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For Immediate Release                                                                                   Contact: Clifton Below

10/19/00                                                                                                                                 448-7171

 JIM RUBENS SHATTERS SPENDING RECORD FOR STATE SENATE RACE

(Lebanon) – Campaign finance reports filed yesterday at the Secretary of State’s office confirm record-breaking expenditures by District 5 Senate candidate Jim Rubens.  In his bid to regain the Senate seat he gave up in 1998, Mr. Rubens has already spent more than any State Senate candidate in the state’s history, $81,890 to date.  That is more than four times the $18,135 that his opponent, incumbent Clifton Below, had spent through 10/16, the reporting cut off date.  The previous record expended by a NH State Senate candidate was $68,000 by Jack Chandler in 1984 in District 7.  

Rubens reported a staggering $91,228 in receipts, 40% more than the $64,966 that Below has raised to date.  

A Valley News editorial on 8/26/00 blasted Rubens for raising $67,176 and spending $23,730 by the second primary reporting period.  “That’s an astounding, and disturbing, amount of money for a state legislative race. … for a part-time job that pay $100 a year …  It also doesn’t bode well for those who hope to minimize the influence of big-money politics on New Hampshire.”  

The editorial noted that “If Jim Rubens intends to buy his way back into the New Hampshire Senate, he should be honest about it and say so.”  Rubens blames fear of independent soft money expenditures for his record spending levels, yet at the start of the campaign Senator Below requested in writing that the Democratic Party and all its affiliates to not make independent expenditures on his behalf or in opposition to his opponent.  He has been assured by Party officials that they will honor his request.  

In his first general election report due on 10/18, Rubens failed to file itemized statements of receipts and expenditures as required by law (RSA 664:7).  “This is ironic for someone who claims to be a proponent of campaign finance reform and full disclosure,” Sen. Clifton Below said.

Rubens promised in his first campaign press release on 6/12/00, that “In addition to disclosures required by state law, Rubens’ campaign will itemize all contributions and post them on the JimRubens.com website weekly, beginning Monday, June 19th.”  Rubens has failed to update such a list on his site since 8/15/00 and has now failed to make the disclosures required by law as well.

The first time that Rubens ran for the Senate in 1994 he spent a total of $61,197, of which $11,882 was not reported until after the election, including $7,138 that was not reported until May 15, 1995.   $38,500 of the amount raised in that campaign was from Mr. Rubens himself.  When Rubens ran for Governor in the Republican primary 2 years ago $230,000 of the $357,000 that he spent was his own money.

Senator Clifton Below has been a leader in campaign finance reform efforts.  During the last session he was the prime sponsor of SB 303, to prohibit corporate campaign contributions, and SB 447, the Clean Elections Act to establish a voluntary public financing alternative for candidates who agree to spending limits and show a broad base of in-district support with many small contributions.

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Copyright © 2000, Clifton Below, Paid for by the Campaign to Re-Elect Senator Clifton Below, 1 Court Street, #305, Lebanon, NH 03766,  Susan Almy, Fiscal Agent, 603 448-7171