Albany mayoral race: campaign expenditures
Apparently they're both fans of Dale Miller.
As promised, here are the sortable lists of expenditures for the campaigns of Jerry Jennings and Corey Ellis. If you see anything interesting or notable, please share in the comments.
We posted sortable lists of campaign contributors yesterday. (JVG noticed that DiCarlo's (the strip club) had made a contribution.)
We were able to break out these lists thanks to a package of campaign finance data put together by NYPIRG. That package, which includes data for candidates from Albany County, is available for download (it's an xls file). Thanks to NYPIRG for its help.
We've also put together a few notes based on the lists. They're also after the jump.
To the data...
Data is from the first half of this year. The Jerry Jennings list comes from filings by the Jennings Primary campaign. The Corey Ellis list comes from filings by Friends of Corey Ellis. We did not include Republican Nathan Lebron -- he had three expenditures totaling almost $4,500 ($3,500 to the Albany County Republicans and the rest reimbursing himself for flier printing).
Also: These lists are embedded above in wide-screen, sortable lists
Jerry Jennings
Corey Ellis
Top payees
Jennings: Lake Research Partners, a firm based in Washington DC that specializes in polling, campaign consulting and "message development." ($23,540.40)
Ellis: Berlin Rosen, a firm in New York City that "specializes in public affairs campaign management for political, corporate and non-profit organizations." ($8,052.00)
Dale Miller
The new downtown restaurant seems to be the place for campaign events. Both campaigns have had events there, spending almost $8,500 combined.
photo of Jerry Jennings: Flickr user m00by
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Comments
Well, the first Jennings flyer arrived in my mailbox last month. 16.5 inches of color fold out power. Yes, I totally measured that puppy. I'm no expert, but I imagine the strategy to overwhelm even those giant Bed Bath and Beyond coupons can not be cheap. HIS PLAN TO MAP AN EVEN BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR ALBANY FAMILIES WILL NOT BE IGNORED DAMN IT! Don't make him go 24 inches. I said don't make him!!!
... said Mrs. M on Jul 21, 2009 at 3:45 PM | link
Analysis of Mayoral Campaign Finance:
Corey Ellis -
*Raised over 52% of money out of district
*Spent 70% of money raised
*Spent ~54% on wages / consultants
*Spent over $1,100 on travel - including a fundraiser in Buffalo and a trip to Salt Lake City back in January (wonder what kind of campaign-related travel that was??)
Shawn Morris -
*Raised over 2/3 of funding inside the City of Albany
*Donations include $500 from Mr. Ellis' previous campaign manager
*Spent 0$ on consultants, wages, or any sort of administrative overhead.
*Spent nearly 12% of money raised
Jerry Jennings -
*Of the over $195k in individual/partnership donations raised, over 55% comes from out of district.
*Raised over 45% of money from PAC's and Corporations
*Spent over 58% of money raised this reporting period
*Of funds disbursed (not including transfers), over 43% of funds were spent on administrative / operational overhead and wages (Predominantly to campaign manager Carolyn Erlich, previously of Brooks for Congress notoriety)
Assessments:
*Corey Ellis raises a majority of his money out of district, spends it like water on consultants and travel, and is left with barely enough to run a single city-wide mailer. Tell me again how a Mayor who spends a ton of money on consultants is a "change"? I for one would prefer somebody who can actually manage their money.
*Shawn Morris raises most of her money inside the district, and from quite notable figures in the progressive community. She also doesn't waste it on overhead, spending exponentially less money and placing well above Mr. Ellis in various polling. Shawn was running a perfect campaign to match the fundraising power of the Mayor - slim and effective.
*Jerry Jennings, as estimated, raised a monumental amount of money from many of the business with contracts before the City. In addition, the individual donations received are predominantly from out of district - further reflecting the obvious fact that many people who actually live in Albany no longer wish to be represented by the Tan Man.
It should also be noted that the NYS Democratic Committee has decided to make an in-kind donation to Mayor Jennings, despite the fact that many active Democrats that put a lot of time and energy into the State Party would prefer that our donations to the State committee aren't spend to keep a corrupt administration in power. Here is their e-mail address if you want to complain: nydems@nydems.org
Further, here is the list of elected officials that donated to Jerry (so you know who not to vote for when their time is up):
- Assemblyman Bob Reilly
- Spitzer 2010 (Thanks again, Eliot & Co.)
- Howard Shafer (Previous County Legislator? - please correct)
- County Legislator Bill Clay
- County Clerk Tom Clingan
- Judge Rachel Kretsler
- Comptroller Mike Conners
- Peter Lynch (Judicial Candidate)
- Tracey Brooks (she will surely run for something again soon)
- Councilman Joe Igoe
And for those of you living in Green Island or Cohoes, why don't you ask your Party Chair why they saw fit to donate to the corrupt incumbent's campaign? I know that as a member of the Albany County Democratic Committee, I'm pretty pissed that they are wasting our contributions on him.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering - YES, both Donald Led Duke (Of BBL fame) and a woman sharing his last name have both maxed out at $1,900.
Also notable, large donations from the DeThomasis brothers who enjoy quite a bit of favoritism when it comes to development projects in the City limits.
Both Patricia Lynch and one of her partners - Chris Bombardier - gave to the Mayor.
... said That Guy on Jul 21, 2009 at 6:18 PM | link
I love data. This data is a little messy, and I wasn't going to take the time to clean it. So the findings may not be entirely precise.
That said, here is what I thought was most interesting. The lowest line item total in the Jennings camp is $165.81 for National Grid. Their electricity bill for two months is more expensive than half of the line items from the Ellis camp.
Looking at the expenses closely, one really gets a sense of the differences between the candidates.
One spent close to $8,000 at the Fort Orange Club. The other spent $238 at the econo lodge.
At Staples one spent $636.57 while the other spent $18.98.
... said Daniel B. on Jul 22, 2009 at 1:08 AM | link
Can't say I'm surprised that JJ spends so much money at a place called the Fort Orange Club.
... said Chester on Jul 22, 2009 at 9:53 AM | link
Which one will support marijuana Legalization? Issues pertaining to this topic will surly come up during the next term of whoever is in office. We don't need a Guy going one way while society is going the other running things around here. It is a fact that by at Least 2012 the Majority of Americans will support the Legalization of pot. We need someone in there who can get a grip on taxing and regulation right away.
... said todd on Jul 23, 2009 at 7:49 PM | link