Challengers best incumbents in fund raising

If the election were decided on who has the most money, incumbents in Salt Lake County would lose by a landslide.

Candidates in several Salt Lake County races raised thousands more than incumbents in multiple races, according to financial reports filed Tuesday.

Jim Winder, the Democratic candidate for county sheriff, raised nearly $60,000 more than incumbent Republican Aaron Kennard, with most of the money coming in the last month and a half.

Half of Winder's money came from private donors. The other half was a $30,000 personal loan to Winder's campaign.

Carrie Dickson, the Republican candidate for county clerk, raised nearly $14,000 more than her incumbent opponent, Democrat Sherrie Swensen.

The county recorder's race follows the same trend: Incumbent Gary Ott, a Republican, raised $23,800 throughout the campaign, while his Democratic opponent Leslie Reberg pulled in more than $41,000.

County auditor Sean Thomas raised nearly $28,000 throughout the campaign, and his opponent, Democrat Jeffrey Hatch, raised nearly $44,000.

Diane Turner, a Democrat running for the District 3 seat on the County Council, raised more than $10,000 more than incumbent Davie Wilde, a Republican. Wilde lost several long-time donors this year — a move he calls punishment for his vote against publicly funding a soccer stadium in Sandy. Former supporters like Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan and lobbyist Dave Nicponski are now donating money to Turner's campaign. In September, Dolan donated $200 and Nicponski gave $500 to Turner's campaign.

The race for district attorney doesn't have an incumbent, as David Yocom is stepping down. Democrat Sim Gill has the money edge over Republican Lohra Miller: Gill has raised nearly $182,000 since the beginning of the campaign, while Miller brought in $158,000.

The race led to a full-blown investigation into campaign contributions after a developer allegedly offered his employees a bonus and then coerced them to donate the money to Miller's campaign. A team of prosecutors from the district attorney's and attorney general's offices determined Miller did not break the law by accepting the proxy contributions, since current county law only includes criminal punishment for elected officials who accept proxy contributions from a contractor who has a contract with the county.

Gill's past campaign disclosure filings also came under scrutiny by the county GOP because Gill failed to list both the occupation and employer of those who donated to his campaign. County ordinance requires both.

The filing problems will be investigated by the County Council. After the election, the council is also expected to make the law more clear in regard to campaign contributions, as well as add punishment for breaking county election ordinance.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com