While the focus of those interested in politics and things financial is about what is happening now, it is always useful to keep an eye on what lies ahead. Public officeholders who build up large campaign funds are usually doing so to ward off future opponents. It’s a time-honored tradition that usually works pretty well.

So in the “what we know if we dig a little” category, here is a summary of the campaign treasuries of local incumbent state (as of July 15^th) and federal elected officials (as of June 30^th) :

Officeholder                               Position                                               Committee $

John Ceretto                                      Assembly, 145^th                                $2,454

Jane Corwin                                       Assembly, 144^th                                $21,028

David DiPietro                                   Assembly, 147^th                                $65,995

Andy Goodell                                     Assembly, 150^th                                $29,442

Michael Kearns                                 Assembly, 142^nd                                $8,794

Crystal Peoples-Stokes               Assembly, 141^st                                 $83,503

Sean Ryan                                            Assembly, 149^th                                $126,692

Robin Schimminger                        Assembly, 140^th                                $375,411

Ray Walter                                          Assembly, 146^th                                $9,825

Angela Wozniak                               Assembly, 143^rd                                $4,780

Patrick Gallivan                                 Senate, 59^th                                        $84,448

Timothy Kennedy                             Senate, 63^rd                                        $193,658

Robert Ortt                                          Senate, 62^nd                                       $87,810

Marc Panepinto                                 Senate,60^th                                      $147,287

Michael Ranzenhofer                      Senate, 61^st                                        $594,831

Catherine Young                                Senate, 57^th                                        $483,943

Chris Collins                                          House, 27^th                                        $770,253

Brian Higgins                                        House, 26^th                                         $634,965

Thomas Reed                                       House, 23^rd                                         $552,902

And while we’re at it

I also took a look at the committee balances of people who had previously served in office but are no longer there. Here are few that came to mind, but I have probably left off some who also fit the category:

Former Officeholder                      Position                                          Committee $

Mark Grisanti                                     Senate                                                  $17,152

George Maziarz                                 Senate                                                  $974,843

Bill Stachowski                                   Senate                                                  $88,002

Denise O’Donnell                            Attorney General candidate    $299,887

John LaFalce                                     House of Representatives            $244,113

Tom Reynolds                                   House of Representatives            $501,607

Tony Masiello                                    Buffalo Mayor                                      $285,035

Joel Giambra                                     Erie County Executive                       $300,348

Former officeholders have somewhat of a pattern of what they do with their remaining campaign funds. Many donate to charities, some to candidates for office.

George Maziarz used $120,699 of his campaign funds between August 15, 2014 and June 19, 2015 for payments to three different law firms: Joseph Latona ($73,274); Connors & Vilardo ($34,419); and a New York City firm, Schlam, Stone & Dolan ($13,006).

All of the names listed above are former elected officials except for Denise O’Donnell.   She began an effort that was directed at securing the Democratic nomination for state Attorney General in 2006, but dropped out of the running after failing to be selected as the party’s nominee. Mrs. O’Donnell has maintained the campaign account for the past nine years. At one point the account totaled nearly $600,000. The largest part of the expenditures from the O’Donnell account went to her political consultant son, Jack, and for the Supreme Court re-election campaign of her husband John. Senator Schumer has recommended Mrs. O’Donnell for appointment as a federal district judge, but the appointment is stalled.  Mrs. O’Donnell has not yet been nominated by the President.