Challenger faces huge cash deficit
Heading into the fall campaign season, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly has a big head start in the money race over his Democratic challenger.
The two-term Kelly has a 6-to-1 advantage over Dan LaVallee in the dash for campaign cash, according to the candidates' most recent finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Kelly ended June with $689,403 in his war chest, compared to the $113,532 in LaVallee's coffers, their second quarterly reports for the year showed.
The candidates, both from Butler County, were unopposed in the primary and not financially pinched en route to their party's nomination in the Nov. 4 election.
Kelly has amassed $1.13 million in the current 2013-14 election cycle. LaVallee, a political newcomer, raised just under $230,000 in the same time.
For the two-year election cycle, Kelly has spent $498,798, while the challenger has spent $116,000.
During the latest two-month reporting period that covers May 1 to June 30, the congressman's campaign committee took in $204,475, compared to the $107,625 received by LaVallee's committee.
For the same period, Kelly and LaVallee spent $60,464 and $45,942, respectively.
Kelly, 66, an auto dealer, who lives in Butler, was first elected in 2010.
Two-thirds of his contributions during the election cycle have come from political election committeesThe finance sector was the most generous to his campaign, followed by the oil and gas industry and the health sector.The top three contributors to the congressman's coffers, which includes donations from the company's PAC and its employees, were the Armstrong Group of Companies, Ernst & Young and Amerikohl Mining.LaVallee, 26, of Cranberry Township is running full-time as a candidate.He previously worked in health care policy and management and last served as the deputy director of American Health Insurance Plan, a health care trade association in Washington, D.C.ActBlue, the Democratic National Committee's online fundraising organization, provided a big boost to LaVallee's campaign.The group, which directs contributions from individual contributors to Democratic candidates, has given LaVallee's committee $41,915 during the election cycle, his report showed.While most of LaVallee's contributions have come from individuals, labor PACs also have been generous to his effort to unseat the incumbent.
Here are the contributors who gave $2,000 or more in the past two months to the campaign committees of the candidates in the 3rd Congressional District, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission:<B>Republican Mike Kelly</B>• $5,000 — American Medical Association, Washington, D.C.; Automotive Free International Trade PAC, Alexandria, Va.; Exxon Mobil Corp. PAC, Indianapolis, Ind.; UBS Americas Inc. PAC, Stamford, Conn.• $4,000 — Chesapeake Energy Corp. Fed-PAC, Oklahoma City, Okla.• $3,100 — Nancy Greenleaf, retired, Erie• $3,000 — American Resort Development Association-Resort Owners Coalition, Washington; Charles Queenan, retired, Pittsburgh• $2,600 — James Greenleaf, executive of Greenleaf Corp., Erie• $2,500 — American Association for Homecare PAC, Washington; American College of Surgeons Professional Association PAC, Washington; American Society for Radiation Oncology PAC, Fairfax, Va.; Associated Builders & Contractors, Rosslyn, Va.• $2,500 — Carlos De La Cruz, Key Biscayne, Fla., chairman of CCI Companies; Energy Transfer Employee Management Co. PAC, Austin, Texas; Ernst & Young PAC, Washington; First Energy Corp. PAC, Akron, Ohio; Microsoft Corp. PAC, Redmond, Wash.• $2,500 — National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts Inc. PAC, Washington; National Multifamily Housing Council PAC, Washington; Pride Mobility Products Corp. PAC, Exeter, Pa.; Zeneca Inc. PAC, Wilmington, Del.• $2,000 — Altria Group Inc. PAC, Washington; AT&T Inc. Federal PAC, Dallas, Texas; BNSF Railway Co. PAC, Fort Worth, Texas; CSX Corp. Good Government Fund, Washington; International Franchise Association PAC, Washington; KPMG Partners/Principals/Employees PAC, Washington$2,000 — Thomas Kim, president of Thomas Capitol Partners, McLean, Va.; Lowes Companies Inc. PAC, Mooresville, N.C.; National Emergency Medicine PAC, Irving, Texas; Home Depot PAC, Washington<B>Democrat Dan LaVallee</B>• $10,000 — United Auto Workers-Voluntary Community Action Program, Detroit, Mich.• $5,000 — Sheet Metal Workers International Association PAC, Washington; United Association Political Education Committee (United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States, Canada and Australia, Annapolis, Md.• $2,600 — T.B. Hagan, chairman of Erie Insurance, Erie; David Malone, wealth adviser for Gateway Financial Group, Pittsburgh; Cecily Ann Sesler, retired, Erie; William Sesler, retired, Erie;• $2,500 — Stephen Frobouck, president of Anderson Group, Pittsburgh• $2,000 — Barbara Thayer Storey, retired, Philadelphia; Barbara Valaw, chief executive officer of Valcott Enterprises, Pittsburgh.
