Financial Impact of Local Campaign Reform Measures
on Sarasota County, Florida, Candidates
History
In 1990, Sarasota County voters enacted several local campaign reform measures which took effect in their 1992 elections.
These measures included a contribution cap of $200 and aggregate contribution caps for donations to candidates, a contribution cap of
$100 and an aggregrate cap of $1,000 to political committees that support a candidate, and defined for the purpose of these caps
that the entire election cycle (primary, runoff and general) was considered as one election cycle. In 1999, these measures were
challenged and a circuit court threw out all local reform measures
except for the $200 contribution cap.
The interpretation of the contribution cap also changed in 1998 such that it applied to each election cycle
individually (primary, runoff and general). The effect of this change was to increase the amount of money that could be
received from a single source during the course of an election from $200 to $600. [For comparison, the state imposes an individual
contribution cap of $500 per election cycle which allows $1500 during the course of an entire election.]
In order to see what impact, if any, Sarasota's local campaign reform measures had on the financing of its county commission
elections, we compared their county commission candidates' total expenditures, net worth, and self-financing (amount of their
own money used for their campaign) in each election year since 1994 using data provided by the Sarasota County Supervisor of
Elections Office.
We looked at the net worth data from two perspectives: that of all county commission candidates who qualified
to run (excluding 1 write-in candidate who raised no campaign money); and that of those candidates who made it to the general election.
Self-financing and expenditure trends were based only on data from those candidates who made it to the general election as it would make
little sense to compare this data between candidates who did and didn't make it past the primaries.
Although local reform measures took effect in Sarasota County beginning with the 1992 elections, we have not included data from 1992
in our analysis because a significant change in their county commission elections existed during that year. Sarasota County commissioners
were elected from single-member districts in 1992. They had previously been elected at-large, and reverted back to being elected
at-large in the 1994 elections.
Overall Picture
The graph below compares the average net worth, average self-financing, and average expenditures of the county commission
candidates in each election year from 1994 through 2000.
Net Worth
The minimum, maximum and average net worth of the candidates declined overall between 1994 and 2000.
The average net worth decreased 23% for all candidates over this period, and decreased of 62% for candidates who made it to the
general elections. In contrast, the personal income per capita (PIPC) amount for Sarasota County in 1998 increase 18% over that
of 1994. Projecting this increase through 2000 would show a PIPC increase of 28% over 1994.
Net Worth | | %Change
all candidates | | %Change
general election |
|---|
| Maximum | | -19% | | -72% |
| Average | | -23% | | -62% |
| Minimum | | -50% | | -50% |
Total Expenditures
The candidates' total expenditures equaled their total contributions raised minus any unspent loans from themselves that were
refunded to themselves. The average total expenditures by candidates in 2000 increased 168% over those of 1994.
During this same period the population of Sarasota County
increased 10% .
The range of expenditures (difference between the maximum amount raised and minimum raised)
from 1994 to 2000 increased only 23% despite the much larger increase in total expenditures.
Self-financing
The amount of their own money that candidates spent on their campaigns flucuated greatly between 1994 and 2000; resulting in
a dramatic overall decrease. The average and
maximum self-financing decreased 89% and 92%, respectively,
for candidates who made it to the general election. It is difficult, however, to infer any trend suggested by the data because of the
fluctuation from year to year.
The Data
| year | candidate | net worth | expenditures | self-financing | result | election
progress |
| |
| 1994 | A | $261,600 | $20,015 | $0 | lost | primary |
| 1994 | B | $1,077,462 | $29,803 | $15,998 | won | general |
| 1994 | C | $346,042 | $4,525 | $0 | lost | general |
| 1994 | D | $106,791 | $11,429 | $65 | won | primary |
| |
| 1996 | A | $584,041 | $22,349 | $0 | won |
| 1996 | B | $737,268 | $23,215 | $100 | won |
| 1996 | C | $5,000 | $18,097 | $0 | lost |
| 1996 | D | $601,150 | $23,654 | $2,400 | lost |
| |
| 1998 | A | $453,450 | $24,467 | $17,488 | lost | general |
| 1998 | B | $2,169,601 | $26,215 | $19,230 | lost | primary |
| 1998 | C | $143,099 | $69,964 | $0 | won | general |
| 1998 | D | $1,699,762 | $66,524 | $11,492 | lost | primary |
| 1998 | E | $1,003,650 | $62,285 | $24,719 | won | general |
| 1998 | F | $267,524 | $5,941 | $1,369 | lost | general |
| |
| 2000 | A | $53,795 | $23,557 | $0 | lost | general |
| 2000 | B | $874,107 | $19,081 | $0 | lost | primary |
| 2000 | C | $215,683 | $54,629 | $1,320 | won | general |
| 2000 | D | $283,750 | $57,432 | $21,722 | lost | primary |
| 2000 | E | $306,100 | $44,255 | $18 | won | primary |
Alachua County Citizens for Campaign Reform 2/4/01
|