awash in funds

The field then falls away, with Gov. Olene Walker (13 percent), House Utah Speaker Marty Stephens (9 percent), Board of Regents Chairman Nolan Karras (9 percent) and former U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen (7 percent). State Sen. Parley Hellewell and Gary Benson only tallied a few percentage points each, Webb said.

However, accurate polling with a preferential ballot system is difficult, Webb admitted.

Saturday, delegates will list their candidate preferences one through eight. As the least-popular candidate drops off in each round of voting, the remaining candidates may end up with more first-place votes. "Who knows what will really happen in the state convention," said Webb.

Some interesting information from the financial statements:

Benson: He has entirely self-funded his campaign — to the tune of $4,000.

Hansen: The former congressman drew on his national constituents for support, drawing checks from out-of-state donors, including $30,000 from two people in Minnesota.

Hellewell: To the surprise of some, he came in fourth on the big money list. A successful plumbing and heating contractor, Hellewell has raised nearly $300,000, but most of that is his own money.

The total may be inflated. He shows a $125,000 contribution from the Steven Stone family and then a $125,000 payment to the Steven Stone family for consulting.

Huntsman: Rarely do leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints give money in partisan races. But Huntsman's grandfather, LDS Quorum of the Twelve member Elder David B. Haight, gave $5,000.

Huntsman Chemical owns several jets. Huntsman has flown on the corporate jet at least three times to county GOP conventions and other campaign-related events — an in-kind donation totaling $11,250.

The Eccles banking family has given $8,000. The Marriott hotel family, $10,500. Ann Romney, wife of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, gave $10,000.

Karras: The member of the state Board of Regents (the higher education governing body) and former House speaker has raised his money from dozens of Utah businesses and individuals, usually several hundred dollars at a time. Karras' campaign was supported by donations from Envirocare owner Khosrow Semnani, developer Steve Creamer and David Simmons of the Zions Banking family. But $100,000 came from Karras' own bank account.