Challenger Angela Rodell is vastly outraising incumbent Mayor Beth Weldon in Juneau’s Oct. 1 municipal election, while Maureen Hall is far exceeding all other Juneau Assembly candidates, according to reports due one week before Election Day.
Meanwhile, opponents of the Ship-Free Saturday ballot proposition remain the dominant monetary presence in the election with roughly $500,000 in contributions and $750,000 in expenditures reported by the group Protect Juneau’s Future as of Thursday to the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
Rodell, whose supporters include a number of local Republican leaders and entities, has raised a total of $30,150 and spent $21,637.31, according to her campaign’s seven-day APOC report. A majority of the spending was on advertising, including a $787.50 payment to Sound Publishing which is the parent company of the Juneau Empire.
Weldon, while getting donations from some of the same people as Rodell, is also getting support from organizations such as the Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition PAC, Juneau Career Firefighters PAC and Laborers’ Local 942 PAC. She has raised $8,977.37 during her campaign in addition to a starting balance of $5,893.90 in her account, and spent $9,066.51 — largely on a mix of mailers, and advertising with traditional and social media.
Among the seven candidates seeking two Assembly seats and six candidates seeking three school board seats, all but two Assembly candidates registered as “exempt,” meaning they don’t intend to exceed $5,000 in campaign activity, including personal spending on such activities.
Both Assembly candidates filing APOC reports this week are among the five seeking the District 2 seat. Maureen Hall has a dominant financial edge with $7,082.15 raised, including contributions from Weldon and many of the same donors supporting the mayor. Hall has spent $3,324.92, with the largest expenditures including yard signs and radio advertising/sponsorships.
The other District 2 candidate filing a report is Dorene Lorenz, who also sought an Assembly seat last year and reported a starting deficit of $1,381.35 for her current campaign. She has raised $1,250 during the current campaign, most of that from a $1,000 contribution from Julie Ann Debenham, who is listed as a self-employed California resident. Lorenz has spent $2,342.04, primarily on mailers and office supplies, and has a total current deficit of $3,792.04.
The cruise industry is providing most of the cash to oppose Ship-Free Saturday, which if approved by voters would ban cruise ships with capacity for 250 or more people in Juneau on Saturdays and the Fourth of July. Royal Caribbean Group, Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings have each contributed $75,000, and Disney Worldwide Services has contributed $15,000. Other major contributors include $50,000 each from Goldbelt Inc. and A. J. Juneau Dock.
Supporters of the initiative have raised a total of $380.
Also on the ballot this election are two municipal bond measures totaling nearly $23 million, and recall votes of the top two members of the Juneau Board of Education. One of the board members, vice president Emil Mackey has contributed $500 to a group he registered to oppose the recall of himself and board president Deedie Sorensen — the only donation reported so far.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
