Bennett building big lead in campaign cash chase

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Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah

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In the race for campaign cash, Utah Sen. Bob Bennett already is sprinting, having picked up big dollar donations from the state's power players, while his challengers -- three fellow Republicans and a Democrat --are jogging at best, according to the most recent financial reports.

The 2010 Senate campaign is still in its infancy, but at this stage, money is one of the most important indicators of a serious run for office.

"In every race there's an invisible primary before the actual voting," said Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. "The financial numbers are usually quite predictive of who can succeed."

From April to June, Bennett amassed $730,000 from contributors, while his closest contender, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, brought in about $105,000. None of the other candidates raised more than a few thousand dollars.

Going beyond the totals and delving into the individual contributions shows that Bennett's fundraising edge as a three-term incumbent is even more pronounced. He has a wider pool of donors and easy access to money from some of the nation's biggest companies. So if Shurtleff wants to hit his goal of raising $2 million, he will have to get creative.

Loyal donors » The Republican attorney general declared his candidacy in May, leaving him only half the time Bennett had to raise money in the past quarter. Like most candidates, Shurtleff reached first

"The easiest money to raise is the first month after you declare," Jowers said. "If you prepared properly, you've gone to your supporters, family and friends and lined them up so you have a good showing in your first report."

A significant chunk of Shurtleff's cash flowed from loyal donors whose companies have liberally fed his attorney-general campaigns, including 1-800 Contacts and IWorks. But easily his biggest source of donations in the past quarter came from the personal-injury law firm Siegfried & Jensen. Three of the firm's top lawyers gave the maximum amount, totaling $21,600.

Actually, nearly half of Shurtleff's donors gave as much as the law allows.

"Several can't give one penny more," he said.

That means they handed over three separate $2,400 donations-- each tagged for the convention, primary or general election.

It also means Shurtleff can use only a fraction of his $105,000 at this stage. Money slotted for the general election is off limits unless he beats Bennett and becomes the Republican nominee. He cannot access the primary money unless he's in a primary runoff.

That leaves him about $50,000 for the run-up to the state GOP convention. And that doesn't take into account his campaign's $23,000 debt for public-opinion surveys.

Shurtleff also has been questioned previously about his campaign ties to Siegfried & Jensen and IWorks.

The Attorney General's Office hired attorneys connected with Siegfried & Jensen to work on a class-action lawsuit involving a drugmaker shortly after the Murray-based firm hired his daughter as a paralegal. Shurtleff maintains the two are completely unrelated and that the firm was tapped because of its expertise.

The AG's Office prosecuted IWorks in 2006 after the Department of Commerce served the St. George-based telemarketing company with citations for possible fraud. The case was dismissed a year later.

In a 2008 City Weekly story, Shurtleff claimed to have no knowledge of the IWorks investigation when his AG campaign received a $50,000 donation from its executives.

Two Shurtleff donors -- 1-800-Contacts and the politically active venture capital firm VSpring -- have decided not to pick sides in this heavyweight Senate fight. They gave roughly the same amount to Bennett.

Targeting energy » The senator knows that many in the public are not happy with Congress and private opinion polls have convinced him he is far from a shoo-in to win a fourth six-year term.

So, in response, he ramped up his campaign early and raised money like never before.

"From the outset, Senator Bennett has taken this race very seriously -- he's working hard," said his son and campaign spokesman, Jim Bennett. "The figures demonstrate just how widespread his support really is."

Bennett has staged fundraisers in San Francisco, Miami and Boston, aggressively pursued Washington lobbyists and collected $1,000 donations from dozens of corporate political-action committees.

His biggest single source of money has been the executives at EnergySolutions, a radioactive-waste-disposal company and one of Utah's most dominant political animals.

Since April, EnergySolutions has funneled more than $50,000 to his campaign. Executives and their spouses maxed out what they could give for the early portion of the race, leaving the door open to divvy more in the general election.

The company is in the midst of a congressional fight over its intention to import foreign radioactive waste to its Utah disposal site. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, has led the fight to ban waste imports, while company executives say it would take a small portion of their landfill. Bennett has not staked out a position.

The senator and Matheson sought federal funding to speed up removal of radioactive tailings near Moab on the banks of the Colorado River, a job being performed by EnergySolutions.

The company has given to Bennett in the past, but never anything close to this scale. It is part of a massive surge in fundraising from energy-related companies -- tied to Bennett's new post as the ranking member of the Senate's energy and water appropriations subcommittee.

He picked up $22,000 from Chevron, $18,200 from Questar and nearly $10,000 from Devon Energy, which has a natural-gas field in Uintah County.

All told, Bennett gathered at least $195,000 from energy-related companies since April. To put that in perspective, in the six years leading up to his 2004 victory, Bennett secured a total of $122,000 from the energy sector.

The Senate is expected to debate a major new energy-regulation bill in September, which Bennett and the rest of Utah's federal delegation have opposed.

Bennett has not forgotten his traditional source of money, the financial and real estate sector, but, with the economic crisis, it is harder to get big dollars there. Still, he pulled in nearly $90,000 in the past quarter.

In Utah, Bennett has landed donations from some of the biggest power players such as Zions Bank, Kennecott, Xango and Ken Garff auto dealers, not to mention philanthropist Spencer Eccles and Sinclair Oil owner Earl Holding.

Small ball » To counter Bennett's obvious fundraising advantages, Shurtleff plans to court regular folks and bring in small amounts from a big crowd. He says his campaign will soon "go viral," relying on online donations, which were key to President Barack Obama's successful campaign.

But a tech-savvy Web site, Jowers advised, is no guarantee for success.

"In order to get small donors, there has to be a lot of excitement about the candidate," he said, evidenced by media attention and grass-roots support.

Shurtleff considers himself on track, with volunteers and interns lined up to gather small donations by phone. He also touts his more than 6,500 followers on Twitter, which links to his Facebook page, blog and Web site.

"If someone gives me $10, they'll vote," Shurtleff said. "And they'll talk to their friends and spread the word that they're supporting me."

Whether Shurtleff or some other candidate can bump Bennett remains to be seen.

"The chances of him getting eliminated at convention [he needs at least 40 percent of the delegate vote] are next to zero," Jowers projected. "And most observers believe that Bennett is almost unbeatable at the primary."

mcanham@sltrib.com

cmckitrick@sltrib.com