A closer look, Part 2

State Representative John Bel Edwards, the only Democrat, so far, to formally announce for Governor, starts the year with $474,725.46 carried over from his 2013 Annual report.  Adding $360,007.37 total receipts, subtracting $108,458.16 total disbursements and $5,380.37 in-kind contributions leaves him with $745,894.30 to start 2015.  His summary page also shows that $41,750.00 came from Political Action Committees and he has invested $250,000.00 of his campaign funds.  It does not indicate that any of his Contributions came from the sale of tickets to fundraising events. He shows no "Other Receipts," "Other Disbursements," or "Anonymous Contributions." Schedule E-1 reports 3 "Contribution Refunds" for which there is no corresponding contribution.  These may have been disclosed on an earlier report. There are no obvious excessive contributions.

Of his Total Receipts, $325,907.37 come from Louisiana, $34,100.00 from elsewhere.

Of total disbursements $90,664.13 stayed in Louisiana, $17,794.03 went out of state.  Fundraising accounts for $24,398.85, including Catering, Entertainment, Staff, Lodging, Printing & Services. Database & Email Services, Social Media, Domain & Website Design account for $18,978.27.  He reports a total of $32,500.00 for General Campaign Consulting, $9,000.00 for Polling and $5,277.63 for Printing of Campaign Materials.  Gasoline, Postage and Service Fees account for $5,985.25.

We're up to $96,140.00, or over 86% of his total disbursements.  The rest is listed as Advertising, Box Rental, Caucus Dues, Charitable Contributions, a Contribution (to the Democratic Party,) the Contribution Refunds mentioned earlier, Convention Fees, Meals (only 1, at McDonalds in Paradis,) Office Supplies, Parade Fee, Parking, Refund, a Sponsorship & Travel Expenses.

This has been quicker and even less interesting than Senator Vitter's report, both of which are to be expected from about a fifth of the data.  (I have also learned a little more about the tools I use to examine the data.)  Since this post is much shorter that the last one, I'm tempted to plow ahead through the next report, but I will resist.

So in Part 3 we will look at Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne.