Marr/Benson. Crunching Numbers

by JOEL SMITH & r & & r & & lt;span class= & quot;dropcap & quot; & T & lt;/span & he latest records from the Public Disclosure Commission show that Chris Marr has already raised $286,000, which almost doubles Brad Benson's $148,000 war chest. With a little less than a month to go before the election, Marr has scared up almost 70 percent of the record-breaking $418,000 Jim West posted for the same seat in 2002. And while money doesn't necessarily seal the election, the disparity between the contenders is enough to have some election-pickers -- including The Moderate Washingtonian blog -- leaning toward the challenger. Here's who's paying each candidate's bills:





CHRIS MARR





The big spenders:


Avista ($1,400)


Rob Brewster ($1,400)


Kendall Yards Development Inc/


Black Rock ($2,200)


Washington Teamsters


Legislative League ($1,400)


Planned Parenthood ($1,350)


Mike, Kim, Jeanette and


Rep. Timm Ormsby ($2,116)


The Roosevelt Fund ($1,400)


City of Destiny PAC Tacoma ($1,500)





Other notables:


Don Barbieri ($700)


KPBX film critic Bob Glatzer ($104)


Dennis and Jane Hession ($600)


Connect Northwest CEO


Bill Kalivas ($350)


Bloomsday don Don Kardong ($104)


Former county commissioner


Kate McCaslin ($50)


City Council member Brad Stark ($100)


Spokane Regional Health District


czar Kim Thorburn ($350)





BRAD BENSON





The big spenders:


Washington Independent


Bankers ($1,375)


Anheuser-Busch ($1,350)


Cingular Wireless ($1,400)


Pharmaceutical Management Science


Association ($1,000)


Washington Refuse & amp; Recycling Association ($1,400)


SEIU Washington State Council ($1,400)


Pfizer ($1,375)


Washington State Troopers ($1,400)





Other notables:


National Rifle Association ($700)


Wal-Mart ($850)


7-11 ($300)


& lt;span class= & quot;dropcap & quot; & N & lt;/span & ot only has Marr amassed considerably more money than Benson but, looking at the records, it appears Marr's raised that through lots of small donations, whereas Benson has scored off of fewer, larger donations.





Marr's records report 1,800 separate donations for his $286,000 chest. Only 7 percent of these were for $700, the most you can give at one time. He's raised around 30 percent of his money so far from 7 percent of his donors. That means the majority has come from small donations -- largely from individual citizens, unions and some businesses.





Benson, on the other hand, reports only 414 donations for his $148,000 account. Of these, 25 percent were for $700. He's raised about half of his money from only a quarter of his donors -- which tend to be large oil, pharmaceutical, health care and food and beverage companies.


-- JOEL SMITH





To check up on the data yourself, go to www.pdc.wa.gov