The List of Donors Who Gave to Sen. Richard Cohen's Campaign

With a prosperous district and a powerful position as head of the Finance Committee, Minnesota State Sen. Richard Cohen, DFL-64, had plenty of money to win his 2006 and 2002 campaigns without seeming to exert an effort. However, the fact that seems most initially conspicuous about his fundraising numbers is that they are so close to average.

In 2006 he received a healthy $18,530 from individual constituents, lobbyists, political committees and political funds. Meanwhile the average candidate for a Minnesota State Senate seat received about four and a half thousand more at $23,059. In 2002, Cohen's previous election in which he was already finance chair, he received $28,926 compared with $20,218 for the average candidate.

The answer to this riddle of rollercoaster numbers and middling performance where excellence is to be expected lies in the fluctuation of his contributions according to his need. Cohen's power and popularity lead him to receive sizable donations in non-election years. At the start of 2006, Cohen had at his disposal $31,641, the majority of which was collected between the 2002 election and December 2005. He lessened his fundraising accordingly, leading to the below average receipts.

The contributions he received in 2002, almost $10,000 more than in 2006, were likewise a symptom of necessity. His 2002 campaign savings were depleted in 2002, a result of the short time interval between his 2000 election and the post-census election of 2002. Consequently, Cohen had only $16,265 in reserve at the start of the 2002 election year. This dearth led Cohen to raise significantly more money in 2002 than he did in 2006.

The proof of this theory is in Cohen's expenditures. In both 2002 and 2006, his expenditures above the norm, as should be expected for a senator in District 64. In 2002 he spent $44,630 compared with $30,811 for the average candidate while in 2006 he spent $40,187 to the average candidate's $31,766. This disparity with the average candidate's expenses might seem large considering that Cohen's races were not competitive, but it is important to keep in mind that most races were not competitive. (The incumbent ran for re-election in 87 percent of the districts in 2006.)

Cohen's main source of funding in 2006 was from "political committee and political fund contributions" and from "individual contributions"; the groups donated $8500 and $8225, respectively. He also received $1,775 in "lobbyist contributions".

The political funds that gave Cohen money are an eclectic group of mostly progressive causes, including the Boilermakers union, Friends of Minnesota Anesthetists, the International Union of Operating Engineers, Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Minnesota Dental Political Action Committee, People in Construction Political Action Committee, Minneapolis Firefighter's Relief Association, and a veterinarians PAC. He also received money from multiple PACs that lobby for Native Americans, the police, and educational causes.

Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Accessed February 24, 2008. http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/index.html