[Post updated at 12:00ET on April 17, 2015 in regards to amounts of contributions and Paypal]
Campaign Treasurer: Noel R. Rosenbaum
Website: http://www.peterfordistrict1.com
Email: info@peterfordistrict1.com
Telephone: +1 915 246 4778
Age: 34
Occupation: Texas Tech College of Architecture Instructor
Candidate Informational Narrative:
Peter Svarzbein was born and raised in El Paso. Svarzbein is currently on the faculty of the Texas Tech College of Architecture. Peter Svarzbein is best known in political circles for advocating for bringing back the El Paso trolleys through his project; The El Paso Transnational Trolley Project.
David Karslruher has been arguing that the Specific-Purpose Committee, the Friends for Peter Svarzbien, created by supporters of Peter Svarzbein is somehow nefarious. As far as I am aware there is nothing ethically or illegal about raising money for his political candidacy through this type of committee. It is different from how it has been done in El Paso previously.
One of the benefits of the professionalism behind this set up is that the financial report lists contributors alphabetically which makes it much easier to analyze.
Arthur C. Bieganowski contributed $100 to Svarzbein’s campaign on February 23, 2015. In 2000, Arthur Bieganowski was convicted of medical billing fraud. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
One of the interesting things I noticed about Peter Svarzbein’s campaign contributions are how the amounts are for specific amounts, as though the number was derived from a formula of some type. For example, there were 19 contributions for the amount of $96.80. [Update: Jaime Abeytia pointed out correctly that the amounts reflect contributions made through Paypal] That is about 24% of his contributions. There are also various other contributions that do not follow the normal patterns I have seen before. As an example, Harold Hahn contributed $970.70 to the campaign. Another example is William Sanders who contributed $242.45. I do not know what the significance of these amounts are at this point, but they seem to be amounts generated by a mathematical formula.
Another interesting amount in the report is a payment and a refund of $2,000 for and from the Forma Group. In the 30-day campaign financial report, Svarzbein paid $2,000 on February 13, 2015 for “consulting expense.” On the same day, the Forma Group refunded the money to Svarzbein. I will be following up this afternoon with more details about the Forma Group and new information I uncovered recently about them.
Svarzbien raised the largest amount this financial reporting cycle, far surpassing his closest competitor, Bertha Gallardo by almost $13,000. Albert Weisenberger loaned his campaign $10,000, and therefore he placed third on the amounts raised by the candidates.
By the Numbers:
Total money raised: $24,188.70
Total expenses: $29,627.73
Largest contributor: $2,000 from Scott Schwartz
Total contributors: 77
Average contribution: $314.14
Thr Usual Suspects see a friend in Svarz-muy-bien and now I know why. He is affiliated with the trolley and architects who benefit big time from all the debt-fueled spending of the current council. Expect more of the same if he is elected.
Rotten Peppers, you are correct. He was one of the biggest cheerleaders of the ballpark too. He was filming a documentary about the construction of the ballpark and touting how wonderful it was. That needs to stick to this guy so people see what he stands for.
The odd campaign donation figures (for instance, $242.50 or $96.50) likely suggests that someone made a $250 or $100 donation via PayPal or Square (or some other credit card/electronic payment system) and that’s the amount that the candidate received, on a net basis, after the electronic payment processor took its fee (3.1 percent).
This will be the nail in the coffin that bankrupts this city.
Make no mistake, this guy is dangerously stupid.