Krom’s fundraising was inadequate — even before tragedy struck

Irvine Congressional hopeful Beth Krom missed her publicly stated June 30th fundraising goal of $250,000 by more than $100,000. While  Dan Chmielewski posted “Her fundraising all but stopped to give her ands her family time to grieve” following the death of her son in early June, Beth’s FEC filing shows her fundraising  was already lagging badly when the tragedy struck.

From April 1st to June 5th John Campbell raised $128,600 from disclosed individual contributors, while Beth Krom only raised $16,194. After June 5th, John slowed his take to only $40,200.  John only  raised 13% of his money from disclosed individuals following Noah’s death.  By contrast, Beth raised 71% of her money after June 5th. Her disclosed fundraising accelerated, dramatically, after Noah’s death.

Dan Chmielewski attempted to put a positive spin on the bad numbers by commenting “The vast majority of Campbell’s funds are from PACs. Krom’s contributions from individuals who vote.”  Too bad that claim is false.  The  $77,000 Campbell raised from PACs is only thirty-four percent of his total fundraising of $223,600 — hardly “the vast majority”.   However, Dan did get one bit right:  Krom’s fundraising from PACs was disastrous, only raising $1,000 each from  CAIR, Laguna Beach Democratic Club, and Debbie Cook’s (failed) campaign committee. Beth’s poor showing with PACs wasn’t for lack of trying:  I know of liberal PACs that Krom personally pitched that did not turn up on her funding disclosure.

By her own estimate, Krom needs to raise $150,000 per month every month for the next six months to meet her publicly stated year end goal.  Given that it took her three months to raise the first 1$50,000, Krom’s campaign is already looking weak.