Blackfoot runoff election mostly paid for by candidates
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BLACKFOOT — The runoff mayoral election in Blackfoot is being largely funded by the candidates rather than by contributors.
The latest campaign financial disclosure reports for the mayoral race between Mayor Paul Loomis and challenger Marc Carroll were released last week. The reports show the details of contributions and expenditures made by each candidate.
Documents show between Sept. 10 and Nov. 27 Loomis contributed $4,465 to his campaign out of his own pocket. No one else donated to Loomis’ campaign.
The money was spent on advertising in the Blackfoot Morning News, which received $1,969. The remaining large expenditure — about $2,475 — was spent on a company called Get Round First, which shares an address with local marketing firm Perfect Point Marketing.
Challenger Marc Carroll’s disclosure forms show between Sept. 8 and Nov. 27 he raised some $1,492 and spent $1,799. Like Loomis, the vast majority of the cash came from his own pocket — some $1,076.34.
Carroll also received a total of $510 in-kind contributions from two contributors, Tiffany Leavitt and Tawni Lewis. The money was spent on printed materials through Vistaprint and on Amazon.com.
Carroll’s other large expenditures were at the Blackfoot Morning News, which received $276. Some $495 was spent at a Texas sign company.
The final disclosure reports for candidates in the runoff election will be released to the public after Jan. 31.
No mayoral candidate received the 50 percent plus one vote required on Nov. 7, so a runoff election between Loomis and Carroll will be held Dec. 5.
Loomis, who won his first term in office during a runoff election in 2013, claimed the highest number of votes — 782 — last month, but he still failed to get the 50 percent plus one majority that he needed. Carroll received 484 votes.