Mike Rutherford has raised more than double the amount of Dave Tucker in his campaign to be elected Kanawha County Sheriff.
Rutherford has wrangled $19,653.80 in total monetary contributions and in-kind contributions while Tucker has collected $8,819.90 in the same areas, according to the election's first finance reports, which were due last Friday.
Rutherford and Tucker, both Democrats, are engaged in a heated winner-take-all primary because no Republicans are running for sheriff.
The majority of both Rutherford and Tucker's funds have come from fundraisers.
Rutherford held his "After Work Meet the Candidate" event at the Charleston Moose Lodge and raised $8,850 in monetary contributions and $2,250 in in-kind contributions between the caterer and entertainment.
The majority of the contributions at the event were less than $250, but Rutherford also had some of the big names of the Kanawha County political class chip in.
Charleston Mayor Danny Jones donated $500, gubernatorial candidate Booth Goodwin donated $100 and Yeager Airport Director Terry Sayre donated $100.
All three Kanawha County commissioners donated money to the Rutherford campaign with Kent Carper giving $1,000, Dave Hardy giving $250 and Henry "Hoppy" Shores giving $100.
Rutherford considers this a tribute to his success in ending arguments between the different counties' elected officials.
"I think that's why they support me," Rutherford said. "We've been able to work things out without having a big fight about it."
Tucker held a fundraiser at the Beni Kedem Shrine Center and pulled in $7,060. His donations were largely given in smaller amounts, but Lonnie Simmons, an attorney who lives in Dunbar, and Karen and Frank Vincent, who are retired, each gave $500 apiece.
Tucker could not be reached for comment.
Tucker received $684.90 in in-kind contributions for his fundraiser.
Both men have used the money they've collected to set up their campaigns. Tucker has spent $2,905.95, and Rutherford has spent $9,601.24 so far.
Tucker spent $21.70 to set up a campaign page on democracy.com. A 404 error came up when a reporter tried to visit the campaign page. Tucker also spent $449.07 on Facebook advertising.
Rutherford and Tucker have both spent most of their campaign money on signs and traditional campaign materials.
Rutherford spent $5,199.80 on billboards, $964.60 on yard signs, $185.50 on photographs and $106.47 on candidate cards.
Tucker has spent $97 on shirts at Wal-Mart, $392.20 on signs and $1,440.12 on printing.
Tucker has a pickup truck that has "re-elect Dave Tucker for Sheriff" written on a sign in the truck bed. Rutherford has large signs on properties along Kanawha Boulevard.
Both Tucker and Rutherford have been attending city council meetings around the county to try to pick up votes.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at
dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-4886 or follow
@drdesrochers on Twitter.