Finance Reports Show Bianchi Outspent Tyer in Final Election Push
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Daniel Bianchi outspent Linda Tyer in the final month of the mayoral race by $1,400, which includes the incumbent giving himself a $12,000 loan in an last-ditch effort just six days before the election.
In financial reporting from Oct. 17 until the end of the year, Bianchi spent $23,061.57 of his total $23,093.38 - leaving just $31.81 in the campaign account. He headed into Oct. 17 with a $7,413.38 balance and raised $15,680 in those final weeks. Tyer had previously outspent Bianchi in the reports leading up to the preliminary election.
The largest contribution in that period was a $12,000 loan the former mayor took out on Oct. 28.
He received other donations of $1,000 from Kathleen Harrison; $500 from each George Whaling, Judith DiSantis and the Berkshire County Trade Council; $250 each from Robert Proskin and David Viner; Kathleen Degnan, whom Tyer replaced just days after taking office, made two donations adding up to $175; Mark Jester, Barbara Jassan and Katherine Ostroff all gave $100 in that period; Robert Bianchi and Jean Palmieri donated $75 each; Deb Polito donated $30; and Stephanie Case donated $25.
His biggest expenses were to Get Set Marketing for $6,115 and for $5,115 campaign mailers - mailers which caused somewhat of an uproar from the Tyer campaign in the final weekend. Get Set Marketing also received two other expenditures for $1,650 and $735 for campaign handouts and fliers.
Bianchi also paid Gamma Broadcasting $1,720 for radio ads; his consulting company RMC Strategies $1,580; the state of Massachusetts $1,000 to rectify a finding that his office space rent was considered too low; $910 in advertising with the Berkshire Courier; $598 for advertisement with the Berkshire Eagle; $565 and a later $396 for advertisements with WBRK; $512.45 with Lamar Companies for billboards; two additional expenses for his campaign manager Ryan McCollum for $480 each; $299 for ads with the Pittsfield Gazette; $179 for an ad on iBerkshires.com; four expenses for Verizon of $128, $127.55, $115, and $108.72 for phone expenses; $117.33 to boost Facebook posts; $60.55 with Staples; $36.47 with Walmart; and $25.50 at the UPS store.
Tyer entered the final weeks with a $6,754.60 balance and raised $23,742, making a total of $30,497.10. She spent $21,641 of that leaving the campaign account with a balance of $8,855.29. She also spent $1,901.51 out of pocket for the campaign.
She too took out a candidate loan of $5,000, which she took out exactly one week before the election on Oct. 27.
Her largest donors in those final weeks were Amy Kroboth, Michael Daly, Brian Clairmont, Christine Condaris and David Comalli, all of which donated $1,000 each. At the end of December, Tyer received her security deposit back of $833.50 for her East Street campaign office; she received $800 from Kathleen Shakshaug; $500 each from Alan Bauman, Andrea Nuciforo, Michael Lyon, Michael Lipton, Thomas Rich, George Whaling (he apparently donated to both campaigns), and Ruth Blodgett, Blodgett also made a separate $200 donation. Tyer received $430 in a fundraiser; $400 from Eric Hill; $250 from each Perri Petricca, John Bissell, William Hines, Laurie Tierney, Sherman Brooks, and Sherwood Guernsey.
She received $200 each from Deborah Francis, Michael Macdonald, Edwin Stevens, Alden Hammerling; $150 was donated by Catherine Deely, Thomas Hamel, Van Shield, and Steven Picheny. Patricia Hall, Randy Porter, Reba Evenchik, Frank Farkas, Eric Sullivan, Karen Krofts, Dawn Dellea, Kevin Sherman, James Massari, Peter Marchetti, Ellen Kennedy, Sheila Labarbera, David Lloyd Jr., David Yon, Richard Bleser, Thaddeus Welch III, Charles Leach, Laurie Green, Paul Gamache, Harriet Hunt, James Scalise II, Harold Kramer, Sharon and Eric Schaffer, all donated $100.
Rose Ann Sturgeon, Marriane Algerio, Michael Merriam, Steven Como, Maxine Bookless, Denis Guyer - whom the mayor is appointing as building maintenance director - Lisa Tully, Linda Diehl, Gloria Schilling, Denice Yon, Joy Schmidt, and Beverly Milenski all donated $50. Shirley Edgerton, Pamela Johnson, Reinaldo Roman, Julie Salatino, Ian Craighead, Katie Miller, Isabel O'brien and Jean-Yves Dejax all donated $25.
The campaign's largest expenses were to BCARC for mailing services at $6,086.64 and for $3,043.32. She paid $2,857.50 to Hotel on North for the victory party; spent $2,806.93 on ads with the Berkshire Eagle - which endorsed her a week later - reimbursed Matthew Scarafoni for $2,422.50; $1,792 for advertisements with Gamma Broadcasting; $1,148 with WBRK, Dolores Carnute for catering at a cost of $800; $299 for ads with the Pittsfield Gazette; reimbursed her campaign manager Tom Sakshaug $160.13; held a meet and greet at Joe's Lunch Box, Inc. for $107; paid Jes Levesque for bartending at a campaign event for $75; and reimbursed Barry Clairmont - a campaign staffer - $25.47.
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