Beutler winning the money war

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By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

Campaign finance reports indicate Chris Beutler is winning the money war in the race to be Lincoln’s next mayor. So far.

Lincoln voters will elect a new mayor in May. The leading contenders are former senator Beutler, a Democrat, and Councilman Ken Svoboda, a Republican.

According to reports filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, Beutler had raised about $140,700 for his mayoral race through the end of February, compared to nearly $124,000 reported by Svoboda.

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Chris Beutler, one of the three Lincoln Mayoral candidates currently winning the money war in the race to be Lincoln's next mayor. (LJS File)

Beutler reported having about $93,000 in cash on hand to spend, compared to $38,000 for Svoboda.

Beutler’s campaign manager, Rick Hoppe, said he thinks the fact that Beutler has raised more money than Svoboda is indicative of his strength as a candidate since Republicans generally have an easier time raising funds. But Svoboda said he’ll be calling in a lot of pledges and commitments soon and will raise most of his campaign money in the 28 days between the April 3 primary and May 1 general election.

Beutler said the reports indicate he’s doing well, but he agreed the numbers will change quickly as the campaign heats up.

“It’s still a struggle for everybody,” he said.

The sources of Beutler and Svoboda’s donations aren’t too surprising: Beutler has received money from unions, attorneys and lobbyists while Svoboda is getting money from developers, builders and Realtors. Svoboda received a $10,000 donation from the Lincoln Independent Business Association and $5,000 from the Nebraska Realtors PAC.

Beutler received $2,000 from the Kerrey for U.S. Senate Campaign.  Svoboda took in $5,000 from Omaha Republican Pete Ricketts, the  former chief operating officer of  Ameritrade who tried unsuccessfully last year to unseat U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, a Democrat.

Both Beutler and Svoboda have received multiple donations from a number of Douglas Theatre Co. officials.

Interestingly, Democrat Beutler received a $2,000 donation from former Republican Congressman Tom Osborne. Osborne said he donated to Beutler’s campaign because Beutler contributed $2,000 to his campaign and had been helpful to him in the past in discussing legislative issues.

“I have never endorsed anybody for any campaign but I do believe in reciprocating,” Osborne said. Asked whether he planned to donate to Svoboda’s campaign, he said he hasn’t been asked to and, “I don’t recall that he ever contributed to my campaign.”

Svoboda said he doesn’t know Osborne well.

“Obviously, Tom has more of a connection with Chris or Chris maybe supported Tom,” Svoboda said.

Independent mayoral candidate Roger Yant reported $800 in contributions so far. A fourth candidate, Mike Deal, entered the race March 3 and has not yet filed a report detailing donations.

The winner of the campaign finance battle won’t necessarily dictate the winner of the election.

Hoppe said Beutler’s people haven’t done any scientific polling since Democrats conducted a poll in January. Svoboda said he did one in December and it showed him leading Beutler and Yant.

Beutler began running television ads last week and Svoboda has TV ads ready to go, too. Svoboda has billboards up around town, and all of the campaign yard signs went up as soon as they were legal — 30 days prior to the April 3 primary election.

Svoboda said he began campaigning pretty much full-time about two months ago, about the same time Beutler quit his job raising funds for the city to campaign.

“We’ve raised a lot of money, we’ve spent a lot of money and still got a long way to go yet,” Svoboda said.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.