Nye County sheriff candidates’ campaign finances detailed

In the race for Nye County Sheriff, the two top earners and spenders so far are incumbent Sharon Wehrly and former Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo.

Wehrly reported a total of $27,236 in direct campaign contributions and of that amount, she herself funded more than $16,000. Perhaps the most notable of Wehrly’s donors is former county sheriff Wade Lieseke, who was unseated by DeMeo when DeMeo ran for sheriff in 2002. Others who contributed to Wehrly’s bid for re-election include John Wehrly at $700; Kaempfer Crowell at $2,500; Floyd’s Construction at $500; Red Apple Fireworks at $500; and more.

DeMeo’s campaign has taken in just over $22,500 in the period of January 1 to May 18 and he is yet another resident running for office utilizing his own money. DeMeo marked down a $12,906 loan from himself in his contributions and expenses reports. His biggest financial supporter to date is former Nye County Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Marshall, who contributed $5,000. Other donors included S Jones 300 LP, which contributed $1,000 and various individuals who donated between $200 and $500 each.

On the expenses side of things, Wehrly has also doled out the most cash of the 10 candidates for sheriff, at over $24,000 spent. Her major expenses came from Sundown Outdoor Advertising of Ennis, Montana where she paid $10,800 for advertising-related services. Wehrly’s next highest expense was Quality Signs and Banners in Pahrump, which cost her over $2,800, also specific to advertising.

DeMeo’s total in expenses thus far come to $13,920. His biggest payout went to Brian Shoemake of Pro Media LLC, recorded on DeMeo’s C&E as Anthony L Promedia LLC. For advertising services, DeMeo forked over $8,809 to Pro Media LLC, with his second largest expense coming in at $1,000 for High Impact Signs and his third at $981 for Amsterdam Pens, both marked as costs relating to advertising.

Pooling the third highest amount of contributions is sheriff’s candidate David Hiebert, who has collected $7,854 to help finance his run for election, $2,500 of which is self-funded. The bulk of Hiebert’s donations came from individuals in small amounts varying from just under $10 to up to $500 but there are three entries that cannot be attributed to specific persons or entities, as they were labeled “anonymous” donations.

Hiebert has spent almost $6,500 of his total campaign contributions, with nearly every single cost listed being related to advertising. The expenses with the biggest price tags for Hiebert were $969 and $894, both from Victorystore.com. Hiebert also recorded in-kind expenses, one of which came from Nevada Assembly District 36 candidate Dennis Hof’s Sierra National Corp. Hof provided approximately $1,100 in campaign signs on behalf of Hiebert. Hiebert also marked down items from the town of Pahrump, Wild West Extravaganza and Jim Butler Days as in-kind expenses.

Sheriff’s candidate Asa Kulkin had raised just over $3,200 between Jan. 1 and May 18, according to his C&E. The document shows that his entire campaign has been funded by his father, former Pahrump Town Board member Harley Kulkin. Under the expenses portion, Asa reported all of his $3,464 in costs as being paid to himself, something that was likely a mistake in filing.

Candidate Kenneth Rex reported $220 in contributions, all from himself. He is another who reported that all of the $220 worth of payments made for expenses relating to his campaign had been paid to himself, once again likely a mistake.

Several of the candidates for sheriff have not taken any donations from the community, nor provided funding for a campaign themselves, although some of them have reported expenses.

Gerald Butler’s contributions and expenses report comprises a list of zeros, with no contributions or expenses recorded. Joe Moffett and Ray “The Flagman” Mielzynski both reported $0 in contributions with expenses noted at $243 and $100 respectively.

Dave Champion, on the other hand, detailed $1,550 in campaign contributions but he has yet to spend any of that cash, recording his expenses as $0.

Nye County Sheriff candidate Tasha Pfaff has not filed any of the documentation required by law, neither her candidate financial disclosure statement or her first contributions and expenses report. When searching the Nevada Secretary of State’s records, there were no results at all for Pfaff. Furthermore, all attempts to contact Pfaff for an interview in the past two months, via phone, email and physical address, have been unsuccessful.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com