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Funds hard to come by, Kortz is paying his own way

Funds hard to come by, Kortz is paying his own way

In his underdog campaign for Senate, state Representative Bill Kortz (D-Allegheny) has one big contributor: himself.

With money tough to scrounge up in a primary dominated by Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak, Kortz has been largely self-funding a bare-bones campaign—paying for travel expenses without reimbursements and loaning the campaign money while raising minimal amounts from local party committees in his district.

All in all, the campaign has raised only $4,400 throughout the election cycle, finishing the third quarter with about $4,000 in cash on hand, according to campaign finance data. Kortz has loaned the campaign 6,000, while paying for more than $12,000 of travel costs.

At the close of the quarter, the campaign had more than $16,000 in outstanding debt.

Click here to see Kortz’s campaign finance report.

share001btn Funds hard to come by, Kortz is paying his own way

October 15, 2009 at 9:34 am

--Dan Hirschhorn

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  1. Anonymous

    Oct 15th, 2009

    And to boot… staff assistance must be hard to come by too. He has Steve ODonnell helping him. ODonnell was the one who costed the democratic party lots of money (and a chance to pick up PA-18) by running against Markosek and then in the primary last year. He tried to hide his bankruptcy and self-dealing but they were exposed. Kortz foolishly endorsed him… without screening him apparently. Kortz and ODonnell… kinda the butch cassidy and sundance kid of this cycle.

    Steve essentially was hammered by Tim Murphy because of a bankruptcy that occurred with ODonnell as head of LSS in 1996. Anyways, that being said…

    Sestak probably doesnt like Kortz in the race.

  2. David Diano

    Oct 15th, 2009

    I was hoping that Bill was doing better. He’s big on single payer, and a 30-years with the steel workers. I’ve met him a few times, and he’s a pretty decent (and surprisingly upbeat) fellow.

    I think he would do well against Sestak in a three-way primary debate.

    Specter team should really INSIST that Kortz participate. What’s Sestak going to do? Cry?
    After Sestak’s “no kingmakers, etc” whining, he’s got NO justification to keep Kortz out of a debate.

  3. WESTPADEM6

    Oct 15th, 2009

    hey actually, i believe all the candidates should be in the race. Particularly kortz.. he’s an elected official.

    Diano— you’re right

    Sestak will likely revert back to his double standard ways though and try to keep Bill out of the debate underhandedly. Some truth to it above about the ODonnell guy, but I bet Sestak is doing everything he can to get kortz out.

    I would support Kortz if 1/ obviously if Specter wasnt running (which he is)

    Sestak is a robot… that will hurt PA in Washington DC. We wont even be able to bring back funding for rolls of 2-ply toilet paper.

  4. Rick

    Oct 15th, 2009

    This guy will be a factor in this race. I am pretty sure that a candidate’s county goes under his name on the primary ballot even in a US Senate race. At present, the ballot would show Allegheny/Phila/Phila/Delaware. That dynamic alone will get him a lot of votes in W. Pa.

    Look for him to get 10-15% statewide and be a spoiler. Whoever wins this primary will get under 50%.

  5. WESTPADEM6

    Oct 15th, 2009

    So sestak is def trying to get him out of the race then… typically we all know the rule… the challengers split.

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