Wilmington Mayor Race Cattle Call — Show Me the Money Edition
Campaign finance reports for the year ending 31 December 2015 were due into the Department of Elections by 20 January 2016, so let’s take a look at what those reports might tell us about the race for Mayor of Wilmington:
Dennis Williams (incumbent)
Williams started with about $2200.00 in the bank and ended up with $23,000, including a $3K loan from someone in Mendenhall. Subtracting the starting balance and that eccentric loan, Williams has raised $17,800. By this point in Jim Baker’s last Mayoral run (2007), he had raised almost $20,462. His expenditures to date are $5200.00, including paying back the $3K loan. You figure that the funds raised here are the low-hanging fruit for Williams and from here on in, it will be interesting to see where the checks come from. If you listen to the business community, they are done with this guy, but then there will be more than a few of these folks who will write a check just as insurance.
Theo Gregory
Gregory raised about $16,7000 — including transferring about $2,000.00 from his City Council President committee. This also includes about 575.00 of in-kind contributions from Theo and $1,750.00 loan he provided to the campaign. He also had more than $12,000 in expenditures which is remarkable at this stage (looks like mostly expenditures for fundraising), leaving him with a $4K balance. To me, this isn’t a great start. And spending most of your funds right out of the gate doesn’t speak well for Gregory’s financial management skills.
Eugene Young
Raised $22,244.79 in cash and in-kind (less than $1,500.00) for the year. Has $17,000.00 after expenditures. If you subtract Williams’ starting balance and that eccentric loan, Eugene out-raised Williams for this year. In addition, there is $56K in The Young Movement PAC — designed to help young people run for office in the city. Eugene was the primary fundraiser for this PAC until he filed for office. Now others are working at fundraising. That’s $80K he’s raised over the year — no loans. An impressive haul for someone who was widely expected to not be able to raise any money.
Norm Griffiths
Griffiths raised about $22,300.00, which includes a $12,812 loan (about half spent on a fundraiser) he’s provided to the campaign. That means he’s raised about $9500.00 in direct contributions. He spent about $8500 of that leaving him with $13,813.06.
Kevin Kelley
Raised $2400.00, including a $100.00 loan from Kelley to the campaign. He’s had expenditures of $160.00, leaving him with $2,332.66. Kevin focuses on fundraising well after the first of the year start of an election season. Still, this time in 2012, Kevin had raised $15K and had a $12.5K balance.
Mike Purzycki
Raised $76,400.00, including a $50K loan from Purzycki to his campaign. He’s had expenditures of $70,390.81, including a direct payment of $50,000 to Purzycki, leaving him with $6K on hand. This is an odd report — starting with the $50K payment to Purzycki (what *is* that about, anyway?), and including a big expenditure for what looks like office space. The $50K he paid himself is the big question here — it is certainly unusual to pay yourself and I can’t think of why he would do this, leaving such a small amount on hand. Unless, of course, he has Dennis Williams’ skills with a spreadsheet. Or he’s just greedy. Purzycki could certainly loan himself more money, which would start to look like he was trying to buy this office.
Bobby Marshall
Raised $155.00 and the report shows that he spent $28.00 of that. Really? Really? I’d bet that the story here is Marshall waiting to review these reports himself to know how much to loan himself to run. Making him one more candidate looking to buy his way into office.
Other rumored candidates — Scott Spencer, Robert Bovell, Maria Cabrera, Matthew Meyer– have not filed finance reports for the Office of Mayor.
Both Eugene Young and Mike Purzycki are doing very well in raising direct contributions and both out raised Dennis Williams in direct funds. Purzycki could always loan himself more money, but Eugene is doing old-fashioned fundraising and old-fashioned door knocking. Right now, there’s almost $160K raised (including loans) by this group to run for Mayor. That’s alot of money for Wilmington and a reflection of the weakness of the incumbent, the energy for change and the easy play of the odds for someone who wants to be Mayor of Wilmington right now. There’s going to be even more money thoughout the year, which I suspect will make this the most expensive race for Mayor in Wilmington’s history.
Tags: Featured, Wilmington Mayor, Wilmington Mayoral Election 2016
Interesting numbers.
While they’ve had differences among themselves, I’d lump Williams, Gregory and Griffiths together as part of a Wilmington political establishment that has had its chance to govern for many years and hasn’t done it particularly well. Their strengths, whatever they may be, do not include budgeting and fundraising.
I’m surprised that Kelley’s numbers are so low. He will have to step it up to run a credible campaign.
Young has been an impressive fundraiser — a good sign for a candidate — and he may be the best of the city’s next generation, but is he ready to be mayor now?
Which brings me to Purzycki. In a vacuum, it’s hard to conceive of a Polish lawyer, a former New Castle County councilman who hasn’t run for office in 30 years, being a leading candidate for mayor of a majority black city.
But he’s done a great job shaking the money tree, he has guided Riverfront development, he has great relationships with Buccini/Pollin, he understands budgets and economics, he has long-term, meaningful connections with key power sources in Dover, and his work as chair of the Wilmington Hope Commission has strengthened his understanding of the crime, recidivism and poverty issues that grip the city.
I’m not sure how voters will respond to Purzycki when he meets them one-on-one, but I can envision the city being better off 10 years from now with Purzycki serving one term as mayor and Young becoming more immersed in city government before running for mayor, and winning, in 2020.
Purzycki’s loan and expenditure are dated the same. If I’m interpreting that right then he’s showing he’s willing to sink a lot of his own money into it.
Eugene has a lot of energy behind him and his working his tail off. Really heartening to see that energy translate into donations. Hopefully this is the first of Eugene exceeding expectations.
Helpful summary.
I have received at least 2 mailings from Marshall, did he only send mail to a handful of people? $28 doesn’t pay for much paper and postage.
It is incorrect, indeed loopy, to lump Griffiths with Gregory [whom he successfully ran against in 2008 for City Council president] or Williams. Griffiths has nothing in common with them except Zip Code 19802. Oh yes, one other similarity, too obvious to mention.
Griffiths has the potential to marry the two talents needed to be elected mayor: confidence in the business community and credibility with the neighborhoods. He would have been an obvious choice in 2012, but had family reasons not to run. Making that sale early in 2016 will be his task.
This is getting good. I love your writing, and the intrigue. 2016 is going to be a banner year for Wilmington.
Do you really think Griffiths has credibility in the neighborhoods? I can assure you people who live just a few blocks from him do not even know who he is.
A Gregory troll!
[Norm’s neighbors elected him four times to City Council. The first time was a 2-to-1 evisceration of the incumbent. Then he won an uphill city-wide primary for Council president against Gregory. Oh yes, Gregory and Griffiths are neighbors.]
Neighborhoods are not static, things change over 8 years, people come, people go. New folks don’t remember Councilman or Council President Griffiths.
And there are plenty of people who remember how Griffiths abandoned them in the fight for Community Policing. Don’t get me wrong, Griffiths is a perfectly gracious and smart guy. His best opportunity was against Williams, though. But it is more than fair to include him in the pack of Wilmington old heads who simply haven’t been able to get it done over the years.
And that race against Gregory wasn’t all that uphill.
AGovernor, the mailings I have gotten from Marshall came from his Senate office. I haven’t seen a thing actually related to his campaign.
The most impressive part of Eugene Youngs fund raising campaign is the diversity of donations. He has both corporate leaders as well as small donors. 69 % of his donations were under $100 . That translates into voters
I must have thrown it out, but I am pretty sure one mailing I got from Marshall was a letter saying why he was running for Mayor.
Not sure I opened the other, funny thing is Marshall is not my state senator. So, why would he send me mail from his senate office? Just sayin’.
not surprised here that eugene has been able to raise a legitimate amount of money from a diverse field of donors… his energy is infectious, and his ability to identify and recruit a talented team is obvious. this is the EXACT determination, intensity, and efficacy the city demands right now.
Everyone I talk to in the City seems to either be Team Eugene or interested in Team Eugene. I had to see for myself. I went to the Cool Springs candidates forum and I just want to say, he stood out in a good way. Standing next to people who have been leading our government and business community for 20+ years, he showed an amazing grasp of the issues as well as the people. He has an infectious energy and addressed difficult concerns with reason and optimism. For the first time in years, I felt hopeful for where Wilmington could go. I would be proud to go anywhere in this state or country and say, “That’s my mayor”
I am Team Eugene! I first met Eugene last April, and since then have canvassed my neighborhood with him, attended fundraisers, and have had amazing conversations about our city with him. He is a force. The energy surrounding him is contagious. Go Eugene!
AGovernor (and others who emailed or texted), I am wrong about the Marshall mailings. I *did* get those and (probably like many others) assumed they came from the Senator’s office. They didn’t, which is pretty plain on the disclaimer on each of them. Now the question is why the Senator didn’t report the expenditures involved in all of these mailings on his Campaign Finance report?
Click on the links to see the mailings:
October 19
October 30
(This letter also came with a reprint of a NJ article reporting on Marshall’s announcement of his Mayoral campaign. Which means that the licensing or reprint fee also needs to be accounted for.)
Phone Number Card
So not only is Marshall not reporting income(even if it is a loan), he clearly isn’t reporting very public campaign expenses, either. Not exactly the habits we want in the next Wilmington Mayor, I’m thinking.
Money aside, question for all mayoral candidates, what is your snow removal plan?
Howard Safir, hired by Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission, turns out to have been a Koch goon:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/nyregion/what-happened-to-jane-mayer-when-she-wrote-about-the-koch-brothers.html
John, what on earth does that have to do with the report? If anything its tells me that if the Koch Brothers, who could afford any investigators on earth, chose these guys, they must be good at digging up information. Which is exactly what this administration needed to uncover the truth. Why do I care who their other clients are? And why is that even relevant… other than to say that when the Governor promised he would hire the best, he actually did it. This is what the Williams Administration did following the report. They just keep working to discredit the messenger rather than addressing the message. Stop… it doesn’t work John.
I wonder what would happen to the US economy if consultants and lawyers only took on honorable work for honorable people with completely honorable objectives. Not to excuse what Vigilant did here in trying to smear Meyer (and they were no where near successful), but working at getting to your client’s objectives is at the heart of consulting and lawyering, yes? And those objectives aren’t always in the service of good (except to your client, of course) and sometimes the means by which said consultants and lawyers get to what their clients pay them for aren’t always virtuous, either. Not that any of this is right (says a former consultant), but the rules of the game don’t keep the saints employed. As you well know.
Association with Vigilant doesn’t impeach the WPSSC in any way. And if it does, you’ll have to work a good deal harder than posting up an article that has nothing to do with that work.
Pox on Both Houses Dept.:
The Williams administration is beneath incompetent and deserves to be consigned to the Slawik-Justice Wing of history.
That said, the fact that Safir’s shop tried to smear Jane Mayer by fabricating evidence, etc., speaks volumes about the ethics and culture of Rudy’s former top cop, and should eradicate his halo. In fact, Safir has proven himself to be a pig in every sense.
Williams should be banished to his multiple pensions, but WPSSC picked a hideous messenger.
If Safir had a halo you might have a point. And while the messenger may be imperfect, you still haven’t done a thing to impeach the message.
Cass: The message was absolutely on point, and needs to be delivered again and again. This city is poorly policed, due to an abscess of leadership at 800 French Street.
But this news about Safir reinforces my concern, that Williams has a door to daylight. He can rant, “Rudy Giuliani’s henchman was hired to smear me. He’s tried to smear lots of people. He’s a tool for hire. …[blah.blah].”
All the more reason to see some consolidation in the invisible primary. A three-way primary reelects this boob.
Sorry, Williams and his supporters (Rick Jensen) tried this BS to discredit Safir over the Amadou Diallo shooting. Why didn’t that work? The fact that the city is badly policed is widely accepted as true and there is nothing in the recommendations that would incentivize the bad behavior they tried to link Safir to. Williams is paranoid and his first reaction to the stuff he doesn’t like is to take it personally. He is always accusing people of trying to smear him. It’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf At This Point. Paying attention to that lets him off the hook for exactly the response that needs to happen — a serious critique of what is wrong with the report (once you’ve separated out the work that Safir’s group did vs the Police Foundation).
Other than those in his employ, there’s not a person in Wilmington who thinks Williams is the person for the job. Everything else is details.