Bazzell, Shipley Finance Filings

Two Student Candidates In Debt To Selves

City council candidates Jeff Shipley and Jared Bazzell filed their campaign finance reports today. The third student candidate, Dan Tallon, has opened a committee but not yet filed the report due today.

Bazzell and Shipley have crossed the $750 threshold that requires a campaign finance report from the spending side. but not from the fundraising side. Both have financed the early stages of their campaigns out of pocket.


Shipley has raised $390 and spent $2144, loaning his campaign committee the remaining $1754. The only local donor of note is area GOP activist Deb Thornton.

Bazzell has raised $530 and reports outstanding bills of $1314. About half his fundraising is local (including bar owner and dropped-out 2003 candidate George Etre); the other half is from family.

These figures are better than some past primary candidates. Brandon Ross and Steve Soboroff both made it through the 2003 primary without raising or spending $750. But the totals pale next to Susan Mims' $7000 and the nearly $16,000 Terry Dickens has raised.

Meanwhile, the first big test of student interest in next Tuesday's primary was yesterday with a satellite voting site at the UI Library. It drew 57 voters, a bit less than the 74 who voted at the IMU before the 2001 primary. And a hell of a lot less than the 945 who voted at Burge in the 2007 21 bar election... more early voting tomorrow at the Iowa City library and at UIHC.