YOUR AD HERE »

Handful of donors support commissioner candidates

John Martin
CountyDepartures-GPI-070815jpg-CampaignFinance-GPI-060816jpg-CampaignFinance-GPI-060916jpg

Garfield County’s District 2 commissioner candidates have collectively pulled in $10,885, with the bulk of the contributions coming from only a handful of donors.

The first round of campaign finance reports for commissioner candidates were due Tuesday.

Commissioner John Martin, who’s spent nearly 20 years on the board, has almost completely self-funded his campaign so far. He’s raised $7,735, $7,000 of that coming from his own pocket.



Martin contributed $1,000 to his own campaign committee in March, then he added another $6,000 to that in May. His committee has received $735 from other donors.

Tim Kinyon of Rifle donated $300. Milton Blakey of New Castle contributed $200. Richard Morgan of New Castle donated $50.



The committee lists $185 from small donations. Contributions less than $20 don’t have to be itemized.

Martin’s committee has also nearly spent all of that money as of June 2. The committee has spent $6,000 in radio advertising. For political signs, it spent $1,210, and for social media advertising, it spent $480.

Challenging Martin for the Republican nomination, Silt Trustee Aron Diaz has raised $1,850 and spent $1,254.75.

Michael Johnson of Rifle gave Diaz’s campaign committee $1,000. Norm Chandler of Battlement Mesa gave $500. Former state Rep. Gregg Rippy of Glenwood Springs, chairman of the board of Garfield County’s Federal Mineral Lease District, gave $250. And Bradford Dempsey of Arvada gave $100.

The Committee to Elect Aron Diaz has spent this money on a variety of miscellaneous items. The big-ticket items were $360.38 for printing and graphic design, $255 toward the Garfield County Republican’s Lincoln/Regan Dinner and $190 for candidate fliers.

John Acha, a New Castle Democrat, has raised $1,300. All of his campaign fundraising has happened in about the last week. The bulk of that money, $1,000, came from the Garfield County Democratic Party on June 1.

John Stephens from Glenwood Springs donated $250 to Acha’s committee, and Carbondale Trustee Marty Silverstein contributed $50.

Acha spent $184 on yard signs, $100 on a Strawberry Days float and $100 to Ryan Gilman for consultation and professional services, $83.78 for a website and $9.99 for business cards.

Andrea Matthews of Rifle, who was pursuing a campaign to challenge Commission Michael Samson but failed to win enough county convention support to be placed on the primary ballot, said she has not continued her campaign. Matthews said she had not raised or spent any money.

Despite early signs of completion this election season, Samson didn’t raise or spend any campaign money either. But he is holding onto $295.73 that he’s been reporting since at least 2012.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.