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Ehlmann, Funderburk weigh in on fundraising

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — St. Charles County Executive, Steve Ehlmann, says you can learn a lot about his primary challenger — term-limited state Rep. Doug Funderburk — by looking at how he funds his campaigns.

Ehlmann says 86 percent of his contributions have come from individual citizens. Funderburk has only had a single individual contribution. Every other donation, he says, is from a corporation, a union, or a political action committee. He also says that while 77 percent of his donations were for $50 or less, Funderburk had received not a single contribution under $250.

Steve Ehlmann
Steve Ehlmann

Funderburk says that’s a mischaracterization, since he hasn’t been formally soliciting donations, and largely hinted that he would be self-financing his race against Ehlmann. Earlier this week, Funderburk told The Missouri Times he felt he needed about $150,000 to run a competitive race.

“Virtually none of those contributions were given to me after I formally announced I was running,” Funderburk said. “I haven’t held a formal fundraiser for the campaign yet. And we also haven’t discussed it, but I may be at the point where I consider self-funding or lending my campaign the money I need to run.”

Funderburk, a longtime Boeing employee, says he hasn’t done much campaigning or fundraising for this race yet, so any conclusions about his contributions are premature.

Ehlmann disagrees.

“Not everyone can self-finance a campaign,” Ehlmann said. “There’s a difference between announcing you’re going to run and telling people before that what you’re planning on doing.”

Ehlmann said he was confident the trend would continue if Funderburk chose not to self-finance his own campaign.

“The United States Supreme Court has ruled that political contributions are speech,” Ehlmann said in a written statement. “The voters need to start listening to who is speaking, and how loudly.”