Took a little spin around the reported fundraising by City Council candidates and oh, my!
It’s really easy to look up the number. Go to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) web site. Click on the “Browser Registered Filers & Reports” link (or go directly). Type the name of a candidate and select from the drop-down that appears. Then click on the “Data” tab. Up pops a list of their contributors. Note: candidates are not required to provide the names of donors who give less than $50.
Here are some takeaways. Disclaimer: I know fundraising is not perfectly correlated to actual election success. But, the fundraising totals are very interesting.
1. Remember how the Charter No gang told us we need to keep Ward seats so that people can run without having to raise the gobs of money required to run city-wide? Well, of the candidates in contested elections, the Ward 2 ward councilor candidates have raised the second and third highest individual totals in the city, creating the second best funded race. (All numbers are for contributions from 1/1/2018 as of 10/20/19.)
Incumbent Ward 2 ward councilor (and self-proclaimed Vote No leader chair) Emily Norton has raised $36,413. Challenger Bryan Barash has raised $31,367. That’s $67,780 between the two of them. It’s staggering. For a seat that, when last contested, Councilor Norton won with just over a thousand votes.
2. Councilor Jake Auchincloss is a fund-raising machine. He has raised $51,639. The nearly $52K dwarfs what the other candidates in the Ward 3 2 at-large race have raised. Councilor Susan Albright has raised $9,385. Challenger Tarik Lucas has raised an impressive $8,994. Challenger Jennifer Bentley has raised only $3,265, nearly half of which are donations or loans from herself to the campaign. Take out the out-of-state ($10,224) and out-of-town* ($12,385) donors and he’d still have the third highest total.
The disparity between Candidates Lukas and Bentley is striking. Lukas’s haul is close to Councilor Albright’s and to incumbents’ in other at-large races. It suggests a vigorous campaign that has attracted support. In contrast, Candidate Bentley seems to be struggling. They are both “outsider” candidates, so that doesn’t explain her relatively paltry haul.
3. After Councilor Auchincloss and Candidates Norton and Barash, the next best funded campaign is Alicia Bowman’s. She’s challenging for a Ward 6 at-large seat against incumbents Vicki Danberg ($10,061) and Greg Schwartz ($9,925). Notably, Councilor Schwartz’s total includes a $3,500 loan he made to the campaign and $2150 in out-of-state donations.
For an incumbent candidate in a fiercely contested at-large race, just $4,250 in Newton donations suggests a lack of fundraising effort or support. Candidate Schwartz may be the victim of being lumped in with the Right Size candidates, without generating enthusiasm among the Right Sizers.
Also, I would have expected Councilor Danberg to have raised more, in light of Candidate Bowman’s very energetic campaigning. Is she relying on the rule that top at-large vote-getters in the previous election don’t get unseated?
In the other Ward 6 race, Ward Councilor Brenda Noel raised $14,598 in the period. (You’ll see my name on her list of contributors.) Challenger Lisa Gordon has raised $3,150.
4. Among the candidates for John Rice’s open Ward 5 ward councilor seat, primary winner Bill Humphrey has raised $14,299, Kathy Winters has raised $7,717 (including a $2,000 candidate loan to the campaign), and write-in aspirant Rena Getz has raised $5,800.
The discrepancy is a bit of a surprise. Is Candidate* Getz eating into Candidate Winters’ donors? Is this a harbinger of how the voting will play out.
In the Ward 5 at-large race, incumbent Deb Crossley has raised $11,409 to incumbent Andrea Downs’s $2,855. Challenger and former alderman Paul Coletti has reported no donations. Clearly, Councilor Crossley is not relying on the previous winner guarantee. And, it seems Councilor Downs is not worried by Alderman Coletti’s lackluster campaign.
5. The race for the open Ward 3 ward councilor seat is close, at least in financial terms. Julia Malakie has raised $4,440 and Carolina Ventura has raised $3,450.
This strikes me as a real miss on the part of the “establishment.” Instead of donating so heavily to Councilors Auchincloss and Crossley — who are unlikely to need all the money they’ve raised to keep their seats, even if they spend it — they maybe are going to wish they spent some of it in Ward 3, where Candidate Malackie probably has the best shot among the Right Size candidates.
Similarly modest numbers in the Ward 3 at-large race. Incumbent Andrea Kelley raised $4,060 in the period, challenger Pam Wright $3,015, and incumbent Jim Cote $915.
It’s like an old-timey (pre-Auchincloss) set of races.
6. The battle between Councilor Maria Scibelli-Greenberg and former Alderman Allan Ciccone for her Ward 1 ward councilor seat is the bargain race. She’s raised $275. According to the OCPF reports, Ciccone hasn’t a single donor.
Again, a missed opportunity for those worried about the Right Sizers.
7. What in the hell is Lisle Baker doing raising $12,462 when he hasn’t had an opponent since leaded gas. I poked around at some of the shoo-in candidates and Councilor Baker was the only one I found reporting significant (greater than $2,000) fundraising. Over $12K. Freezing out future competitors, or what?
With Councilor Baker included, five of the top seven fundraising totals so far this cycle are for ward seats. So much for cheaper ward seats.
* I counted Chestnut Hill address as Newton, though Chestnut Hill could also be Boston or Brookline.
You left off the PACs, @Sean, a relatively new phenomenon in the city municipal elections (I think.) Maybe those number haven’t been published yet, but they are reportedly in the tens of thousands. There’s something the Tab and Globe could work on.
Here’s just hoping they do any election articles at all. It’s been pretty darn quiet.
Paul,
Newton Democracy Political Action Committee has raised $2,826, all of it since the middle of July.
Voters for a Vibrant Newton Political Action Committee has raised $1,450, all in the last week.
Newton DEMCC raised $24,661 since 1/1/17.
Newton REPCC raised $1,995 since 1/1/17.
The Newton Democracy Political Action Committee contributor list has the usual development-skeptical suspects: Chris Pitts, Peter Harrington, &c.
The Voters for a Vibrant Newton Political Action Committee contributor list has the usual pro-housing suspects: Brooke Lipsett, Claire Sokoloff, &c.
Not surprisingly, the names on each list appear as contributors to the candidates you’d expect.
The other two accounts seem to roll up ward party accounts and other contributions. Neither appears to have gathered any donations in 2019.
I didn’t find an Engine 6 PAC or any other PAC associated with Newton. If you have any names, happy to look into it.
Reports of tens of thousands of dollars flooding city-council elections seems a touch exaggerated.
Interesting on many levels.
While the charter vote is behind us, there are candidates in this election (and other sitting councilors who are unopposed) who worked for the No campaign and actively spread the idea that the ward seats were important so that Average Joe/Jane could get elected to city council…with all at-large, only the wealthy and powerful would hold office. It would be nice to hear from them.
And it might be fun to hear from Maria, Allan, Emily, Bryan, Carolina, Julia, Kathy, Bill, Rena, Brenda, and Lisa about how much *less time* they’re putting into their campaigns than the at-large candidates!
@Rhanna: Yes it is interesting. We have two candidates for Ward Councilors that actively worked and campaigned to get rid of the very seats they are running for. We also have two Councilors running for re-election even though they are also running for Congress.
I never understood that argument. Should parents who voted against Newton North not send their kids there? Do opponents of a tax override get to skip the tax increase? (Is Ruthanne Fuller your mayor Amy, even if you ran against her?)
So why shouldn’t people who supported the charter not have the right to elect someone who shared their view?
And, there are a couple of candidates not so actively running.
And, a write-in candidate who was eliminated in a primary.
Paul, who has a PAC supporting them? On what issues?
I’m shocked at the amounts raised for the Ward races. What the heck do they spend that money on?
I’ve heard of three organizations, @fig: Voters for a Vibrant Newton; Engine 6; and NewtonVotes. I haven’t had time to review their platforms or endorsements.
@Greg, in item 2, you are describing Ward 2 at large, not Ward 3.
@Andrea: not me. Sean
Andrea,
Thanks. Fixed.
@sean: While you call it “struggling,” I call it being fiscally responsible. I am not of the mind that you have to raise tens of thousands of dollars to run for City Council. And while my supporters aren’t sending me checks for $1,000+, I value every donation that comes in from $10 – $250. I may not win with that strategy, but at least I won’t feel bad spending my supporters hard earned money on things my campaign just doesn’t need.
Jennifer,
You have 16 total contributors, besides yourself. You have an active contribute page on your web site, with quite typical language urging folks to contribute. There is no language discouraging contributions because you’re running a modest campaign.
Nothing personal, but these are signs of a struggling campaign.
Amy – My ward (5) voted in favor of the charter reform, in fact by a greater number than those who voted to re-elect our current councilor. I figure they should have a ward councilor who actually agrees with them on that. As long as the seat exists, there’s no reason for me to concede it without a fight to one of the two candidates who do not agree with me on this or many other issues. If we did agree on the major issues, I wouldn’t have felt compelled to step up and jump in the race last year.
Plus, the contention that the charter reform opponents made was that ward representation allowed for a closer and more direct relationship with ward constituents, so I am testing out that premise by knocking the entire ward 4 times this year. I’m just about done with the 4th pass. Today I got to my 7,500th door if you count multiple passes. Since that’s only true of my campaign, I suppose we will find out in a couple weeks whether the ward seat really does get filled by the person who has had the chance to talk to more voters than anyone else.
@Rhanna — I’m not sure what point you are making with regard to financing.
Donors to the Yes Campaign have poured in at least $8250 to Emily’s opponent’s campaign so far – nearly half of his in-city donations – and appear to be funding a new PAC in order to support him and others that seek to eliminate ward-elected representation.
So the Yes campaign team pumps in large $ to a ward race against the councilor who led the successful effort to defeat them, and then points out there are large $ in a ward race?
All but one of Emily’s contributions came from individuals, while her opponent has taken $2600 from PACs and political committees, with ~40% of his cash coming from outside the city.
@Sean — Emily was not the “self-proclaimed” Vote No leader, she was the chair (not chairman) and leader.
Jack,
Bad choice of words on my part. I didn’t mean to suggest that she was taking false credit for leading, rather that she regularly cites her leadership. I’ll just strike the self-proclaimed part and change leader to chair.
@Rhanna — re: “less time” to run for a ward seat. The No campaign didn’t make the point that it took less time to run for a ward seat, but rather that it was feasible to knock on every door in the ward and meet voters face to face while still holding down a day job and/or raising a family. Because it is feasible, candidates need to do it.
At-large candidates can knock on a sampling of doors to get a sense of voter sentiment, but hitting every door is not feasible unless they can afford not to work, so they end up doing much much much less of it.
Taking to a candidate who comes to your door is a great opportunity to be heard as a resident. I can remember each candidate I’ve met that way, and its more influential than the other more expensive ways residents can be reached.
@Jack, This is a quote from a No campaign flier that blanketed the city:
“This proposal will make it much harder for independent voices and those not part of powerful political networks to run and prevail. First, there is the expense – it is significantly more costly to run a citywide campaign, compared to a ward campaign. Then there is the time – when running only in a ward, it is possible to knock on every door. But it is virtually impossible to knock on every door citywide, particularly for candidates who also have jobs and children. Shouldn’t we want to make it easier for newcomers to run and win, rather than harder?”
So I guess I’d like to hear from Emily about whether she’s now a part of a powerful political network. If so, she should probably withdraw from the race, because the vision she sold Newton voters on is that the ward seat is for the newcomers and political outsiders. Anyone in the ward should have a fair shot at challenging her, regardless of professional and family obligations.
@PaulLevy Here is another one – Newton Democracy Political Action Committee
@Fig and @Paul – the Voters for a Vibrant Newton PAC formed very recently in order to respond to the Newton Democracy PAC and their active campaign to promote a slate of city council candidates. Voters for a Vibrant Newton is promoting an alternate, more progressive and forward-looking, slate as described in the press release we issued today.
@Jack and @Paul – Newton Democracy is a PAC and their website is NewtonVotes.org. In other words, Newton Democracy and NewtonVotes are one and the same.
@Rhanna — Yes — and that is how these ward campaigns are being waged. Lots of door knocking and talking to voters, and that will have a big impact on the outcomes. Do the Yes candidates still not see the merits of this system having lived it?
The Yes campaign is making the Ward 2 race a big $ campaign. The $ would be even bigger if the Yes candidate wasn’t avoiding the optics of having real estate developers contributing.
Over 90% of Emily’s donations have come Newton residents, and well over half from ward residents.
Her opponents contributions are coming from PACs, political committees, non-residents (40%), as well as from network of Yes contributors that have funded a not insignificant percentage of city council campaign spending in recent years.
My head is hurting. On cable news tonight they’re talking about Hillary’s emails and here on Village 14, we’re still litigating the charter vote? Geesh.
Jack,
The argument that Yes-folk bid the cost of the Ward 2 ward councilor seat up would be more credible if your candidate hadn’t raised $17,453 in the previous election cycle, when she ran unopposed.
She’s done a remarkable job of fundraising, particularly locally. And, the difference (for this cycle) between her and her opponent ($5046) is larger than the amount raised by eleven of the candidates in contested elections. Her fundraising efforts and effectiveness have made it necessary to raise a large sum to defeat her.
@Greg. Nobody voted for the abolition of Newton North.
Nice try though.
I can’t say I’m a fan of the Newton Democracy/Vibrant Newton approach – divie all the councilors into opposing teams and pick your side. A certain amount of that is always inevitable of course but I worry that we may be in danger of heading down the downward path that national politics has taken in recent years.
Caring fervently about a particular issue or two and supporting the candidates that agree with you is just healthy politics. Where it can goes awry is when the opposing teams model gets to the point that on any unrelated issue: if you’re for, then I’m against.
I do hope we don’t get to the point that if we know where a candidate stands on Northland’s development then we can be pretty sure where they will stand on swimming in Crystal Lake, or off-leash dog park rules.
I have always very much disliked these “slates”…
@Sean,
It appears you were unaware of the Vibrant Newton Pac? If so, does it not trouble you that you are listed as an Endorser of the slate?
Simon,
It appears that you and I commented at roughly the same time. I provided Vibrant Newton numbers in a reply to Paul Levy a few minutes before you clicked submit on your comment.
We now have a thread dedicated to the two PACS.
I find slates helpful. Not that I vote the slate, but on races I’m torn between 3 candidates in the at-large, it is very helpful. For instance, seems like Greg S. is the odd person out in Ward 6 for Vibrant Newton. That’s informative. A tough call, since I’ve liked Greg and I’m really not sure who to vote for.
Coalitions are part of politics. I don’t mind when Right Size Newton does it either.
Not surprisingly, I agree with Fig-leaf, here.
One thing that struck me listening to the many candidates on Sunday: the thematic consistency among the candidates on the development-skeptical and the pro-housing sides. There were a few independent notes. Tarik Lucas explicitly said density is good at one point. It’s hard to pin down Jim Cote, which is why I suspect Right Side didn’t endorse him. But, overall, there was a clear division between the two sets. Frankly, more than I would have anticipated.
The slates fit.
Next week should be interesting. I expect Greg Schwartz will not seem quite Right Size. But the Vibrant Newton folks have good reason to choose his competitors. Likewise for Kathy Winters.
@fig et al. I don’t know what they’re doing with all the campaign money that’s flowing into their accounts, but Bryan Barash is using his for professionally produced videos and targeted Facebook ad campaigns that he’s been running starting February. He’s run 15 campaigns since then on Facebook and Instagram and I’m assuming he’ll just ramp up as the election gets closer. Spend thus far has only been about $500 to Facebook/Instagram but the fancy videos are expensive to produce and I counted at least five of them on his Facebook page. (All this is easy to see in the page transparency section on Facebook.) I’m interested in his social media campaign, his online strategy in general as well as the amount of money that’s flowed into his campaign from non-residents. He’s come to my attention because his strategy is certainly not new and it’s been quite successful in the past. Will it be successful here? We’ll have to see if the outside money and the online strategy will overcome the obvious support the incumbent has in her own ward (judging by where the great majority of her money has come from) I also wonder about his outside money coupled with his campaign strategy. All of this appears to be a strategy to springboard out of Newton to state politics. I wouldn’t judge or blame him for that, but I wonder how that would affect the residents of Ward 2 when they cast their votes.
She, by the way, has never run any Facebook or Instagram ads.
Casey, correct me if I wrong, but Bryan hasn’t been negative campaigning. I don’t understand your objection to facebook or online ads. You seem to be complaining that his ads are professionally done. So what?
Look if he was being unfair in those ads I’d agree with you. But spending money to get your message out…that’s pretty normal.
And complaining that somehow that Bryan is buying the election kinda ignores the fact that he is basically stalking my neighborhood. He’s been around my area so much my kids recognize him. I saw him knocking on doors again this past weekend.
Emily has raised a bunch of money too. If she isn’t spending it online, how is she spending it?
Also, Emily has massive name recognition and is an incumbent. Pretty hard to win against that if you can’t fundraise. And I’m not seeing any major donations or anything that give me pause.
So, I get that all this gives Emily’s supporters pause, but thus far all I see if a good opponent.
I’ll note that in my view, the online ads aren’t worth the money. But nothing wrong with them if they are honest.
Bryan doesn’t need to run a negative campaign against Emily…V14 is already doing that for him. And free of charge (I hope).
I’m Ward 5 and have no horse in this race. I liked Bryan’s demeanor and approach when he first announced he was running. But with all the Emily bashing here on V14, I now view Bryan differently – by association.
Wishing I was 16 again, oblivious to politics.