On October 13, during a forum for the Jefferson County School Board elections, candidates were asked who their backers were and who their top funders were.
Candidate Leslie Dahlkemper said her funding came from a variety of sources, and gave no other specifics other than to mention her daughter made a $6 contribution. However, according to the October 11 candidate filing on the Secretary of State’s website, Dahlkemper’s largest donor at that time was John Sands, the brother of Jefferson County Superintendent Dr. Cindy Stevenson. By the time of the candidate forum, Sands had donated $2,000, twice as much as any other donor. (Sands wrote 2 separate $1,000 checks).
The question posed to the candidates was: “Several people want to know who your largest supporters are, where the money has come from for your campaign, and are you supported by a political party?”
Dahlkemper began her response saying, “I am very proud to say I’ve had more than 300 contributors to my campaign, and those contributions have raised, um, ranged from $6, all the way to $1,000. And I think, and it means the world to me, that I have supporters. They are members of our community, they are parents who deeply care about this upcoming school board election. They are grandparents, they’re taxpayers, they’re homeowners, they’re Jefferson County, they’re Republicans and they’re Democrats. Um, I have to tell you that the best contribution that I got was that six-dollar contribution. It’s actually hanging on my wall because it was from my daughter Grace.”
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE. Dahlkemper’s response begins at 3:51
The TRACER filing system only has records of two political donations from Sands, both of them to Dahlkemper for this specific race.
Jefferson County Superintendent Dr. Cindy Stevenson said all of her brothers and sisters are products of Jefferson County Schools, so for her brother to take an interest in a board election shouldn’t come as a surprise. Additionally, Mr. Sands has children in the Jefferson County school district. Stevenson added that her brother’s political actions and donations belong only to him.
Dahlkemper’s opposition on the ballot is Jim Powers. For the same filing period, according to TRACER, Powers’ biggest donor was Andy Hoover of Littleton, giving $1,000. Hoover has also given $1,000 to Jefferson County Board candidate Preston J. Branaugh, and has a short history of giving to local GOP candidates.
For the October 11 filing, Dahlkemper raised over $42,000, and ended the period with over $22,000 on hand. Powers raised over $8,000, and ended the period with roughly $7,500 on hand.
