Race for Regent spot shows heavy campaign spending

Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-day series by the Daily Nebraskan projects desk examining money spent by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Yesterday's article discussed operating costs for the regents as well as their perks of office.

Two opponents. One younger, one older. One Republican, one Democrat.

One has spent three times the other in advertising and one's raised big bucks from smaller donations.

Sound familiar?

It's the District 1 University of Nebraska Board of Regents race between Tim Clare and Earl Scudder, who are vying to fill the seat Charles Wilson of Lincoln vacates in November.

This race follows the recent trend of ever-increasing costs of regent campaigns, with the two candidates spending more than $570,000 combined.

Clare has spent $199,619 on his campaign as of Sept. 30, while Scudder has spent $370,569, according to the most recent campaign expense reports filed on the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission's Web site.

"Did I have any thoughts that it would cost this much?" asked Clare. "No, I did not."

Said Scudder: "I never expected that we'd be spending close to $400,000 in this Regent race."

Big money in Regent races has become increasingly common, said Frank Daley, the accountability and disclosure commission's executive director. He saw the trend start in 2000 with the race for the District 8 Regent seat between Randy Ferlic and Rosemary Skrupa.

In that race, Ferlic spent $289,499 and Skrupa spent $55,233, according to the commission. Ferlic eventually won the election.

When Regent Howard Hawks of Omaha ran and won in 2002 against Nancy O'Brien, he spent $405,124.92 and O'Brien spent $106,910.

A Daily Nebraskan analysis of the commission's records of contributions shows Scudder received roughly 38 percent of his money from outside of Nebraska.

Scudder, a lawyer, said his donations from out of state - which add up to $142,546 - are from friends and old clients.

"None of these people are strangers to me (that donated)," he said. "This is not money that's driven by an issue. It's driven by personal relationships with me."

Some of Scudder's donations from outside Nebraska include $15,000 from John Breslow, a former state auditor who now lives in Las Vegas.

Scudder, 66, has also received funding from some big state names, including $10,000 from billionaire Warren Buffett and $10,000 from Omaha businessman Walter Scott. He credits that to the help of philanthropist Richard Holland, who has donated more than $25,000 to Scudder's campaign and threw a fundraiser that Buffett and Scott attended.

For 45-year-old Clare, the analysis shows he received roughly 5 percent, or $5,500, from outside Nebraska.

Clare, also a lawyer, said most of his donations are from people who can vote in the upcoming election, unlike Scudder's.

"These folks believe in what we're doing," Clare said of his donors. "And I'm pleased that they're committed to supporting our message and supporting our campaign."

Clare, a Republican, has also received donations from some big names, including $5,000 from Pete Ricketts, who ran for U.S. Senate against Ben Nelson in 2006. He also received $5,000 from Scott Strasburger, who is an orthopedic team physician for the Nebraska football team.

Instead of receiving many large donations like Scudder, Clare said he focuses on smaller donations. So far, Clare said his campaign has received donations from at least 17,000 people.

Candidates only need to list donations and expenditures above $250, which is why all of the names aren't displayed in commission filings.

When it comes to getting the message out, the two differ on where they decided to spend money. Scudder has spent almost $150,000 on radio and television advertisements, while Clare has spent about $40,000.

Clare said his campaign has tried to be frugal with his donors' money, so it's focused on multiple platforms rather than just television and radio.

Scudder, a Democrat, said he thinks by spending more on broadcast ads, he's helped to change the conversation of the campaign about the issues, rather than some sort of "popularity contest."

Other items both candidates spent money on included mail postage, their Web sites, surveys and other marketing materials.

Whatever the outcome in November, this race might perpetuate the increasing costs of running for Regent, a position that pays nothing more than two football season tickets, a parking pass and some travel reimbursements. At least one member of the board, Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons, said that's not necessarily a good thing.

Hassebrook, who's the chairman of the board, said there's too much money in politics in general, including the Board of Regent races.

"The bad thing is it keeps a lot of good people from running because they either do not know how to raise the money or they don't have the stomach for it," he said. "Too often it makes the office holder, whether they admit it or not, beholden to people who write the big checks."

andyboyle@dailynebraskan.com