WASHINGTON – While almost all of Rep. Roscoe Bartlett’s 1994 campaign funds came from individuals and special-interest groups, his challenger in the 6th District race used a significant amount of his own money for campaigning.
Paul Muldowney, a Hagerstown Democrat and former state delegate who lost the general election to Bartlett, loaned $74,500 of his own money to his campaign in 1994, according to a year-end report filed recently with the Federal Election Commission.
Muldowney’s loans represented 28 percent of the roughly $266,400 in campaign funds he raised in 1994.
The bulk of the loan money – $50,000 – was used for Muldowney’s successful bid in the Democratic primary.
During the two weeks before the Nov. 8 general election, Muldowney loaned an additional $24,500 to his campaign for the race against Bartlett, a Frederick Republican.
As of Dec. 31, Muldowney, co-owner of Supreme Concrete Block Inc., hadn’t recouped any of the money he loaned last year to his campaign committee.
Any loan amount that the campaign committee can’t cover will result in a loss to Muldowney, said Vicki B. O’Connor, his campaign treasurer.
Muldowney’s campaign had about $8,700 in the bank at the end of 1994, and the loans made by Muldowney were the campaign’s only remaining debts.
Bartlett’s campaign hasn’t paid him back for most of his personal loans, either.
Since March 20, 1992, Bartlett has loaned nearly $66,000 to his campaign and has recouped only $1,500 of that amount, according to the campaign financing reports he filed.
But while Bartlett’s reports show that he relied heavily on his own money in 1992 and 1993, he only loaned $3,000 to his re- election campaign in 1994. That represented about 1 percent of the approximately $311,000 in campaign receipts last year.
Bartlett, a farmer, inventor and small businessman, said he didn’t have a large base of donors to draw on when he ran in 1992 because he’d never held public office.
But during his first two years in office, he accumulated a list of about 1,600 to 1,800 donors for the 1994 campaign, he said.
“You have a record to go on,” Bartlett said.
About 61 percent of Bartlett’s campaign receipts in 1994 came from individual contributors, while about 34 percent came from special-interest groups, or political action committees. About 53 percent of Muldowney’s 1994 campaign receipts from individuals and about 17 percent from PACs. -30-