Sorensen’s fund tops in bid for Otter’s seat

BOISE – Former state Sen. Sheila Sorensen has jump-started her campaign for Idaho’s 1st Congressional District seat by contributing more than $22,000 of her own money to her war chest, leading the increasingly crowded field in early fund raising.

The latest campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show the Boise Republican has personally provided almost half of the $47,845 she raised through June 30 in her bid for the U.S. House seat to be vacated next year by GOP Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter.

Idaho Water Users Association Executive Director Norm Semanko of Eagle raised $36,450 through June 30 in his campaign for the Republican nomination, according to the disclosures. Semanko has not contributed any of his own money to his campaign and says he doesn’t plan to.

“I’ll never say never, but I don’t foresee the need nor do I think it’s the most desirable thing to do when Idahoans are willing to step forward,” Semanko said. “It’s clear she (Sorensen) is going to spend a lot of her own money on this campaign and there’s only one of us who will be able to stay with her self-financing. I plan to be the one.”

Sorensen has made nine personal donations to her campaign, from a $500 contribution in January to a $15,000 contribution in May, for a total of $22,055.

“You have to have money to get started and I think it shows a strong personal commitment that this is what I want to do,” she said. “Butch is a prime example. He had to put in a couple hundred thousand dollars of his own money into his first campaign. Hopefully, I won’t have to put in that much.”

Jennifer Duffy, managing editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., campaign analysis newsletter, said many congressional candidates use their own money to prime the fund-raising pump.

“Voters don’t care,” said Duffy. “They didn’t care when (Sen.) John Corzine (D-N.J.) spent $60 million of his own money. Twenty-two-thousand dollars won’t even buy you a decent poll these days.”

While Sorensen has listed her personal donations as contributions with no expectation to be repaid, Otter listed the $407,000 he pumped into his own 2000 campaign as personal loans.

After Otter won the 2000 race, he repaid himself $200,000 from campaign contributions, according to federal records. After the 2001-2002 election cycle, he repaid himself just over $70,000 and then repaid himself another $30,000 after last year’s election for a current outstanding balance of slightly more than $99,000.

Otter announced in December that he’d be retiring from the House to run for Idaho governor in next year’s elections. His latest campaign finance report shows he’s got $195,321 cash on hand in his congressional campaign account.

Two other Republicans, state Sen. R. Skipper “Skip” Brandt of Kooskia and Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez, both officially entered the race last month but the Federal Election Commission’s online filing database does not yet include quarterly reports due July 15 from their campaigns. Reports are only required to be filed if candidates raise at least $5,000 in a federal campaign.

At least one Democrat is eyeing a run for the 1st District, which stretches from the Canadian border in the north to the Nevada border in the south. Former Micron general counsel Larry Grant has formed a committee to explore a campaign for the seat.