Campaign spending in several area races has would-be candidates wondering about the cost to run for office in the future.

An analysis of campaign finance reports from this spring’s hottest city council and school board races showed campaign expenses ranged from $1 to $2 per registered voter to more than $11 per registered voter. In area cities and school districts, the big spenders organized as specific-purpose committees, but some individual candidates raised and spent significant amounts of money, too.

Two candidates in the Pilot Point school board race spent a combined $6,848, which averaged to almost $2 per registered voter, less than some area town and city council races.

According to the finance reports, only $200 was contributed to one of the candidates, indicating that most of the nearly $7,000 came out of the candidates’ pockets.

Lake Dallas council members Karl Hammond and Tony Marino eyed with interest the Denton mayoral runoff. The top two candidates in that race, Mark Burroughs and Perry McNeill, spent more than $120,000 combined.

“I thought, wow, they must have wanted it pretty bad,” Marino said.

Hammond has filed to run for mayor of Lake Dallas. Marino has declared his interest but not yet filed for candidacy. Former Mayor Marjory Johnson resigned and moved to Sanger in June, so the city called a special election for November.

Between the Denton mayoral runoff and other races in the Lake Cities, Hammond said he wonders whether what he planned to raise and spend would be enough. For council elections, he usually planned on raising and spending about $1,000.

“For the mayor’s race, I was thinking it would take about $3,000,” Hammond said. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

In his experience, Marino has found that the money follows as he campaigns for votes.

“I’m happy with the votes,” Marino said. “But if you want to help out, that’s up to you. I’m not going to burden people.”

Last year, in neighboring Hickory Creek, six candidates for three seats on the Town Council spent about $7 per registered voter in that hotly contested race, which ousted two incumbents. This year, one council seat was contested, but spending still reached nearly $4 per registered voter. Two donors who supported last year’s winners split their support this year. Charles Read received a $1,000 contribution from the Texas Association of Realtors. Paul Kenney, who won the election, received $1,500 in contributions from resident Grady Brown.

Because Lake Dallas has not had a contested election for several years, Hammond wonders whether he should adjust his strategy.

“At work, some people think I’m nuts,” said Hammond, who manages a wholesale fence supply company in Dallas. “You spend all kinds of a money for a volunteer job.”

Jim Alexander is a Denton school board member who ran unopposed in the spring. He is also a government professor at Texas Woman’s University.

Most Americans don’t like to see a lot of money being spent in political campaigns, “but we as voters tend to respond to stimulation,” Alexander said.

He said the cost of campaigning — including direct mail and advertising — has increased on all levels, and the Denton area has been fortunate in not seeing any more expenditures than it has, he said.

Alexander said he wasn’t surprised at the amount of spending in the Denton mayoral race.

Increased costs generally mean that only people with a wealth of resources can mount successful political campaigns. Candidates with limited resources have a hard time appearing legitimate, Alexander said. Voters can lose out on those viable candidates, especially at the congressional level, he said.

He also said there are real problems when it comes to campaign finance reporting, especially in the final days before the elections — when voters don’t know who’s financing campaigns.

Alexander doesn’t have an easy solution, but he said media could make a tremendous impact in covering campaigns fairly and helping “make sure everyone lives in the sunshine.” He said radio and television should allot an amount of free airtime to political races and all candidates.

PEGGY HENKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.

AMY DODD THOMPSON can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is athompson@dentonrc.com.

-------------------------------

Below are the final or July 15 campaign filing reports on some contested area and school board races for the May 12 election, according to documents requested of area city and school secretaries:

DENTON

Mayor

Justin Bell*

Mark Burroughs (winner)

Bob Clifton/Watchdog Society of Denton (specific-purpose committee opposing Mark Burroughs)

Darac Favre*

Perry McNeill (I)

District 2

Rudy Moreno (winner)

John Ryan*

At-large Place 5

Pete Kamp (winner)

Mike Sutton

At-large Place 6

Jerry Mohelnitzky

Joe Mulroy (I) (winner)

HICKORY CREEK TOWN COUNCIL

Charles Read *

Paul Kenney

ARGYLE TOWN COUNCIL

Argyle Concerned Citizens for Change

(specific-purpose committee supporting Joey Hasty, Joe Phelps and Dona Schroetke)

Mark Bogosian

Joey Hasty*

Jayne Marshall*

David McSwain

Joe Phelps*

Dona Schroetke

ARGYLE ISD

Three at-large seats were up

Kent Bateman

Debbie Cantrell*

Kim Hinnrichs

Hinnrichs pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

Randy McKellar

McKellar pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

Matt Portz*

John L. Schinske

Schinske pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

Denise Sizelove*

AUBREY ISD

Place 7

Bruce Birdsong*

Rusty Bland

Bland pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

KRUM ISD

Three at-large seats were up

Mark Cofer

Kirby Hicks

Hicks pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

Terry Knight

Bart Moore

Moore pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

Joe Vilicich*

Ted Wiley Sr.

LAKE DALLAS ISD

Place 5

Lance Stacy

Boyd Taylor

Taylor pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

OAK POINT CITY COUNCIL

Visionary Citizens of Oak Point

(specific-purpose committee supporting Colleen Cameron, Judith Camp and Stephen Shade)

Top 3 contributors:    Vaughn Miller, $1,000; Vance C. Miller, $1,000; Coyote Graphics, $500

Judith Camp

Oak Point candidates Curtis Lacey, Cameron and Shade pledged to accept nor spend more than $500, but two others reported expenses anyway -- Jim Almond ($491) and Leslie Maynard ($200).

PILOT POINT ISD

Place 2

Linda DeGraffenreid

Melinda Street

NOTE: The asterisk* means the candidate did not file a final campaign report by the July 15 deadline, excluding candidates who pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500, according to documents requested of area city and school secretaries.