Below are the Easton Mayoral campaign finance reports filed today by challenger Peter Melan and incumbent Sal Panto. Except for the signatures and phone numbers of the candidates, everything is there for you to review and make observations. This is called participatory journalism. You might see something I don't. I'll have an analysis on Monday. I wanted to get this out as soon as it was filed so that voters are fully informed about who is behind each campaign.
Melan started this race with a $3,000 treasury, and raised $23,665 in cash and in-kind contributions of $700. He spent $17,143.71, leaving him with $9,601.50 to spend in the race's closing days.
Panto started with $4,962.40 in the till. He was able to raise $62,890 and in-kinds of $6,500. He spent only $7,109.94, leaving him with $60,742 for the closing week.
Though Panto raised more than twice as much money as Melan, he let Peter outspend him . This is really odd because Democrats start voting as soon as mail-in ballots are ready.
Easton Mayor Sal Panto Pre-Primary Finance Report Filed 5/5/23 by BernieOHare on Scribd
Peter Melan Pre-Primary Finance Report Filed 5/5/23 by BernieOHare on Scribd
12 comments:
Interesting, Bernie, thanks for posting. Surprised that Terry Houck didn’t have a more successful fundraising campaign, but it appears he has support from a variety of groups/people. Steve Baratta, on the other hand has some heavy hitters donating. Did I read correctly that Ray Lahoud donated $10,000? If so, what is in this for him? He is also very active in the running of the campaign. Chris (?) Morganelli was another familiar name. I can’t imagine his dad played a part in him having some business thrown his way. (Eye roll)
I will transfer this comment to the DA post.
If these statements are any indication of what the results will be; Peter will get trounced. Peter has family and friends as the only donors. This is the end for his political career.
Does Sal get to keep unspent money at the end of his political run?
The real question - did Ken Greene outspend them both?
John, Unfortunately, I left the elections office at 3:30. Greene had not yet filed. He had until 4:30 pm andI will certainly be checking on Monday.
6:21. He can continue to fund other candidates, like Bob Donchex and Glenn Reibman do. He could spend $ on a wide range of personal expenses. I know pols who paid for their subscriptions with this money. The law is very relaxed and there and the DOS never inquires unless there's a complaint. And then you never hear the results. I complained to DOS about Schlossberg's reports, where he was reimbursing himself without explanation. The DOS assured me that was wrong and they would investigate. They never did.
I am posting this now before I forget. A reader just called me with several observations. He noted that Sal fails to complete addresses and occupations of many donors. Many candidates fail to do that. He also noted that Panto returned a $150 contribution made by Nowroski.
Nowroski’s days are numbered, I would suspect that he will be terminated after the election. Same thing happened in the 80’s with Director of public works cappellano
I've made some calls, and have learned that Panto appreciates, but declines contributions made by his staff. He does not want people working for the City to think they owe him anything. If that is true, it's actually very refreshing.
I've also learned that Panto's cash on hand is large bc he is waiting for bills from some media buys.
Melan has no chance for victory. Eastonians love new restaurants.
They also love gun violence, gang activity, and illegal drug trade.
And Sal Panto has delivered consistently on all four.
This post is asking for observations with respect to the expense reports both candidates filed. Thanks.
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