Numbers Don’t Lie

A few days back, NLS mentioned that Brian Moran’s numbers “couldn’t be right” in his article Moran Raises Over a Million and Spends It?.  I believe the numbers were right and they are indeed pretty screwy.I know the election’s still a year away and I know that the official State Board of Elections report isn’t released until next week.  Another thing that I know is that releasing your numbers a week early is to accentuate the point of your fiscal abilities.  Looking through the many reports of his fundraising numbers, I think that anyone that actually looks into the numbers behind what was released would be frightened at what they see.The Richmond-Times Dispatch article here was probably the most exact and simple report that I’ve seen, as well as looking as if it’s lifted straight from the press release the Moran team sent out.  They say that Moran will report 1.38 million raised for the first half of the year.  They also say that the new money he raised totaled $990,000, and he also transferred $393,000 from PACs that he also controls.  Last, the article adds that he spent about $587,000 in these first six months since Moran announced his candidacy.  Let me also add that, according to VPAP, out of the other PACs he controls, Leadership for Virginia’s future closed out with $0 cash on hand and his candidate committee for Delegate closed out last year with $578,000 on hand. Now lets break this down.First off, he wouldn’t “report” 1.4 million dollars “raised”.  He would report that 1.4 mil plus the $587k he spent…yielding an report total of $793,000 or the “nearly $800,000″ the article states.  Second, he closed his account last year with $578,000 on but only transferred $393,000 to his gubernatorial committee….that’s another $185,000 in spending.  Add that to the $587,000 he spent and that gives you a total of $772,000 spent over a six month period.  In all, Brian Moran spent nearly $800,000 to raise a little under a million that he could report “raised”.  Call me crazy, but that’s a 78% spent/raised ratio and a burn rate that can’t keep up for long.  Virginia has a long history of fiscal conservatism, and I don’t know if these figures will sit well with those citizens that are politically aware, but it sure doesn’t sit well with me.I’d love to see what Creigh Deeds‘ and Bob McDonnell’s numbers are…only four more days to wait.  I’ve heard through the grapevine that Deeds has nowhere near the funds of Moron Moran and have heard nothing from the McDonnell camp, although I would be expecting a very low burn rate and a huge cash on hand value from them next week. We shall see soon enough.

Written on July 12, 2008
Democrats, Governor, State Politics
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