Correction: Two locations initially reported as sites Robertson visited — San Francisco and Phoenix — are actually the places where her credit card fees were processed, according to the Tompkins County Democratic Committee, though she did visit San Francisco once.
The fees were understood as sites Robertson had visited because they were listed under her “lodging and travel” budget.
Ithaca, N.Y. — Congressional candidate Martha Robertson, D-Dryden, has raised over $1.2 million for her campaign but only spent $329,702, according to campaign finance reports released last week.
(Read about Rep. Tom Reed’s campaign expenditures here.)
This leaves her with $882,440 — plus whatever else she raises — to spend in her campaign in the months leading to November.
The race between challenger Robertson and incumbent Reed, R-Corning, have the two candidates raising a combined total of nearly $4 million for their campaigns, which surpasses the combined $2.9 million raised by Reed and Democratic challenger Nate Shinagawa for the 2012 election.
The district Reed and Robertson are competing for includes Ithaca.
What has Robertson’s $329,702 bought so far? Read on to see the breakdown of Robertson’s major operating expenditures.
Credit card processing fees: $79,997
The largest portion of Robertson’s costs came from credit card processing fees, according to the Federal Election Commission. These fees came from a variety of different payees, ranging from ActBlue Technical Service to JStreetPAC. (We’re going to reach out to the Robertson camp to learn more about these charges.)
Consulting: $60,794
Nearly 20 percent of Robertson’s net operating expenditures were put towards consulting services, including compliance, literature, mailing services, media, research, field, and website.
The largest proportion of consulting costs came from compliance consulting from Next Level Partners, based in Washington, D.C.
Postage: $16,338
Robertson spent a combined total of $16,338 on postage for her campaign. $4,410 was for postage through the United States Postal Service (USPS) from Ithaca, while the remaining $11,928 marked “postage for mailing” with a PAC called EMILY’s List, based in Washington, D.C.
Lodging and Travel: $11,593
Robertson spent about $11,500 on lodging and travel, according to her lodging and travel expense log.
Software: $14,330
Robertson spent over $14,000 on software for her campaign. The two companies that were listed as payees were NGP VAN, Inc. and Blue State Digital, both Washington, D.C. based software companies. NGP VAN helps progressive candidates and organizations use technology in their campaigns, and Blue State Digital specializes in online fundraising, social networking, and constituency development.
