Riverhead supervisor has raised $7K and spent $5K in 2012
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter’s midyear campaign filings are in.
The reports, which were due July 15, show the second-term supervisor raised just over $7,000 so far in 2012, though Mr. Walter told the News-Review Monday — before the filings were posted to the state Board of Elections website — that he would be filing an amended report soon.
He said his campaign held a “big fundraiser” last Thursday, from which he had expected to raise some $10,000 to $12,000.
Mr. Walter spent about 70 percent of the money he’s raised so far, with the biggest chunk of change ($2,000) going to downtown resident Anthony Coates for political consultant fees. He paid Mr. Coates $1,000 in April and again in May, the records show.
His largest political donation of $1,500 came from Giorgios Catering LLC, which operates a catering hall in Baiting Hollow, though Mr. Walter had to return $464 of that money because of state campaign finance law. The maximum donation, which is tied to population, is $1,038 for Riverhead Town offices, Mr. Walter said.
The largest donation from a listed individual was $260 from John O’Connor of Blue Point.
Mr. Walter also listed seven contributions totaling $1,290 — the largest of which was $435 — from unnamed individuals, which happens if a campaign loses track of where a donation came from, say if the donation was cash.
Mr. Walter spent a total of $4,944.83 so far in 2012, leaving him with $2,092.52, not including returns from last week’s fundraiser.
“It’s tough to raise money and I don’t like to do it in an off election year, because you’re taking money from other candidates who are running,” Mr. Walter said in Monday’s interview. “We spent like $98,000 last year. We’ve shown our ability to be able to raise cash and I don’t know if anybody in a Town of Riverhead supervisor’s race ever raised that amount of money.
“And if we had to, we’d raise it again.”
