More on raising money (The Next Mayor)

So, Michael Nutter has raised $1.7 million. How about the other Would-be Mayors?

The Daily News' Bob Warner found out, exclusively for the Next Mayor blog (thanks, Bob!). Here's the update:

Officially or unofficially, several of Nutter’s rivals - state Rep. Dwight Evans and U. S. Rep. Bob Brady - suggested they’d raised comparable amounts.

The one exception was U. S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, whose campaign spokesman, Solomon Jones, said they planned no disclosure of Fattah’s fund-raising until the Congressman’s official report is filed at the end of the month.

Millionaire businessman Tom Knox has already contributed $5 million to his own campaign – leading the city Board of Ethics issue a ruling last month doubling the city’s contribution limits. The limits now stand at $5,000 a year for individual donors and $20,000 for unincorporated businesses and political action committees.

Queena Bass, the former Jefferson University Hospital employee who jumped into the race way back in February, said she hadn’t raised any money and didn’t plan to. “I have a bullhorn and fliers and that’s how I’m running my campaign,” she said.

Comments (6)

DanielUA

Obviously, Queena Bass doesn't need to raise money. That is the advantage of being a front runner.

Posted by DanielUA | January 10, 2007 5:03 PM

Outlaw:

Question: Does Fattah have to return 95K of the 100K that Gerry Lenfest gave his campaign?

Posted by Outlaw | January 10, 2007 7:14 PM

Dave

Maybe he spent that on his website before he declared.

And, speaking of spending before he declared, did he pay the people who came up with his crime proposal? If so, where did the money come from and when were they hired (I.e. before or after declaring his candidacy)?

Posted by Dave | January 10, 2007 7:22 PM

I'm not sure it matters if he spent it on the web site before declaring his candidacy. I just read the City solicitor's legal opinion from 2005 which said:

"Money, of course, is fungible; hence it is almost impossible to expect that a candidate would separate each pre-candidacy contribution into amounts under $2,500 (to be spent on the municipal candidacy) and amounts over $2,5000 (for expenditure on other political purposes). In my view, therefore, the intent of the ordinance is fully complied with so long as a candidate sets aside an amount equal to the sum total of all excess contributions received pre-candidacy, where the amount of a contribution that exceeds the $2,500/$10,000 limit is considered excess."

So, I read that to mean that Fattah should have set aside 95K, and once he declared his candidacy for Mayor, should have given it back to Lenfest.

Is that right or am I reading the solicitor's opinion incorrectly?

Posted by Outlaw | January 10, 2007 9:32 PM

All I've heard on that issue so far is that the Ethics Board recommended putting excess contributions in an escrow account (SPEC account), but has yet to approve specific regulations. I'm assuming not much can be done until the mess regarding the city's right to regulate campaign finance is cleared up.

See here for details on the Ethics Board's recommendations:

http://www.phila.gov/ethicsboard/pdfs/Advisory_Opinion_2006-003_FINAL.pdf

Posted by Dave | January 10, 2007 10:20 PM

Any luck, Wendy?

Posted by Outlaw | January 11, 2007 8:19 PM

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