Sioux Falls school board candidates raised more than $62K during their campaigns

Morgan Matzen, Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Though the school board election was over six weeks ago, new post-election campaign finance reports due Wednesday show the five candidates raised more than $62,000.

When their initial pre-election campaign finance reports were due March 26, the candidates had raised more than $48,000 at that time. Here’s the latest.

School board candidates Gail Swenson, Bobbie Tibbetts, Marc Murren, Pat Starr and Stuart Willett.
School board candidates Gail Swenson, Bobbie Tibbetts, Marc Murren, Pat Starr and Stuart Willett.

Marc Murren

Returning board member Marc Murren’s report showed he raised an additional $3,125 on top of his $13,485 from the last report, for a total of $16,610 raised this campaign season. New income in the last eight weeks since Murren’s first campaign finance report was due includes:

  • $1,000 from First Premier Bank CEO Dana Dykhouse

  • $875 in unitemized direct contributions from individuals who donated $100 or less

  • $500 from Mark & Cynthia Mickelson (Cynthia is a former board member), and from South Dakota Realtors Political Action Committee

  • $250 from Jeff Jares

He spent another $4,798.99 on his campaign, including $3,500 on consulting, $598.99 on postage, $400 on event expenses and $300 on advertising. Murren spent a total of $15,727.30, and his final campaign balance was $1,106.07, which is higher than the $223.37 he began his campaign with in March.

Gail Swenson

New board member Gail Swenson, who will take office July 8, raised an additional $2,770 on top of the $9,582 she raised in her initial report, for a total of $12,352 raised this campaign season. New income since the first report includes:

  • $1,000 from the in-state political action committee South Dakota Educators Political Involvement Committee, led by chair and treasurer Holly Frederick

  • $720 in unitemized direct contributions from individuals who donated $100 or less

  • $500 from the Realtors Association of the Sioux Empire

  • $200 each from John McIntyre and Sheila Agee

  • $150 from Mitchell Richter, a lobbyist for the South Dakota United School Association

She spent another $2,001.40 on her campaign on top of the $7,608.46 she spent in her last report, including $1,456.24 on event expenses, $293.76 on Get Out The Vote, $137.72 on advertising, $94.07 on printing, and $19.61 on ActBlue fees for online donations.

She spent a total of $9,609.86 on her campaign and ended with $2,742.14 in her campaign account.

Bobbie Tibbetts

Bobbie Tibbetts raised the most of any of the candidates despite losing the election along with other candidates Stuart Willett and Pat Starr.

Tibbetts raised $5,625.12 on top of the $17,493.80 she raised in her initial report, for a total of $23,118.92 raised this campaign season. New income from the latest report includes:

  • $1,000 each from Miles Beacom, Mark Griffin and Zach Neugebauer

  • $521.15 from Maria Bell

  • $500 from South Dakota Realtors Political Action Committee

  • $479.80 in unitemized direct contributions from individuals who donated $100 or less

  • $260.73 from Josh Robinson

  • $250 from Robert Weisser

  • $150 each from John Pohlman and Scott Lawrence

  • $104.48 each from Scott Aberson, Corey Condon and Brooke Fitts

She spent $18,586.04, including $18,529.62 on advertising and $56.42 on credit card fees. That’s on top of the $2,375.58 she spent in her last report, leaving Tibbetts with $2,157.30 left in her campaign account.

Stuart Willett

Willett hasn’t turned in his post-election campaign finance report to the school district yet, but in his previous report from March, Willett had raised $5,472.72 and spent $1,765.09, ending with $3,707.63 in his campaign account.

Pat Starr

The only new campaign contribution to Starr’s campaign account in this latest report was $2,200 in unitemized direct contributions from individuals on top of the $2,850 raised in his last report. All totaled, Starr raised $5,050 in this campaign cycle.

Starr, a former city councilman, spent $5,032 in this latest report, including $4,696 on advertising, $221 on printing and $115 on office supplies, on top of the $18 he spent in his last report. He ended with no money in his campaign account.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls school board candidates raised $62K during their campaigns

Advertisement