Election Limbo Day 46- Campaign Finance & Baker

With all the recounts, threecounts, court decisions and runoffs, we never got around to the campaign finance reports for July for Smith and Baker.  Since the August reports are due already, we thought we’d play catch up.  For those of you who are new, we’ve analyzed their campaign finance reports since they first started coming out in April.  You can see them in our archives.

April

May

June

Over the next four days, we’ll go through the July reports and see where the candidates got their money and what they spent it on.  We’ll post the reports for you to see, since the July ones never popped up on the Cherokee Phoenix like the other ones did.

And just so you know where we’re going, we’re going to do Baker contributions first, then Smith’s, then Smith’s expenditures and then Bakers.  That’ll be four days worth.  Depending on what ever else happens, we may post these over the next four days or spread them out a little, but don’t worry, they are coming soon.

So, let's start with Baker’s contributions.   He started the reporting period with $13,507.08 in the bank.  He raised $17,553.72 from others and loaned his campaign $40,000.  That brings his total loans so far to $155,000… as we’ve said before, that’s a huge commitment from the Mr. and Mrs. Baker, who report a combined income of $41,000 to the IRS.

Notable contributions include $500 from Susan Chapman Plumb (nominated by the council for the election commission) and her husband.  Susan’s dad, Gary Chapman, gave Baker $1,000.  UKB lawyer Dianne Barker Harrold coughed up $150.  One of our readers and occasional commenters chipped in $2,427 (we won’t name names, but claim it if you want).  Chuck Hoskin gave $97.  We’re pretty sure that’s Chuck H. Jr., because he’s listed as a lawyer and Chuck H. Sr. was an educator and is now a state rep, but that’s just our speculation.  It’s clear that both Sr. and Jr.  support Baker, so it probably doesn’t matter which one handed over the $97.

Baker’s total contributions from others so far, $191,628.17 (including $20,000 from his family).

That’s on top of the $155,000 loan, which puts the total money in his campaign so far at $346,646.96.

Coming soon… Who’s giving to Smith?

7 Days Until the Election- Dueling Emails & Airborne Plumbing

One week before the election both campaigns sent out emails, so we’ll try to be timely and let you know what they’re all about, and how true they might be.

Watch for Flying Sinks!

The first one we saw was from Sherry Baker, Bill John's wife. She talked about how great Bill John is, and that it’s time for a change at Cherokee Nation.  She said "Over the next week you will see Chad Smith throw everything including the Kitchen Sink at my husband.”  Then she picked up some porcelain herself and pointed out that Smith had 75 volunteers working yesterday, but claimed most of them were Cherokee Nation employees who were off the clock and were only there “because they are scared for their jobs.” 

It’s not clear if she meant they were scared Bill John would fire them if he won, or scared that Smith would fire them if they didn’t help him.  We ran that through the ‘what’s more likely’ filter and here’s what we came up with:  is it more likely that Smith would fire the 3500 Cherokee Nation employees who didn’t take time off work yesterday to help him? (note: there were no mass firings after Smith's re-elections in 2003 & 2007) Or is it more likely that Baker would fire the 75 employees who did take time off work to help Smith? 

Just to be clear, we’ve been contacted by one of those 75 people, and that person took the email to mean that Baker plans to clean house after the election and that person feels pretty intimidated.

Smith’s email to his supporters was somewhat different.  With a brief introduction, it was an editorial from the Tulsa World, endorsing Smith.  The endorsement, and Smith’s email, had nothing negative to say about Baker, only praising Smith’s accomplishments and track record. 

I guess the kitchen sink will come later.

That’s the truth about what happened today. Only one week to go!