Campaign finance reports were due yesterday for the upcoming March primaries. In El Paso there is one race we are focused on because it will likely be the most contested one. One candidate, Claudia Ordaz-Perez, changed her address away from her marital home to run in a new district and her opponent, Art Fierro, filed a lawsuit to have her removed from the ballot. Fierro lost his suit when the 8th Court of Appeals ruled that Ordaz-Perez met the requirements to run against Fierro.
Both candidates filed their financial statements yesterday. Fierro’s report covers transactions between January 1 and the last day of the month, the 31st. While Ordaz-Perez’ report only covers January 1 through January 20.
Art Fierro’s report shows that he is significantly behind Ordaz-Perez in political campaign donations. According to Fierro’s financial disclosure report filed yesterday, Fierro raised only $132.50 this month. Ordaz-Perez, on the other hand significantly outraised Fierro. She raised $42,023.00.
Art Fierro has spent $13,073.78 on his campaign. Fierro has $6,154.09 left in his campaign war chest and an outstanding loan of $12,000.
Claudia Ordaz-Perez spent $23,294.48 on her campaign and has a campaign war chest of $50,107.36 left. Ordaz-Perez did not report any outstanding loans.
According to the financial reports, Claudia Ordaz-Perez has outspent Fierro almost two-to-one (56%) and has about $44 thousand dollars in campaign contributions left for the primary.
With only $132.50 in campaign contributions made to Fierro, there were no significant campaign contributions made. In the case of Claudia Ordaz-Perez there were several significant contributors. The most interesting ones for voters are Maria Teran who contributed $5,000 and Woody Hunt who gave her $7,500.
Other notable donations were from Stanley Jobe, who was convicted of bank fraud in 1994 and pardoned by Bill Clinton in the closing days of his presidency in 2001. [1] Jobe gave Ordaz-Perez $2,500. Another notable campaign contribution made to Ordaz-Perez was from Dee Margo at $1,000.
Art Fierro’ two largest campaign expenses were to Go Direct for $6,276.33, Campaign Services, LLC in Austin for a total of $3,500 and Republic Square for $2,798.25 for an apartment.
Claudia Ordaz-Perez’ three largest expenses were All Print for $2,164.97, EPMP for $9,024.10 and STRDM for $3,000 for website design services. STRDM is owned by Andrew Joseph Perez, according to county records. EPMP provides printing services.
However, Ordaz-Perez also paid $2,482.50 for canvassing labor services. Chris Hernandez was paid $3,740 as the “field director”. The canvassers were Nicole Drury ($150), Fatima Lopez ($690), Raniyen Orr ($105), Richard Orr ($555), Kim Tafoya ($690), Mildred Vasquetelles ($210) and Evans Walker ($82.50).
El Paso Politics will continue to monitor this race and will update as necessary.
Source:
- The United States Department of Justice, Pardons, January 2001.