The campaign finance disclosure form filed Monday by Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson was part good, part bad and part ugly for him.
The good: Anderson is back in front in the campaign contributions battle, easily out-raising and outspending his competitors during the election year's second reporting period.
The bad: The mayor will have to amend his financial disclosure form to avoid breaking the city's campaign-reform laws.
And the ugly? Anderson, who recently accepted the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Protection Award, also accepted a $500 campaign contribution from Khosrow Semnani, who heads Envirocare of Utah — a low-level radioactive waste disposal company and perennial enemy of Utah environmentalists.
Anderson's chief rival, mayoral challenger Frank Pignanelli, recently ran a statewide initiative campaign to keep Envirocare from accepting higher levels of radioactive waste at its Tooele County facility. The measure failed, and Pignanelli figures Semnani's contribution is to get back at him. Still, he was a bit surprised Anderson would accept the money.
"I'm committed to keeping radioactive waste out of this state. Maybe Mayor Anderson feels differently," Pignanelli said.
Anderson did not return calls for comment.
The mayor's accountant, Brook Heart-Song, will be at the city recorder's office Tuesday to amend Anderson's report so it will meet city code.
Anderson's report indicated that the mayor accepted $7,600 from a single donor, even though campaign finance laws prohibit a mayoral candidate from receiving more than $7,500 from a single person or business. Heart-Song said the problem was a clerical mistake stemming from miscommunication from campaign headquarters.
The issue concerns a frequent Anderson donor named David Ibarra, who has donated $7,000 to Anderson since October of 2001. Also, Ibarra and his wife Merilee were recorded by Anderson's campaign as writing a $500 check and a $100 check jointly to the campaign, putting David Ibarra's total contributions at $7,600.
After being shown the discrepancy by the Deseret News, Heart-Song called campaign headquarters, which told her that the final $100 check was supposed to be accounted to Merilee Ibarra only, not to David.
"Apparently that was the way it was intended to be but the communication between the check coming in and when it was sent to me didn't happen," Heart-Song said.
The punishment for accepting more than $7,500 from one donor, an infraction, is punishable by a $500 fine. It is a more serious violation, a misdemeanor, to knowingly or willfully file an inaccurate campaign financial statement.
Bookkeeping errors aside, the news was good for Anderson, who had been bested by challenger Pignanelli during the year's first filing period in February. Then, Pignanelli put out a press release touting his ability to out-raise the mayor. Monday there were no press releases. Still, Pignanelli was upbeat, noting that, after expenditures, there was a much smaller difference between the two campaigns' war chests.
Since Feb. 15, Anderson has raised $156,307, bringing his total contributions to $283,706. The mayor has spent $67,868 since February and $167,251 total, according to his report.
In contrast, Pignanelli raised $54,982 since February — about a third of Anderson's total — and now has raised a total of $155,257. Since February, Pignanelli spent $41,014, bringing his total expenditures to $43,982.
The only other declared candidate, Molonai Hola, also has found it difficult to compete with Anderson's fund-raising efforts. He raised $44,750, with $40,000 of that coming from his own personal bank account.
"Yeah, it's tough (raising money)," Hola said. "But we're starting to get a buzz going (about the campaign)."
Another $2,500 of Hola's total came from downtown property owner Rick Howa, who also made a $7,500 contribution to Anderson's re-election bid.
Anderson has received many large contributions, including $15,000 from former WordPerfect founder Bruce Bastian. Bastian gave $7,500 personally and another $7,500 through his BWB Properties.
Anderson banked heavily on The Boyer Co., which owns The Gateway mixed-use development. Through various arms, Boyer interests have contributed well over $10,000 to the incumbent's run.
AlphaGraphics, which the mayor helped locate in the former Brooks Arcade, also donated $7,500.
Pignanelli's largest donation came from David E. Simmons, who operates a media conglomerate, the Simmons Media Group. He gave $7,500.
All candidates for the office of mayor were required to file finance disclosure forms Monday.
A full list of all contributors to all campaigns is available online at www.slcgov.com/recorder/elections.htm.
Councilwoman Nancy Saxton and fellow District 4 candidates Russell Farrell and David Woodruff didn't file their reports by Monday's deadline.
The primary elections are in October, with the final municipal election in November. The last day for candidates to declare for the mayor's race is Aug. 15.
E-MAIL: bsnyder@desnews.com