Democrats spend big on Linn County Supervisor race

CEDAR RAPIDS - Among the six candidates for the Linn County Board of Supervisors, three Democrats - including the two incumbents on the ballot - have spent about four times as much as their Republican challengers in campaign efforts.

According to campaign finance reports filed this month, Democrats Stacey Walker, Brent Oleson and Ben Rogers spent more than $42,000 collectively on their respective campaigns.

That compared to about $10,000 spent between Republican candidates Tim Gull and Randy Ray. The third Republican on the ballot, Adam Jensen, did not report any campaign expenses.

Candidates are required to report contributions and/or expenditures to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board if they have raised or spent more than $1,000.

All reports were filed by Oct. 19 and cover individual candidate campaigns leading up to the Nov. 8 election.

Walker, who spent the most among the six supervisor candidates on the ballot, at about $19,000, said his campaign expenses were on traditional efforts such as mailers and signs, social media marketing and developing campaign events such as a kickoff party at Lion Bridge Brewery in Cedar Rapids.

'We were able to bring together a lot of different people, and I think some of that diversity is reflected in our campaign contributions,” Walker said.

In the Nov. 8 election, Walker will face Jensen for District 2, Rogers and Gull are vying for the District 3 seat, and Oleson and Ray are seeking the county's District 4 seat.

Walker - who began the campaign with more than $15,000 on hand and received another $9,000 in cash contributions - was the biggest spender, with nearly $19,000 in campaign expenses.

Incumbent Oleson began the campaign with more than $55,000, raised another $4,600 and spent more than $16,700 on campaign efforts.

Incumbent Rogers started the campaign with $18,000, added $3,000 in contributions and spent more than $7,000 on campaigning.

Among Republicans on the ballot, Ray ended up spending about $5,700, according to reports.

Gull, who spent about $4,800 on things such as campaign merchandise and signs, said his first campaign effort was a learning experience.

'I didn't realize until late in the race how critical fundraising is,” he said Tuesday. 'We're running out of money.”

Gull added he thought the overall campaign was a good experience.

Meanwhile, in the race for Linn County Sheriff, Libertarian candidate Rick Stewart has invested more than $17,000 on his campaign.

He contributed a little more than $2,000 of his own funds into his campaign - most of which was spent filming and editing promotional videos, according to reports. Stewart so far incurred $15,500 in unpaid expenses - with more than $10,000 of that spent on campaign commercials that ran on cable television in Washington, D.C., according to reports.

Stewart could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Incumbent Democrat Brian Gardner began the campaign with more than $9,500 from previous campaigns. He spent a little more than $300 on web hosting, according to reports.