Today was the deadline for campaign finance reports from 2006.
This is when we find out how much the candidates raised last year, from whom (in many cases) and how much they have left to spend. It's an interesting report in part because the rules have changed: now, individuals can give a candidate no more than $5,000 a year, while law firms, unions, political action committees and other unincorporated businesses can give no more than $20,000 a year. So there was a lot of pressure to raise money by Dec. 31.
And the war chest news is:
Michael Nutter: Had $1,393,435 on hand at the end of 2006. Took donations from more than 1,400 donors.
Dwight Evans: Had $1,218,324 on hand, 1,300 different donors.
Bob Brady: $404,513 on hand, from 139 donors
Chaka Fattah: $391,429 on hand, from 146 donors.
As for Tom Knox, he had $3,418,297 on hand, mostly from him -- though he did report 345 other donors as well.
Now, that's what they have left. Those who have spent a lot of it, obviously, have lower balances. Fattah, for example, said in a press release that he had raised $1.62 million in 2006. (Note that the cash on hand in the release refers to Jan. 31, not Dec. 31 as reported above.)
He also cleared up the question of what to do if you gave to Fattah's Congressional campaign and want to keep backing your guy: "according to a letter Fattah sent today, contributors to Fattah for Congress may choose to transfer their contributions to Fattah for Mayor."
But Fattah also had the best quote of the day, which put the entire day in perspective: "At the end of the day, this is an election, not an auction," Fattah said in his news release.
We also got one release from a City Council candidate -- a race that may have as much or more to do with the future of our city as the mayor's race:
"Matt McClure, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 4th Councilmanic District, announced that he has raised over $72,000 in just seven months for his campaign last year," reads McClure's press release. "McClure, who filed his end of the year report with the City of Philadelphia today, still has almost $69,000 cash-on-hand as of December 31."
I should publicly thank the five mayoral candidates and McClure, who made their information more accessible to the public by sharing it with the media. Every time that campaigns voluntarily share this information in accessible formats they show their commitment to an open and fair campaign.
I should also thank Daily News reporter Bob Warner, who for years has cajoled the reports out of the candidates and made them easier for our newsroom to use, a difficult job that enables an incredible amount of reporting.
For example, that's how Bob and his colleagues know that today's reports are comparable to where the candidates were eight years ago, the last Democratic mayoral primary with multiple candidates. "At the end of 1998, attorney Marty Weinberg had amassed $2.4 million
"Their total was $6.1 million, not far from the $6.8 million that the five Democratic candidates reported yesterday."