The press is noticing that we are staying competitive with Russ Carnahan with cash on hand. Here is an excerpt from the St. Louis Beacon:
The financial success of Sowers and Martin continues to be striking, in part, because their districts are generally deemed safe turf for the incumbent party. The fact that both insurgents are continuing to amass money is seen as a sign of their campaigns’ energy, which in turn has helped Martin and Sowers attract attention — and more money — from national GOP or Democratic groups.
While Russ Carnahan is raising more money, he is spending more too. A good deal more. Here is a table with figures from official Federal Election Commission reports both of our campaigns have to file:
| Total Raised | Total Raised for Quarter | Total Spent | Total Spent for Quarter | Cash on Hand | |
| Martin | $582,278 | $202,659 | $103,498 | $59,443 | $478,779 |
| Carnahan | $875,299 | $258,697 | $533,948 | $110,567 | $520,545 |
Often when I ask for your support, I mention that we are being very frugal with your campaign contributions. Here is the evidence. Despite all the events and town halls we are having, Russ Carnahan has spent over five times as much as our campaign. My campaign staff is doing an excellent job maximizing the impact of your support. In comparison, Carnahan’s campaign is spending money like – well – a liberal congressman. Taxpayers are covering the costs of his mailings telling us how wonderful Obamacare will be. Taxpayers are paying for the staff members who hang up the phone when constituents call. It’s not like his campaign is arranging for town halls to explain his voting record, yet there went half a million dollars.
I think his campaign spending record is reflective of his voting record. Russ Carnahan is lavish with other people’s money.
Russ Carnahan may be more shrewd when it is not the taxpayer’s money. His yacht the “Attractive Nuisance”. This boat has not been registered since 2008, the equivalent of not buying plates for your car. It is currently berthed in Alton, even though his home state has a marina just across the river. A cynic might think he is planning to register the boat in Illinois to avoid Missouri’s personal property taxes.
That of course is between Russ Carnahan, his conscience and the Department of Revenue. I bring it up primarily because last summer Russ Carnahan stated that protesting against an expensive entitlement (paid for with other people’s money) is an attack on representative government. However, not paying registration fees and berthing your yacht in your home state passes Russ Carnahan’s smell test just fine.
I have no beef whatsoever with how Russ Carnahan burns through money free people give to him freely. However, Russ Carnahan’s campaign budget demonstrates why he should not be allowed to handle government resources. For Russ’s campaign cash it may be “easy come, easy go”, but we work too hard for that to apply to the federal budget.
