Staff writer
Washington County District Attorney John C. Pettit's re-election committee outspent that of his Republican opponent about 2.5 to 1 in his unsuccessful bid to win a seventh four-year term in office.
Campaign finance forms filed this week with the Washington County Elections Office show Pettit's committee spent $61,664 on the election after Oct. 23.
For the same reporting period that ended Nov. 26, the Steven Toprani Leadership Committee spent $22,424.
Combined with previous campaign finance forms that showed expenditures from June 5 through Oct. 22, Pettit's re-election committee spent a total of $99,413 while Toprani's committee for the same period reported spending $37,827.
Both candidates' campaign committees ended the reporting period with unpaid debts and obligations, Pettit to the tune of $41,255 and Toprani with $15,420.
The Pettit campaign reported an ending cash balance of $13,450, and the Toprani committee was $9,462 in the red.
Pettit's treasurer, Paul Petro, listed two contributions from Raymond L. Bologna, president of Bologna Coal Co., Burgettstown, totaling $18,500, that were "inadvertently omitted from the prior report."
New contributions include Nicole L. Green of Avella, $1,500; Leon Gysegem of Charleroi, $2,000; Clement P. Gigliotti of Monongahela, $500; Joanne Krishack of Falling Waters, W.Va., $1,000; Pauline Spataro of Avella, $1,500; and the Murtha for Congress Committee of Johnstown, $500.
The Pettit committee's expenditures included $16,080 for cable television advertisements; $3,629 for print ads, including $2,149 to the Observer-Reporter; $26,000 to the state Democratic Party, Harrisburg, for direct mailings to voters; $3,500 to the state Democratic Committee, Harrisburg, for a letter mailed to registered Republicans in Washington County, noting that Pettit had previously secured Republican nominations through write-in votes; and $989 to Washington Ford for a rental car used during the campaign.
Pettit's unpaid debts included $39,900 the candidate loaned to his committee; $543 for the purchase of livestock at the Washington County Fair; $312 for a similar purchase at the West Alexander Fair; and $500, no date or explanation listed, to California University of Pennsylvania.
The committee of Pettit's Republican opponent raised a total of $5,950 during the reporting period, including $2,000 from Mark Miller of Peters Township; $1,000 from the Conservative Reform Political Action Committee, Ardmore, suburban Philadelphia; $500 from former Allegheny County Executive James C. Roddey of Oakmont; and $300 from Jerry A. Toprani of Monongahela.
Toprani's unpaid debts include a $3,500 loan from his law firm, Toprani and Popojas of Bridgeville; a $6,000 loan from Jerry A. Toprani; a $914 loan from J. Michael Aaron; a $4,000 loan from Terry A. Toprani of Monongahela; and $1,006 owed to Brabender Cox for the production of a mailer.