As Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson prepares to seek re-election in November, she already has more than $10,000 in her campaign coffers, a finance report shows.

Thompson last week filed an annual campaign finance report with the Athens County Board of Elections. (Not all candidates are required to file an annual report. A political party or committee must submit such a report if the entity is still active and did not file a post-general election report after the November balloting.)

The report, which covers the period from the filer’s last finance report through Dec. 31, 2009, shows that Thompson carried forward $5,262 from her last run for auditor.

Since then, she has added $8,460 in new contributions, according to the report, and has spent $2,887, leaving her with $10,835 in her campaign treasury.

Some of Thompson’s bigger donors in the latest reporting period include Horace Karr of Pomeroy and Jeremy Dryden of Athens, each of whom gave her $500; Athens residents John Wharton, Jean Drevenstedt and T.P. Sauber, each of whom contributed $200; and the Athens County Republican Women, who gave $200.

It’s not known whether any Democrat will face Thompson, a Republican, in the general election. Athens city Auditor Kathy Hecht had reportedly been considering challenging Thompson, but recently said she will not do so.

The only other local candidates who had filed annual reports by the deadline Friday were county Commissioner Lenny Eliason, who is seeking re-election in November and may face opposition in the Democratic primary; two local Democrats, Charlie Adkins and Miki Brooks, are circulating candidate petitions.

Eliason brought forward nothing from previous races, but has raised $2,971 in new contributions, most of that money coming from a fundraiser event. He has spent $1,046, leaving him with $1,925.

Former Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn, who ran for county prosecutor in the 2008 Democratic primary and lost, also filed an annual report, showing she brought forward $266 and has spent $30 since her post-primary finance report.

Noteworthy in Gwinn’s report, however (see related story) is the fact that she includes $27,700 as a loan, attributed to her, and/or her brother Daniel Gwinn, and/or Greg Kenley, a Massachusetts man.

This money, and how Gwinn reported it on earlier campaign finance documents, was the issue behind criminal charges of money laundering and falsification that were brought against her last year.

She has been acquitted of money laundering, but was found guilty of falsifying campaign finance reports, based on having initially listed the money as a personal loan to her campaign committee from herself. She has insisted that it was legal to report the funds this way, and has asked the judge in her criminal case to reverse her conviction.

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