Benyak top spender in Mon Valley’s 49th race
Attorney Alan Benyak and his political committee spent more than $45,000 in his successful run to secure the Democratic nomination in the Mon Valley’s 49th Legislative District, vastly outpacing five opponents from his own party and totaling more than the campaign expenditures of the two person-race on the Republican ballot.
Benyak on Tuesday called his efforts a “bare-bones campaign to get to every person, every precinct as best we could. It’s unfortunate you have to spend money to win an election like that.”
Billboards, yard signs, social media, radio, newspapers in both print and online and radio advertisements were all part of Benyak’s mix.
“You have to have all that,” said Benyak, a Carroll Township resident. “I think the public has very little concept of how much that really costs, even in a local state House race.”
Benyak, who sank more than $17,000 of his own money into his campaign, carried both Washington and Fayette counties, noting that his father’s roots in Fayette helped him.
“It’s a very tight-knit area,” said Benyak, whose committee, Friends of Alan Benyak, is bringing $1,998 into the fall campaign.
Bud Cook, winner of the Republican nomination to square off against Benyak in the Nov. 8 general election, said of the primary, “It’s educational, it certainly was for me.” He ended the election cycle with $759 for the fall campaign after spending $2,623 in the final push for a nomination.
Cook’s strength in Washington County, where most of the district lies, carried him to victory. His opponent, Melanie Stringhill Patterson of Belle Vernon, won her home county, Fayette, by 45 percentage points. She listed among unpaid debts $12,353 to Red Maverick Media of Harrisburg for campaign mailers.
Cook announced his candidacy in late 2015 before state Rep. Pete Daley chose not to seek re-election after 34 years in office. His committee is known as “4 We the People – Cook.”
Finishing in second place on the Democratic ticket, both in votes and spending, was Donn Henderson of Fallowfield Township, who loaned his campaign $8,200. Henderson spent $6,000 on a mass mailing and $1,000 on automated phone calls, among other promotions of his candidacy.
Charleroi Council President Mark Alterici contributed $560 to his campaign in March and another $1,750 from mid- to late April as part of $6,795 raised. His campaign ended the last reporting cycle with unpaid debts of $917.
Monongahela Mayor Robert Kepics spent $160 on campaign workers and ended the post-primary reporting period with a cash balance of $109.
Brendan Garay of California loaned his campaign $500 and raised $3,816, according to the Department of State website. He had T-shirts printed to promote his candidacy and had in-kind contributions of three $100 kegs of beer for a campaign event. Wanda Murren, spokesman for the Department of State in Harrisburg, wrote in an email that the Bureau of Elections did not have a post-primary finance report from Garay or his committee.
Randy Barli of Coal Center reported to the state that he spent no money on his campaign between April 11 and the May 26 post-primary deadline.
On Monday, Cook said the main issue he intends to hammer home through the fall campaign is job creation, while Benyak said his top priority is property tax reform.