Campaign finance reports analyzed

In the only statewide primary election next week, state treasurer candidate Mark Walker has outspent his fellow GOP opponent, Richard Ellis, by a 2-1 margin, campaign finance reports filed Tuesday show.

Meanwhile, some incumbents who have little opposition this year are still raking in the money — mostly from special interest groups, an analysis by the Deseret News shows.

As expected, GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff are the fundraising kings among state candidates.

Huntsman has raised $260,500 and spent $246,000 from his campaign account. But before you say he's almost broke, the governor also has a political action committee that as of the first of the year (the last reporting period) had $220,000 in it. Since that report, Huntsman has both raised money in that PAC and has spent money out of it — including giving tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign account, which was reported Tuesday.

Shurtleff doesn't have a PAC. So all of his fundraising and spending comes out of his campaign account, which was reported Tuesday. Shurtleff has raised $242,000 and spent $263,000 this year, the reports show. He still has more than $261,00 in the bank, mostly from fundraising in prior years.

Huntsman is opposed by Democrat Bob Springmeyer. Springmeyer's report shows he's raised $27,010 and spent $9,604. In other words, Springmeyer has raised only a tenth as much as Huntsman this year.

Shurtleff is opposed by Democrat Jean Hill. She raised only $28,400 and spent $6,150, her report shows. So she has raised only about 12 percent of what Shurtleff did.

Neither Shurtleff nor Hill was opposed within their own parties, so they didn't need to raise money for a convention or primary fight.

The treasurer's race is usually a sleeper. But the battle between Walker, a state House member from Sandy, and Ellis, the current chief deputy treasurer, has turned bitter and very political.

The Utah Supreme Court just last week declined to force Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert to rule on a complaint by Ellis that Walker illegally offered him a job and a pay raise should he drop out of the Republican race — giving Walker the GOP nomination and most likely the seat in November.

Walker denies any wrongdoing, saying that Ellis is bringing up the "false" charge late in the race in hopes of harming Walker's candidacy.