Ward 4 candidates rake in campaign contributions

LAKEWOOD – City Council candidates show a wide gap in fund-raising, according to campaign finance reports filed with the City Clerk s, but indicate a few dozen city residents constitute the core of the individual contributor list.

Amy Attwood, who is running against Dave Wiechman for the Ward 4 seat vacated by incumbent Doug Anderson, has a runaway lead in fund-raising. Her nearly $17,000  campaign chest far outpaces the $9,285 raised by Wiechman, the second highest amount raised thus far in citywide races.

The more than $26,000 raised by Ward 4’s two candidates totals more than the all the funds gathered by the other City Council candidates combined.

Ward 2 candidate Frank Teunissen trails the entire pack in fund-raising, having pulled in just $1,270. Of that amount, in-kind (non-monetary) donations of  $375 represent more than a quarter of Teunissen’s total. Teunissen’s opponent, Scott Koop, has raised $2,948, $200 of it through in-kind contributions. They are seeking the council vacancy left by Koop’s wife Debbie, who is term-limited.

In Ward 5, the only other contested race, the fund-raising totals are closer than in any other races. Incumbent Diana Allen has raised $6,651 and challenger Natalie Menten has a campaign treasury of $5,479.

Ward 3 incumbent Sue King has no challenger, but has collected $3,153. Incumbent Vicki Stack, who is unchallenged in Ward 1, saw no need to solicit donations and collected none

Attwood also leads the campaign field in the amount of corporate or Political Action Committee funding, raising $3,700 from those sources. Of that amount, $600 in corporate donations came from her family’s business and that of another close relative.

Carma (Colorado) Inc., developer of the Solterra project in Ward 4’s Rooney Valley, contributed $1,000 to Attwood’s campaign.

Allen raised the second highest amount of corporate and PAC funding, $1,550. That including Carma and the Homebuilders of Metro Denver. Ward 2’s Scott  Koop had three corporate donations totaling $750, including funds from the Metro Housing Coalition and the Jefferson County Association of Realtors.

No other Council candidates received corporate or PAC donors.

The Ward 4 candidates also lead the field in donations from individuals. Attwood lists 92 donations from individuals, two dozen of them from outside the city. Wiechman has contributions from 60 citizens, all but six of them from Lakewood.

In Ward 2, Scott Koop lists 43 individual donations, only three of them from outside Lakewood. Teunissen has 10 donors, two of them from Lakewood.

In Ward 5, Menten brought in 44 individual donations, 20 of them from outside Lakewood. Allen lists 56 individual donations, 15 from outside the city.

The largest donations, $1,000 each, were collected by Attwood, Menten and Wiechman.