Tomblin keeps fundraising edge in W.Va. gov race

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Republican Bill Maloney has again tapped his personal wealth and out-of-state donors in an attempt to keep pace with acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, according to the final round of campaign finance reports before West Virginia's Oct. 4 special election for governor.

Tomblin raised more than $560,000 between Aug. 22 and Sept. 18. Coal, natural gas and other energy interests have proved a key source for the Logan County Democrat throughout his campaign, and they provided at least a fifth of these latest funds.

Maloney attracted around $127,000 during the filing period. More than 12 percent of that came from Michigan, where the Morgantown businessman held a fundraiser earlier this month. Another 8 percent came from Georgia contributors.

Maloney also loaned his campaign $400,000 this month, though that still wasn't enough to match Tomblin. He has devoted a total of $1.8 million of his own money to his race since February — an amount equal to nearly 80 percent of all his spending.

Tomblin spent $1.27 million to Maloney's $775,000 during the filing period. But their combined spending since their May primary victories, just under $3 million, has been eclipsed by the $3.6 million worth of negative ads funded by their national party allies. Those began in late August.

Maloney entered the race's final two weeks with $331,407, or nearly $50,000 more than Tomblin. But the Democrat continues to pursue campaign cash through fundraisers. After holding 76 such events since mid-February, including 17 during the filing period, Tomblin caught flak from Maloney last week for a Sept. 19 fundraiser in Washington.

But Maloney has also gone to the Beltway seeking donors, and two of the seven fundraisers he reported during the latest filing period were held out of state. The Michigan event attracted nearly $19,000. Its contributors included executives with financial sector firms UHY Advisors and AXA. He collected $8,100 at an Atlanta fundraiser. Several of Maloney's donors in Georgia are his neighbors at The Ford Plantation, the private community where he and his wife have a second home.

A drilling engineer, Maloney received at least 16 percent of his filing-period funds from the energy sector. Another 20 percent came from insurance, banking, accounting and other financial sector interests.

Maloney's contributors during this time included Don Blankenship, the former Massey Energy chief executive, who with members of his family gave a total of $4,000. Finn Wentworth — former president of the holding company of the New York Yankees, New Jersey Nets and New Jersey Devils — contributed $1,000.

Tomblin held one out-of-state fundraiser during the filing period. The Inez, Ky., event yielded $30,750. Three corporate law firms — Robinson & McElwee; Lewis, Glasser, Casey & Rollins; and Bowles, Rice, McDavid, Graff & Love — hosted separate Charleston fundraisers for his campaign that together brought in $40,000.

Two-dozen lawyers from another corporate firm, Spilman, Thomas & Battle, meanwhile, contributed $16,000. All told, Tomblin received $75,150 from lawyers and their spouses during the filing period, or 13 percent of its total.

Another 10 percent, around $55,000, came from health care interests. That money included $12,400 from 19 optometrists and their state association. The finance sector provided nearly as much, $51,300.

Tomblin also received at least $10,000 from executives at Enervest Operating LLC, an oil and gas exploration firm. Officials with a second exploration company, Antero Resources Corp., and their family members provided at least $11,000.

Maloney received at least $5,000 from Antero executives, including President Glen Warren Jr. Both campaigns also collected funds from the political action committee for Huntington Bancshares.

Tomblin's individual contributors included former Gov. Gaston Caperton, coal executive Chris Cline and John Crites, chairman of Allegheny Wood Products.

Just over $978,000 of Tomblin's spending during the filing period went to Media Strategies and Research, a Beltway firm. He spent another $59,260 on media through Struble Eichenbaum Communications of Washington. Both firms have worked with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who stepped down as governor last year after winning a special election for his current office.

Tomblin is Senate president, and so is acting as governor under the state constitution's vacancy language. The state Supreme Court has mandated that an elected governor take office by Nov. 15, or within one year of Manchin's departure.

Maloney's spending included nearly $530,000 on advertising through Strategic Media Services of Washington. A second Beltway firm, Political Ink, received just over $100,000 for printing services.

Six third-party, independent and official write-in candidates are also running Oct. 4. The governor's office is again on the ballot, for a full four-year term, in 2012.

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Lawrence Messina covers the statehouse for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/lmessina .