Saratoga school board slate adds $2k more as they spend down $35k haul

PHOTOGRAPHER: Zachary Matson

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A slate of three school board candidates running jointly in Saratoga Springs raised $1,925 since late-April, bringing their shared fundraising haul to over $35,000 in a hotly-contested school board race.

The trio of candidates – Shaun Wiggins, Ed Cubanski and Dean Kolligian – on Thursday reported their latest campaign financials to the district, including a $250 contribution from the Saratoga Springs Police Benevolent Association.

The candidates are running on a shared platform with the financial and organizational backing of Saratoga Parents for Safer Schools, which formed in backlash to the school board’s October decision to not authorize district grounds monitors to carry firearms on school property, as some of the monitors had long done.

The joint campaign reported spending over $15,000 on the election since a late-April filing deadline. The expenditures included just over $2,000 to Go Right Strategies, the firm of a Florida-based Republican political consultant, bringing the slate’s total spending on Go Right Strategies this election to over $10,000. Some of that money “passed through” directly to advertising that Go Right purchased on behalf of the campaign, according to Kara Rosettie, who organized Saratoga Parents for Safer Schools.

The bulk of the group’s spending in the past month, however, has been focused on printing and distributing mailers and other campaign literature, as well the production of a pair of digital video ads. The group spent over $5,400 in the past month at REM Digital Print and Mail Center, based in Albany, and nearly $6,000 in the past month with the US Postal Service.

John Brueggemann, who is running in part against the push to rearm district monitors, raised another $430 since he last reported fundraising totals in April, bringing his overall fundraising tally to just over $5,000. He spent nearly $1,500 on lawn signs since April, according to his filing.

Incumbent Heather Reynolds reported raising less than $500 this election, while Connie Woytowich spent just over $500 total of her own money. Natalya Lakhtakia reported spending just over $1,300 on her campaign, most of which was raised in the form of stamps donated by supporters. She said she mailed about 2,000 postcards.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify that Woytowich spent her own money on the campaign and did not raise funds from other people.