Congressman Tim Walberg's fundraising data for the second quarter of 2007 is now available online.

Here's the short version: Walberg only raised $119,000 in the quarter, versus $160,000 for David Nacht and $50,000 for Jim Berryman-- a combined total of $210,000 for the Democratic candidates. Walberg still has more cash-on-hand-- almost $241,000-- but that's because he started earlier. Walberg spent about $39,000 this quarter.

In other words, one of the Democratic candidates in a district considered "unwinnable" not too long ago have just out-raised a Republican incumbent. Another Democratic candidate is on track to raise as much or more than Walberg as well in the future.

Folks, that's absolutely incredible!

The detailed summary page from the FEC is shown below. After that, some more thoughts on the numbers and his contributors.

I. RECEIPTS
11. Contributions (other than loans) From:
(a) Individuals/Persons Other than Political Committees
(i) Itemized	39677.47
(ii) Unitemized	13144.00
(iii) Total Of Contributions From Individuals	52821.47	109292.97	0.00
(b) Political Party Commitees	0.00	0.00	0.00
(c) Other Political Committees (such as PACS)	66520.90	159229.93	0.00
(d) The Candidate	0.00	0.00	0.00
(e) Total Contributions (11(a)(iii) + (b) + (c))	119342.37	268522.90	0.00
12. Transfers From Other Authorized Committees	0.00	747.50	0.00
13. Loans
(a) Made Or Guaranteed By The Candidate	0.00	0.00	0.00
(b) All Other Loans	0.00	0.00	0.00
(c) Total Loans ((a) + (b))	0.00	0.00	0.00
14. Offsets to Operating Expenditures (Refunds, Rebates, etc)	150.00	12290.13	0.00
15. Other Receipts	584.60	741.32	0.00
16. Total Receipts (11(e) + 12 + 13(c) + 14 + 15)	120076.97	282301.85	0.00
II. DISBURSEMENTS
17. Operating Expenditures	39186.31	134903.85	0.00
18. Transfers to Other Authorized Committees	0.00	0.00	0.00
19. Loan Repayments:
(a) Of Loans Made or Guaranteed by the Candidate	0.00	0.00	0.00
(b) Of All Other Loans	0.00	0.00	0.00
(c) Total Loan Repayments ((a) + (b))	0.00	0.00	0.00
20. Refunds of Contributions To:
(a) Individuals/Persons Other Than Political Committees	0.00	2150.00	0.00
(b) Political Party Committees	0.00	0.00	0.00
(c) Other Political Committees (such as PACs)	0.00	0.00	0.00
(d) Total Contribution Refunds (28(a) + (b) + (c))	0.00	2150.00	0.00
21. Other Disbursements	0.00	0.00	0.00
22. Total Disbursements (17 + 18 + 19(c) + 20(d) + 21)	39186.31	137053.85	0.00
III. CASH SUMMARY
23. Cash On Hand At Beginning Of Reporting Period	159893.40
24. Total Receipts This Period (line 16)	120076.97	282301.85	0.00
25. Subtotal (23 + 24)	279970.37
26. Total Disbursements This Period (line 22)	39186.31	137053.85	0.00
27. Cash On Hand At Close Of The Reporting Period (25 - 26)	240784.06

For starters, I'm struck by just how much of Walberg's money isn't coming from ordinary people, and is instead coming from political action committees-- $66,500 from PACs, $53,000 from individuals.

If you look at who is making those contributions, you'll see some interesting names.

The Minuteman PAC gave him $100, continuing their support for him from 2006. I wrote about the Minutemen back in September. Suffice it to say, they're not nice people.

Walberg also got a lot of money from a bunch of agriculture-related organizations (I'll add it all up for specific numbers later). Maybe that seat on the Agriculture Committee is paying off. No wonder he's made a big deal about the farm bill!

Walberg accepted $1,000 from the RJ Reynolds PAC, the political arm of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. They're the ones that did Joe Camel and sell a bunch of different brands of cigarettes. But there's nothing wrong with Walberg taking their money, right?

Also of note, three contributions from members of the DeVos family, though none from Dick DeVos, Republican nominee for governor in 2006. Walberg also received a total of $1,716 from Mark Valente, the lobbyist mentioned previously on this blog.

Looking at what his campaign spent money on, there are a couple of odd items. Not necessarily illegal or unethical-- I don't know the rules about it-- but just kind of strange. Do other political committees make $250 donations to St. Charles Church in Coldwater, Michigan? That and the large number of food purchases just strike me as odd. Walberg staffers must get pretty hungry.

Oh, and lobbyist Mark Valente is also listed here, getting $356 for a "reception."

That's my initial look at the numbers. Let me know what you think.

UPDATE: Just to be clear after a question in the comments, I wasn't trying to insinuate any wrongdoing when it comes to the $250 church donation. If that's what his campaign wants to spend money on, that's just fine. It's certainly better than paying for attack ads or fake robocalls. But it still struck me as very, very strange. Remember, it wasn't Tim Walberg that donated money, it was Walberg for Congress. I've just never seen that in an FEC filing before.

Labels: Agriculture, Fundraising, Mark Valente, Minuteman PAC, Tim Walberg