If the amount of individual contributions is a measure of anything, Josh Harder has raised twice as much as the incumbent Jeff Denham through the June 30, 2018 end of the election cycle.
Mr. Denham is the overall leading fund raiser during this period, but Mr. Harder seems to be catching up.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Looking at the latest financial statements, Mr. Harder seems a relative pauper compared to Mr. Denham. The incumbent’s statement fails to answer some questions and raises others.
For example:
House rules require members to disclose businesses loans for which they are personally responsible.
Mr. Denham’s limited liability corporations have purchased three commercial properties, two in Salinas and one in Turlock, with loans totaling more than $3,000,000.
t would be surprising if Mr.Denham was not required to sign personal guarantees behind those loans. Yet, none of those loans are disclosed.
A formal “submission” has been made to the House Ethics Committee regarding the loans. The fact of the submission has been acknowledged but the committee will make no further comment unless an investigation discloses a violation.
Mr. Denham is worth as much as $15 million by any conservative measurement.
Mr. Harder’s statement raises only one, half-facetious, question: Why in the world did he give up that $200,000 job with Bessemer Partners to run for congress?
His income, so far this year is only about $3,000, earned teaching a business course at Modesto Junior College.
His assets and investments are no mystery, they consist almost exclusively of various exchange traded funds.
The assets are recorded in ranges. Taking the highest value of the investments puts him at a little over $600,000; with the lowest range value of just over $100,000.
Both financial statements are available through the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Go to public disclosures, financial statements and enter the names. Note, Mr. Denham’s is under the “member” category and Mr.Harder under “candidate”.
FUND RAISING: Mr. Harder has raised about $2.3 million from individual contributors while Mr. Denham has raised $1.1m from that class of contributors.
Overall, Mr. Denham has banked over $3 million in this election while Mr. Harder has raised about $2.5m.
We hope to be able to enumerate, as we have in the past, the number of individuals who have contributed. This requires more work to eliminate duplication.
The fund raising information is available at fec.gov under each party’s name or committee.
The amounts raised do not reflect the amounts available to bolster the candidates as independent expenditure committees are, and will be, involved. These committees are not supposed to coordinate with the candidates and can raise unlimited funds. There is no lid on the amount that can be contributed to these committees and the reporting requirements often do not allow you to know who the actual money folks are. Both national parties use this type of committee, especially for attack ads so the candidate cannot be accused of “going negative”.
A Little Long Form Journalism 