Ficker Fudges Financial Facts
Robin Ficker claims a fundraising haul. But he's raised very little of it.
Perennial candidate Robin Ficker put out this humorous press release about his most recent FEC campaign finance report.
While there is no doubt that Ficker has more cash on hand than any other Republican Senate candidate, most of Ficker’s camping fundraising haul is a mirage.
Robin Ficker raised only $1,885 for his Senate campaign in 2023.
So where did the money come from? Ficker has loaned his campaign the entire $2.6 million amount that shows on his campaign finance report.
Notice that Ficker loaned himself $2,426,901.99 in three separate loans during the last four days of 2023.
Even Ficker’s $1,885 raised is suspect. Only one contribution is itemized, one $500 donation. The rest of the money is listed as “unitemized contributions”. A unitemized contribution is one that is less than $200 or from a donor who’s aggregate contributions are less than $200 during the cycle.
So who is the real fundraising leader this cycle? It’s John Teichert, who has raised well over $300,000 in actual donations.
Other candidates for U.S. Senate like Ray Bly, Lorie Friend, and John Thormann have not raised enough money to be required to file for this election cycle.
Ficker also did this in the 2022 Republican Primary for Governor, when he loaned himself well over $1 million to claim victory in the fundraising race. That victory was of course pyrrhic, as his fundraising games earned him a whopping 2.8% of the vote in the primary, making his claims about needing to unite behind his candidacy as “the only viable campaign in this race” laughable.
That Ficker feels obligated to loan himself so much funny is fine. But claiming that loans from himself amount to much of anything is laughable.