LETTER TO THE EDITOR:  HOW MUCH ARE COUNTY COMMISSION CANDIDATES SPENDING LOCALLY?

Written By Johnnt Kincaid

APRIL 24. 2024

I feel that you might be able to learn something about a political candidate by looking at their campaign finance reports. It not only tells who contributes to a campaign; you can also tell a lot about them by who and where they spend their campaign money.

When candidates buy locally they will build positive relationships with local businesses when they spend the majority of their campaign dollars here.

Since the first of the year, over $200,000 has been given to the Republican candidates for Vanderburgh County Commissioner. Amy Canterbury, the newcomer to politics, started with no campaign funds and managed to raise $153,676 between January 1 and April 16, 2024. Political veteran Cheryl Musgrave started the year with $103,209 and raised $52,758 for the primary. This gave each campaign about $150,000 to use to persuade your vote.

Where did each candidate spend their $150,000? First, they both kept money in reserve; money that they might spend either in a final push for the primary or hang onto for the general election.

Amy Canterbury spent $110,010 during the four months since the first of the year. $42,500 went to Matchstick Media, an Ohio media consulting firm that does creative for political campaigns throughout the country. Another $10,250 was paid for a polling company from Washington DC, and $23,835 went to KAP Print in Texas for direct mail. Canterbury’s total out-of-market spending was $75,585 or 70% of total spending.

County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave spent a total of $56,055. Her campaign spent the overwhelming majority of its dollars locally, instead of using an out-of-market media buyer. Several payments were made to the corporate headquarters of the local media outlets, and the only truly out-of-town expenditure was $500 company for data. The total out-of-town spending by the Musgrave campaign was less than one percent of her campaign budget.

Political officials and candidates need to foster positive relationships with local businesses. There’s no better way to promote local businesses than to do business with them. Spending money locally shows that you are committed to the success of our community.

FOOTNOTE: This article was posted by the City-County Observer without bias or editing.

IS IT TRUE that a public revelation made in 2023 that the three entities that have partnered for more than a decade to do the economic development work for the City of Evansville, Vanderburgh County, and parts of the surrounding counties have been merged into a single organization impressed some people as a way to save money and concerned others about the concentration of efforts?…the merged entities consist of the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana that did traditional chamber activities like mixers, lobbying, and the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) to mentor micro businesses, the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE) that was formed to foster entrepreneurship in industries that pay a thriving wage, and the Southwest Indiana Coalition for Economic Development that focused on attraction of outside businesses were merged into a new entity called E-REP that stands for Evansville Regional Economic Partnership?…historically government supported the two economic development entities and private businesses supported the Chamber of Commerce?

IS IT TRUE that from the first day of formation, E-REP with the help of special interest groups positioned those in control to build political and financial dynasties?

IS IT TRUE there is much curiosity in the Tri-State about the benefits of merging these entities into one and why the need to do such a thing culminated so rapidly?…it may not have been as fast as it was revealed as an examination of the 990 tax forms for E-REP showing that it was formed three years ago in 2021 inside the Chamber by Tara Barney during her reign as CEO?  …right after Ms. Barney departed from E-REP the Executive Board did a “National Search” and selected the former Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke to replace her?

IS IT TRUE in reality E-REP assumed the roles of the Chamber and gobbled up the other two organizations as their leadership moved or were moved into retirement?…the transparency about this merger from a public disclosure perspective is being questioned by many mover and shakers of our community? …that the non-profit organization aggregation site GuideStar gives ratings for transparency gives Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum rankings to all non-profits based on how much of their financial, management, board of directors, and performance data is published on their site?…at this time E-REP has no ranking whatsoever on GuideStar which is below the lowest rating for transparency that GuideStar has?…this simply means that E-REP  have shared GuideStar no information of substance period?

IS IT TRUE one of the City-County Observer “Moles” that is adept at cyber-sleuthing techniques was able to learn that E-REP is a 501c6 which is typical for organizations that employ lobbyists like Chambers of Commerce do?… Economic Development entities like GAGE and the Coalition are typically either 501c3 or 501c4 organizations that can accept deductible donations from anywhere?…this begs the question “Can E-REP accept money from the government”?

IS IT true that E-REP has plans for the Evansville riverfront to span from the LST to the Pump Station? …this massive proposed multi-million dollar capital project includes new residential, retail/food & beverage space, and new recreation areas with elevated and street-level walking paths.  …that this project may propose to reroute traffic and move some of the existing attractions/structures?  …that we expect to learn about this big ticket capital project at a formal announcement on the 21st of this month?

IS IT TRUE when the people fear the Government we have Tyranny and when the government fears the people we have Liberty!

FOOTNOTES

“The City-County Observer does not promote or condone discrimination of any kind including preference based on race, gender, identity, or political preference.