[I]ncumbent Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras who lost his bid for re-election far outraised his opponents by a five-to-one margin.
Three out of the four mayoral candidates filed campaign finance reports by this week’s deadline. The fourth candidate, Kam Johnston, did not raise or spend the $500 or more that would have prompted the filing of a report.
Campaign finance filings with the Vermont Secretary of State show that Louras raised a total of $24,872, compared with $5,835 for David Allaire, a longtime city alderman, and $5,550 for Michael Coppinger, the executive director of the Downtown Rutland Partnership.
Allaire, who garnered 52 percent of the vote on Town Meeting Day, defeated Louras, who had 34 percent of the vote. Coppinger finished third with 13 percent; followed by Johnston at 1 percent.
Candidates also filed reports 10 days prior to the election, and at that point the breakdown shows Louras had already outpaced his competitors having raised $15,850, ahead of $4,100 for Coppinger, and $4,030 by Allaire.
All three candidates in the latest filings reported ending the campaign with surpluses. Louras reported expenditures of $24,427, leaving $445 left over, and Allaire reported expenses of $4,448, with $1,387 unspent. Coppinger reported spending $5,157, with $393 remaining.
“I think that it was clear how the voters felt on Election Day, and the numbers reflect the concern people had and the fact they wanted to change direction and start anew,” Allaire said. “It would appear that money did not have an influence on how people voted.”
City Clerk Henry Heck said he wasn’t sure if the nearly $25,000 raised approached a record for city mayoral races. He said the campaign finance filings are submitted electronically directly with the secretary of state’s office.
“Any answer I give you would just be a guess,” he said.
Louras declined comment Thursday.
Louras, in talking about his earlier campaign finance report last month, said in his five previous elections he had not raised anywhere near as much as this time around.
“This year is the first year I have activity fundraised because I believe that there is so much at stake in this election,” Louras said at that time. “There is recognition throughout the state of Vermont that this election is important, not just to Rutland, but to the entire state of Vermont.”
A debate over refugee resettlement had landed Rutland City in national news headlines. Louras supported the initiative to resettle Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the city and Allaire opposed the initiative, saying more information was needed.
Louras said after his defeat that he believed his stance on refugee resettlement cost him the election, while Allaire has said he believed more issues were at play, including a proposed restructuring of the fire department supported by Louras and the fire chief, but opposed by many of the firefighters.
Louras’ previous campaign filing included many contributions from people outside the city. The latest filing shows some high-profile local donors to his campaign in the final 10 days of the race. They include $300 from Thomas Huebner, CEO and president of Rutland Regional Medical Center; $200 from Steve Costello, a well-known Rutland booster who is also a vice president at Green Mountain Power; and $300 from Mark Foley Jr., a prominent Rutland businessman.
In addition, the former mayor’s latest filing shows several contributions from outside the region, including $1,000 from Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon and a $1,000 contribution from the Peter Shumlin for Governor campaign account from the former governor’s last run for office. Louras’ earlier report also included a $1,000 contribution from the former governor’s brother, Jeffrey Shumlin of Putney.
Louras spent about $2,000 on advertising with the Rutland Herald and $350 with VTDigger.
Allaire, in his latest filing, listed under in-kind services receiving a $720 radio contract provided by Sensor Security for advertising time on Catamount Radio.
The new mayor also reported spending $1,092 in last 10 days of the election for advertising in the Rutland Herald newspaper, and spending $300 for his election night party.
Coppinger listed no individual contributions of more than $100 to his campaign in the final 10 days. He did list a loan of $1,000 to his campaign from Rejuvenate LLC., his campaign treasurer’s company. Coppinger said he took the loan out to cover some outstanding expenses as the campaign wound down.
He added that didn’t think raising more money would have changed the election’s outcome.
“Money didn’t dictate votes in this election,” Coppinger said. “Honestly, I think people had their minds made up well before they entered the polls.”
