by Mark R. Potter
Regional Editor
Cuyahoga Falls -- Although Democrat Lisa Zeno Carano won the election, her Republican challenger spent more money during the campaign for the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court Clerk job.
Post November 2007 general election finance reports from the Summit County Board of Elections show that Ohio House District 42 Rep. John Widowfield (R) outspent Zeno Carano by around $67,770.
In November, Widowfield lost in his bid to unseat the incumbent Zeno Carano as the Clerk for the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court by getting around 46 percent to Zeno Carano's 54 percent of the vote.
According to the reports marking the period of Oct. 17 through Dec. 7, some of the candidates' contributions and expenditures break down as follows:
* Widowfield received $10,000 from the Robart for Mayor Committee of Cuyahoga Falls and $10,000 from Anthony Alexander of Akron. Widowfield's campaign also received a $1,000 donation from Eugene Piscitello of Hudson. Widowfield also secured a $30,000 loan.
Widowfield had around $137,970 available for the period, including around $86,730 brought forward from the previous report.
Widowfield paid a total of $99,910 to Strategic Media Placement of Delaware for television and other media in his campaign.
An additional $27,000 was paid to the Summit County Republican Party for mailers, the finance reports show.
Widowfield's campaign has an onhand balance of $6,966.37.
* Zeno Carano's largest contribution of $25,000 came from the Summit County Democratic Party Executive Committee Political Fund. The second-largest contribution for the period came from Chris Grimm and Friends of Tallmadge in the amount of $2,000.
Zeno Carano also received $1,000 contributions from Kathryn A. Belfance and Associates LLC of Akron and Nancy C. Heslop of Akron and a $750 contribution from S. David Worhatch of Stow.
Contributions of $500 were received from the Ohio Democratic Party State Campaign Account of Columbus, George G. Keith of Cuyahoga Falls, the O'Neill for Congress Committee of Chagrin Falls, Ohio House Rep. Vernon Sykes and Summit County Council District 4 member Frank Comunale. She secured a total of $7,000 in loans for the period. The report says Chris Grimm and Friends loaned the committee $5,000 and Patrick Carano of Tallmadge gave a $2,000 loan to the committee.
Zeno Carano's campaign had about $64,130 for the period, including $23,964.70 brought forward from the last report.
Zeno Carano's largest expenditures include a total of around $36,700 spent to Triad Communications Inc. of Cuyahoga Falls for television, radio and mail advertisements. She also spent a total of around $23,200 on postage for the period.
Zeno Carano's committee has an onhand balance of $895.45. She also received $557.29 in-kind contributions from the Cuyahoga Falls Democratic Club for media and $327.50 from the Tallmadge Democratic Club for flyers. She has an outstanding debt in the amount of $12,015.03 owed to Triad Communication Inc.
E-mail: mpotter@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3915
***B&W headshots of both candidates are available in Stow Photos, regional pics folder