Evans and Graves lead Stephens in 9th District money contest
July 16, 2009 at 6:33 pm by Scott Henry in News
Mike "Huey Lewis" Evans
Former state Sen. Bill Stephens, R-Canton, last seen getting his butt kicked by Karen Handel in the 2006 GOP primary for Secretary of State, has now posted the low fundraising score among the three candidates vying for the 9th District Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Nathan Deal.
His opponents are state Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, and state DOT board member-turned-lobbyist Mike Evans. Here are the numbers for all three:
- Evans — $150,881, incl. $147,281 from individual contributions and $3,600 from PACs
- Graves — $116,540, incl. $96,290 from individual contributions and $20,250 from PACs
- Stephens — $40,095, incl. $22,345 from individual contributions and $17,750 from PACs
Now, it should be noted that Stephens jumped into the race at the beginning of June, which means he raised that 40 grand in a month’s time. But Deal didn’t announce his run for governor until the end of May, so Evans and Graves had no more than two months to build their own war chests. Yet Evans raised nearly four times as much as Stephens and Graves almost three times as much.
Particularly interesting is the hefty percentage of Stephens’ cash — almost half — that came from political action committees, as opposed to individual donors. By contrast, nearly all of the money raised by Evans, who doesn’t have the former legislator’s political connections, came from Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Public. That suggests to me that Evans, at least for now, is leading the race by one dimpled chin.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Upon further analysis of Mike’s $147,281 in individual contributions, apparently all of it was raised by GDOT Commissioner turned Wife Gena Evans by collecting $5 from each of her previous boyfriends/lovers/fiances. Nice work.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Well, this is interesting. Mike raises $150K for 9th congressional district race. Hm….if Gena would start charging for what she was “giving away” (wink wink) with all her former interns/students/co-workers/bosses, etc. Mike would not have to ask for another dime and I gurantee you no other candiate would catch up in fundraising department. In fact, I hope Mike does win, Gena could go to Washington, DC, charge for “it” and we could pay off the whole national debt. Somehow, ethically/morally Gena and Mike don’t add up to Nathan Deal and his wife but if the people of the 9th District want that to represent them…..their choice.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Do you think the mortgage industry is going to forget the favor Stephens did for them in 2003? Remember when he was a state senator and he killed the new predatory lending law by making up a little fib about a Fannie Mae letter that threatened to shut down home loans in Georgia? Georgia’s lenders made a ton of money off that stunt and they’ll funnel some of it back to Stephens soon enough.