ASH LEADS FIELD IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

Prop. 1 attracts $10,000 donation.

Campaign finance reports filed yesterday show that Columbia City Council
candidate Brian Ash is well ahead in the scramble for campaign dollars in
the council races.

Ash, 37, who is running against Austin Hake and Ben Orzeske in the Sixth
Ward, raised $11,740 through the reporting period that ended last Thursday.

The Sixth Ward includes the Hinkson Creek Valley, Bluff Creek, East Campus
and Southridge neighborhoods.

Ash, owner of Bambinois restaurant, listed four new donors in yesterday's
report: Justin Perry at $200, Harding Maxwell at $125, Nancy Trice at $250
and the Missouri Restaurant Association at $250. He reported $3,730 in
donations under $100.

Orzeske, 35, a certified financial planner with Principal Financial Group,
reported collecting $5,402.

His contributors of $100 or more included Herbert and Susan Tillema, Ron
Leone, Charles Reineke, Henry and Paula Chambers, Betty Schuster, Abe
Eisenstark, Larry Hine and Dorinda Derow.

Many of his contributors identified themselves either as retirees or
employees of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Hake, 20, raised $1,504. A pre-med student at MU, his contributors at the
$100 level included Monarch Title Co., Remy Wagner, Laura McFerrin and
Steven Wyse. Hake reported spending $1,000 of his own money on the campaign.

At a Sixth Ward candidates forum hosted last night by the Shepard
Neighborhood Association, candidates were asked to identify their financial
backers.

Orzeske's campaign contributor Michael Sleadd asked Ash about contributions
from Elvin Sapp, who is working on a deal to develop the Philipsi tract
near Rock Bridge State Park.

"I have received everything from $10 from someone here in Shepard to $300
from the Sapps," Ash said.

"However, that does not mean I am for sale or these developers have me in
their hip pocket. If that's what they thought when they wrote me a check,
they were wasting their money."

Ash said he was proud of the amount he has raised. "Itis been humbling and
exciting to see how much support I got," he said.

Hake identified his supporters has longtime Sixth Ward residents, students
and business owners. "Iim not just supported by some special-interest
group," he said.

Orzeske said he had 75 contributors and that he listed each of them, even
if they gave less than $100. "In full disclosure I listed the name of every
contributor," he said, adding that most contributors live in his ward.

In the Second Ward race, which includes the Arcadia, Vanderveen and Parkade
neighborhoods, incumbent Chris Janku, 50, reported raising $1,265.

His opponent, James Pounds, 36, did not file a report yesterday with the
Boone County Clerk. "I didn't realize I had to," Pounds said this morning.

"I thought they weren't due until later in the month."

Pounds said he would file the report later today and said that he has
raised $150.

Janku said he was hoping to raise more money in the next week to pay for
newspaper and radio ads. But he said his primary strategy in the next week
would be to continue to go door to door.

Meanwhile the political group that formed to support Proposition 1, the
marijuana initiative on the Columbia ballot, reported raising about
$15,000, including $10,000 from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy
Project.

Proposition 1 would allow "seriously ill" patients the right to obtain and
use marijuana for medicinal purposes with a doctor's recommendation. It
would also lighten penalties for misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Amy Fritz, deputy treasurer for Columbia Alliance for Patients and
Education, said she hopes the group will have more money coming in this
week from the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group that seeks drug law
reform.

Fritz said the group's focus now would be mobilization for Prop 1 supporters.

"We think we have enough supporters to win," she said. "We just need to get
them to vote."