MAHONING, SHENANGO VALLEYS Incumbents' funds top challengers in races for Congress

U.S. Rep. Phil English has the most money among local members of Congress.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Members of Congress from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys enjoy significant financial edges over their challengers.
Year-end reports filed over the weekend with the Federal Election Commission show that four of the five members of Congress who represent the Mahoning and Shenango valleys each have at least $250,000 in their campaign war chests.
The fifth, Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, has $97,608 in his campaign fund. But he doesn't have a primary opponent and can spend the next several months raising cash for his general election race against Republican Frank V. Cusimano of Howland.
Cusimano didn't file a campaign finance report.
Candidates have to file reports once they have raised or spent at least $5,000.
Also, if a person declared themselves a candidate after Jan. 1, that person didn't have to file a 2003 year-end report with the FEC.
Ryan's expenditures
Ryan spent more during the final quarter of 2003 than he raised. Ryan raised $26,000 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, all of it from political action committees. During that same time frame, Ryan spent $46,778. He had $118,386 in his campaign fund going into 2003's final quarter.
Ryan spent much of his money on consulting fees: $10,046 to Fraioli and Associates of Washington, D.C., operated by Michael Fraioli, his campaign treasurer, and $2,454 to Evans and Katz of Washington, D.C.
Ryan also paid $5,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for dues.
He gave $2,800 in campaign contributions to local candidates, parties and political organizations including $600 to Youngstown council President James Fortune Jr., and $300 to Mahoning County Sheriff Randall Wellington.
Ryan also gave a $1,000 contribution to the presidential campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
The only person to be paid a salary by the campaign during 2003's final quarter by Ryan was his wife, Julie Stitzel, who received $2,774. She serves as the campaign's deputy treasurer.
Strickland funds
In the 6th District, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Lisbon Democrat, has $309,949 to spend on his race. He is being challenged in the primary by Diane DiCarlo Murphy of Beaver Township, who did not file a report.
Strickland received about two-thirds of the $68,858 he raised between October and December from PACs. He spent $29,543 during that time frame, of which $25,000 went to the DCCC for annual dues.
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette of Madison, R-14th, doesn't have a primary opponent; he has a campaign fund of $503,577.
There are five Democrats running in the March 2 primary for the seat.
The only serious financial competitor among the Democrats, so far, is Herb Hammer of Chagrin Falls, who raised $153,553 during the final quarter of 2003. Of that amount, Hammer contributed $140,000 of his own money to the campaign.
State Rep. Ed Jerse of Euclid, another Democratic challenger, has $13,328 in his campaign fund while Charles Wolfe of Brookfield has $10. Wolfe gave $759 of his own money to his campaign and spent $749 of it.
Didn't file reports
Two other candidates -- Capri Cafaro of Liberty and Dale Virgil Blanchard of Solon -- did not file year-end reports with the FEC. But Cafaro has filed a statement of organization, which an FEC spokeswoman said means she has raised or spent at least $5,000.
But because Cafaro didn't declare her candidacy until last month, she is under no obligation to file a 2003 year-end report, the FEC spokeswoman said.
In Pennsylvania, U.S. Reps. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, and Melissa Hart of Bradford Woods, R-4th, have significantly more money than their Democratic challengers.
English has $547,078, the most of any member of Congress from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys. Steven Porter of Wattsburg, Pa., his Democratic challenger, failed to file a year-end report. Porter is obligated to file one because he filed a previous report with the FEC, an agency spokeswoman said. That report, through Sept. 30, showed Porter had $7,620.
Hart has $250,382 in her campaign fund. Stevan Drobac Jr. of Beaver County., who is planning to run as a Democrat against Hart in the November general election, has $98 in his campaign fund.
skolnick@vindy.com