Ward 3 & Ward 5 Challengers Get Campaign Funding From Many of the Same Donors

A2P Notes: All of the information about the donors and amounts comes from the Washtenaw County campaign finance web site. To search the database, and examine the candidate campaign finance disclosures yourself, visit this link: http://www.ewashtenaw.org/government/clerk_register/elections/cf_info.html

First off, Ingrid Ault’s name is Kristin. At least that’s the name on the campaign finance form filed by the Ward 3 City Council challenger (left) with the Washtenaw County Clerk’s office on July 21st. In the pre-election disclosure forms filed, Ault reported taking in a respectable $4,033.19. The more interesting part is from whom she took in the donations.

Sitting Council members didn’t give either Ault or Ward 5 Neil Elyakin’s campaign a dime. That doesn’t mean the challengers didn’t take in money from some of the usual suspects who donate to candidates recruited by John Hieftje:

AATA Board member and former head of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce Jesse Bernstein gave Ault and Elyakin $100 each. Bernstein, for those without the benefit of a searchable database for a memory, is one of the three men (Hieftje and former City Administrator Roger Fraser are the others) who worked very hard crafting back room deals to have a conference center built atop the library lot, and who wanted the work to go to the locally-connected Valiant Group, at least according to a tell-all email circulated by First Ward Council member Sabra Briere in January of 2010.

Ann Arbor’s County Commissioner Leah Gunn had her checkbook out for the campaigns of Second Ward Council member Stephen Rapundalo, and, yes, Kristin Ingrid Ault. Gunn contributed the not-so-round sum of $193.90 to Ault. Gunn’s PAC, Friends of Leah Gunn, contributed $100, as well. The PAC is financed by county politicos including County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum, Drain Commissioner Janis Bobrin, and County Commissioner Barbara Levin Bergman.

Bergman’s endorsing Ault. Of course, the endorsement of an elected official whom the local newspaper has repeatedly chastised for making off with almost $2,000 in taxpayer money in the form of per diems and mileage payments that she should never have asked to receive, is somewhat like being endorsed by Black Beard. One wonders if Ault understands that accepting Bergman’s endorsement makes it look as though Ault approves of stealing money from taxpayers and then refusing to give it back. A2P would have asked her, but in response to a request for an interview, Ingrid sent along a locally-sourced email asking A2P to simply answer the interview questions, as did Fifth Ward Council member Carsten Hohnke in November of 2010. Look for the Ault interview to run next week.

Jeff Meyers hammers out award-winning movie reviews for the Metro Times, and pro-development, pro-density copy for the online news site Concentrate Media. He was also recently appointed to the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission. He ran for Council in 2006 and lost. Now, you can find his photo pasted up on Ault’s site as one of her endorsers. He donated $100.

Like Leah Gunn, DDA Board member and former Ward 2 Council member Joan Lowenstein has been busy writing checks in support of candidates whom she hopes will knock off incumbents Stephen Kunselman and Mike Anglin. Lowenstein donated $100 each to Stephen Rapundalo and Ingrid Ault and $200 to Neil Elyakin. Readers may or may not remember Lowenstein as the women who went before Council in April 2010, and referred to an entire slice of Ward 5 as “sulkers.” Lowenstein’s contempt for Ward 5 residents is bound to be a great boost to Neil Elyakin’s campaign, the Ward 5 challenger whom Lowenstein has endorsed.

Ault scored a $100 donation from a Mr. Thomas Heywood*, who neglected to provide the required information concerning his employer. For extra credit, who is he? (Find the answer at the bottom of the piece.)

Former Third Ward Council member Jean Carlberg not only collected signatures to get Ault’s name on the ballot, she donated $100 to Ault’s campaign.

John Splitt and his wife July contributed a generous $200 donation. For those who wonder why the perfectly functional parking meters had to be replaced with parking kiosks that seem to frequently be out of service, you can thank Mr. Splitt who, along with Joan Lowenstein, is a member of the board of the Downtown Development Authority. Leah Gunn, it should be noted, reported to the DDA Board in January of 2010 that “we have found everybody likes the kiosks.” Ault, a former member of the Ypsilanti DDA, has repeatedly said that she thinks the Ann Arbor DDA is doing a “great job.”

This is a tough one: Inspire Michigan PAC. The PAC donated $150.00 to Ault’s campaign. I’ll give you a clue: this PAC belongs to a local politico who has been keeping a pretty low profile since he lost a squeaker to Jeff Irwin. Who ran against Jeff Irwin? Right. Ned Staebler. The Inspire Michigan PAC belongs to him.

As of July 21st, Ingrid Ault had spent $2,697.80 and had $1,335.39 remaining.

As of July 21st, Neil Elyakin (right) had raised $5,923 and spent $3,412.73. Elyakin raised $2,450 of his money from donors outside of Ann Arbor, including a $500 donation from Florine Mark, the CEO of the Weight Watcher Group, Inc. The other interesting disclosure is that Elyakin had a campaign reception that cost $379.47, and brought in $400 in donations—for a net donation amount of just $20.53. Oddly enough, this is just the kind of profit margin that seems to appeal to the current Council Majority and city staff.

Elyakin scored a $200 donation from Charles Gelman. For those who worry about the 1,4 dioxane Pall Plume creeping ever-so-steadily toward Barton Pond, where Ann Arbor’s drinking water comes from, before it was the Pall Plume, it was the Gelman Plume, originating on the property of Gelman Sciences. Gelman sold his company and now, evidently, has plenty of money for bottled water and political contributions. Check out Ed Vielmetti’s thorough blog post (and map) about the plume of contaminated ground water. Or not.

Unlike Elyakin’s and Ault’s other endorsers, evidently First Ward Council member Sandi Smith’s gift of her endorsement to both candidates must have been gift enough. Smith donated nothing to either campaign. Smith endorsement of Elyakin is in retaliation, no doubt, for Anglin’s endorsement of Sumi Kailasapathy in her 2010 bid to unseat Sandi Smith. Smith’s endorsement against her colleague on Council, Stephen Kunselman, blows to hell Kunselman’s steadfast belief that his refusal to back candidates who challenge sitting Council members is political insurance. Smith, evidently, missed the memo.

Third Ward challenger Marwan Issa had not turned in his pre-election campaign finance forms by the deadline which means he’s either late filing the forms, or expects to spend less than $1,000 total on his campaign.

*Thomas Heywood is the head of the State Street Area Association.