Justin Elicker used mostly locally-raised contributions to place an ad on craigslist and hire nine out-of-town campaign staffers. Toni Harp used thousands of dollars from out-of-town donors to help hire 60 New Haveners to her campaign, including everyday people from Newhallville and West Rock.
So who has the more “local” campaign?
Candidates debated that question as they released their latest tallies of how much money they have raised in their mayoral campaigns.
In part due to thousands of dollars from union-affiliated political action committees, Harp’s campaign reaped in $100,000 over the past three weeks leading up to next Tuesday’s election. Elicker, who has volunteered to cap his donations and swear off money from political action committees, raised one third as much money in the same time period, Oct. 4 to Oct. 27. (The above chart reflects contributions from individuals, and excludes Harp’s contributions from committees.)
Tuesday marked the last deadline for campaign finance reports before Elicker, an independent candidate, and Harp, a Democrat, face each other in the Nov. 5 mayoral general election.
Harp reported raising $104,835 in the period from Oct. 4 to Oct. 27. Click here and here for Harp’s campaign finance report.
Elicker reported raising $33,441 during that same time. Click here to read his campaign finance filing.
Harp’s campaign has now crossed the half-million mark in fundraising for the entire primary and general election season. (She has raised $503,496.) Elicker has raised $308,480.67. Elicker reported having $24,000 on hand as of Sunday. Harp reported having only $8,324 in the bank; campaign spokesman Patrick Scully said her campaign has since held fundraisers, replenishing campaign coffers.
Harp received 45 percent of her donations from New Haveners compared to Elicker’s 87 percent.
That fact—as well as new information about how each campaign is spending its money—prompted the candidates to jockey over the rights to the title of most New Haven-centered campaign.
Elicker touted the “overwhelming proportion” of donations coming from New Haven as a contrast to Harp’s money from political action committees, contractors and out-of-towners.
He questioned why so many out-of-towners are paying into Harp’s campaign: “Why are they trying to influence an election in New Haven?”
Harp Campaign Manager Jason Bartlett replied that people from around the state are attracted to Harp because they know her, and because of the historic nature of her candidacy: She would be the city’s first woman mayor.
“We’re really comfortable and actually excited about the depth of our New Haven support, the fact that it is citywide,” Bartlett said.
“The Harp administration is going to lead the resurgence of Connecticut’s economy,” he added. “I don’t think anyone should be surprised that she’s attracting support from outside the city.”
Harp said she has broader supporter among New Haven donors across the city. And she pointed to the 60 local people her campaign hired for part-time work on the campaign.
“Our staff is a New Haven staff. We’ve spent our money here in New Haven. I’m really proud of that. It’s a depressed community that needs that,” Harp said.
Her campaign also hired its share of out-of-town consultants, including spokesman Scully, of Massachusetts, and consulting firms in Hartford and Washington, D.C.
Craigslist
Elicker’s campaign spent $90,509.75 in the last reporting period. Harp spent $101,965.
The campaigns had different strategies on where they found workers to spread their messages.
Elicker’s camp spent $10,569 on 16 “consultants.” Nine of them hailed from outside the city, from Bethany, Wolcott, Stratford, New London, East Haven and West Haven. The rest live in East Rock, Fair Haven, Westville and Wooster Square.
Campaign manager Kyle Buda said the consultants include a range of staff with different duties, such as door-knocking and text-message campaigns.
Elicker was asked why the campaign has so many out-of-town staffers when it has placed an emphasis on collecting donations from inside the city. He said the campaign posted ads on craigslist for campaign workers: “We’ve just hired people who’ve responded to our ads.”
He said employing staffers from out of town is different from relying on out-of-town cash. When people from outside the city donate to a campaign, “there’s a question of why are they donating, why are they trying to influence an election in New Haven?”
“Someone that’s donating a thousand dollars to Toni Harp’s campaign has a different expectation than someone that’s simply looking for a job and responding to a job ad for a campaign,” Elicker said.
“The difference between Harp receiving the majority of contributions from out of town and my campaign hiring some out of town workers is that WE pay these folks, whereas HARP’S CAMPAIGN is paid FOR by out of towners,” Elicker wrote in a follow-up email. “How would a person we pay influence my campaign or me as mayor?”
He added that Harp’s main staffers—Scully and campaign manager Bartlett—hail from outside New Haven.
Harp employed 60 New Haveners for part-time campaign work over the 23 days. The list included people from West Rock and Newhallville who picked up $100 or a few hundred bucks.
“They’re part of our grassroots operation” helping to canvas voters and do mailings, Bartlett said.
Harp’s campaign also spent plenty of money on out-of-town consultants. It paid $12,000 to Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies consultancy firm out of Washington, D.C. and $2,040 for a firm named Grassroots Strategies from Hartford. Some of that went to run polls and produce TV ads—things that could not be done in-house, Bartlett said.
Harp added that the grandmother of the person who runs the D.C. firm lives in New Haven.
The campaign also spent several thousand on “Herodotus Campaign,” Chris Campbell’s consultancy firm run out of his Wooster Square home. The campaign hired two people from Branford and one from Hamden for part-time work during this reporting period. The campaign shelled out $600 for “lodging” for Patrick Scully, its Melrose, Mass.-based campaign spokesman.
Elicker replied that his campaign relies mostly on volunteers instead of out-of-town consultants.
Facebook, Parking Meters
Other Harp campaign expenditures included $2,000 on TV advertising, $5,333.45 on mailings. The campaign bought food from Orangeside Diner, Popeyes, and O’Tooles Restaurant. It also advertised heavily on Facebook through regular $25 payments.
In other major expenditures, Elicker’s campaign spent $7,340 on direct mail; $50,000 on TV ads, $13,000 on radio ads, and $5.74 on Facebook.
Food expenditures included $245.67 from Frank Pepe Pizza and two stops at Pizza at the Brick Oven on Elm Street, totaling $84.85.
Elicker’s campaign also spent $1 at a New Haven parking meter.
“Clean”
Elicker has volunteered to cap individual donations at $370; by law, Harp can accept individual donations of up to $1,000.
Elicker’s pledge to do so traces back to the Democratic primary, which he lost to Harp in a four-way battle. He ran in the primary under the city’s Democracy Fund, which awards public grants and matching dollars to candidates who swear off donations from political action committees, and cap donations at $370. Elicker is getting no public money from the Democracy Fund during the general election but has volunteered to abide by the rules anyway.
“We are excited about the progress we have made fundraising, particularly given that I am committed to abiding by the rules of the Democracy Fund,” said Elicker in a press release. “Clean campaigns lead to a more efficient government.”
Elicker’s average donation during the last reporting period was $114.13. Harp’s was $214.04, not counting donations from committees.
Union $$
Harp received $92,465 from individuals. She received $12,120 from the following political action committees:
New Haven Central Labor Council, $1,500
Local 34, $1,500
UNITE HERE TIP State & Local Fund-CT, $1,500
SEIU Local 32BJ, $1,500
Realtors Political Action Committee, $1,500
99 PAC, $250
AFSCME 269 PAC, $120
Connecticut Health Care District 1199, $750
Connecticut State Employees Association, $500
Bricklayers/Allied Craftworkers Local 1, $250
UA Plumbers/Steamfitters Local 777 $1,500
IUPAT, $1,000
UI PowerPAC-CT, $250
Here are her top donors and where they live (their professions weren’t easily available in electronic format):
Patricia Bender, Woodbridge, CT, $370
James Calvin Tillman, New Britain, CT, $500
Vincent C McDermott, Bethlehem, CT, $500
William Sanger, Castle Rock, CO, $500
Randel G Owen, Castle Rock, CO, $500
Steven G Murphy, Centennial, CO, $500
Todd G Zimmerman, Parker, CO, $500
Edward Van Home, Colleyville, TX, $500
Ricahrd Cuomo, Hamden, CT, $500
William B Conner, Columbus, OH, $500
John Fisher, New Haven, CT, $500
Herbert S Newman, Woodbridge, CT, $500
Jeanie Figg, Washington, DC, $500
Paul Nunez-Rosas, New Haven, CT, $500
Michael Flaherty, Hastings, NY, $500
Michael J Nickolaus, Shorewood, WI, $500
Ron, Hurt, Hamden, CT, $500
Robert A Emma, Hartford, CT, $500
Florence E Leibin, Avon, CT, $500
Douglas N Bromfield, Hartford, CT, $500
Djana Harp, Decatur, GA, $500
Anne T Calabresi, Woodbridge, CT, $500
Steven Sadler, Cheshire, CT, $500
William F Clark, New Haven, CT, $500
Marlene G, Mednick, Hamden, CT, $500
Richard, Ferguson, Westport, CT, $500
Jonathan W, Prete, Orange, CT, $500
Charles J, Mascola, New Haven, CT, $500
Barbara Segaloff, New Haven, CT, $500
Joseph Schiffer, Branford, CT, $500
Mavis Terry, Branford, CT, $500
Peter Newman, Hamden, CT, $500
Patrick A T, Lee, Milton, MA, $500
Jason Johnston, Redondo Beach, CA, $500
Randolph Kinder, Stamford, CT, $500
Peter Boone, Trumbull, CT, $500
Christian Salvati, New York, NY, $500
John M Milone, Jr, Cheshire, CT, $750
Jean Cronin Hughes, Old Saybrook, CT, $750
Bruce Jacobs, West Haven, CT, $750
Rohan Freeman, Rocky Hill, CT, $950
Marshall S Ruben, Wallingford, CT, $1,000
John H Motley, Hartford, CT, $1,000
Frank L Nasti, Jr, North Haven, CT, $1,000
Sandra T Nasti, North Haven, CT, $1,000
William G Iovanne, Branford, CT, $1,000
James P Comer, MD, North Haven, CT, $1,000
Jon Cohen, Newport, RI, $1,000
Douglas Cohen, Miami, FL, $1,000
Cheryl A Chase, West Hartford, CT, $1,000
Yochanan Levitansky, New Haven, CT, $1,000
David Nyberg, Hamden, CT, $1,000
Aharon Scharpiro, Brooklyn, NY, $1,000
Bettye R Fletcher, North Haven, CT, $1,000
Heather N Chasse, New Haven, CT, $1,000
Dwight Bolton, Bloomfield, CT, $1,000
Ardelle Cowie, Woodbridge, CT, $1,000
Matthew H Short, New Haven, CT, $1,000
Ben Gettinger, Milford, CT, $1,000
Brian T Olson, Greenwich, CT, $1,000
Michael D Griffin, Vero Beach, FL, $1,000
Derrick Diggs, New York, NY, $1,000
Michael Marion, Sharpe, Hartford, CT, $1,000
Damien T Davis, West Simsbury, CT, $1,000
William R Berkley, Greenwich, CT, $1,000
Jonathan Sackler, Greenwich, CT, $1,000
Clayton Henderson, New Haven, CT, $1,000
Neal Chorney, Hamden, CT, $1,000
Juan M Salas, Guilford, CT, $1,000
Albert Maldonado, New Haven, CT, $1,000
Josef Feldman, Lawrence, NY, $1,000
Jacob Feldman, Lawrence, NY, $1,000
Jamil Harp, Atlanta, GA, $1,000
Michael Morand, New Haven, CT, $1,000
Carlton Highsmith, Middlebury, CT, $1,000
Leonard Bell, Woodbridge, CT, $1,000
Top Donors: Elicker
Elicker reported raising over $120,000 since the Democratic primary, and spending most of it, leaving the campaign with $24,060.01 as of Sunday.
Elicker continued a trend of raising a high percentage of his donations from within the city: In the latest period, 87 percent of Elicker’s donations came from New Haven residents, according to the filing.
Below are the latest Elicker donors who gave the maximum contribution of $370, and the town they live in:
Bradford Dimeo, Barrington, RI, Executive, Dimeo Construction Company
Anthony Scillia, Branford, Conn.
James Lapides, Brookline, Mass., Art Dealer, Intl Poster Gallery
Angeline Shonka, Clifton, Va., retired
Albert Annunziata, New Haven, Attorney, Esposito & Annunziata
Christine Bishop, New Haven, Project Mgr, UHG
Paul Bloom, New Haven, professor, Yale
John Burditt, New Haven, Chief Investment Officer, Choate Rosemary Hall School
Joseph Cermola, New Haven, civil engineer, cardinal engineering
William Curran, New Haven, Investment Advisor, Halsry Associates, Inc
Harry David, New Haven, Retired, retired
Renate Dicks, New Haven, Office Mgr, Key Human Services
Johanna Epperson, New Haven, Data Quality, D&B
Henry Farkas, New Haven, Snr Unix Administrator, UnitedHealth Group
James K. Fisher, New Haven, Archivist, Yale University
Marie Gallo-Garabedin, New Haven, President, Gallos Appliances
Susan Gobel, New Haven, Physician, Gastroenterology Center of Connecticut
Jacob Hacker, New Haven, Professor, Yale University
Sharon Hasbani, New Haven, Physician, YNHH
Ann Coleen Hellerman, New Haven, Homemaker/Student, Not applicable
Steven Inglese, New Haven, Real Estate, New Haven Group, Inc.
Adam Jeskey, New Haven, Information Requested, Jeskey, LLC
James Kloss, New Haven, Private Investor, Self
Katherine McKenzie, New Haven, Teacher, Yale University
Helen Miller, New Haven, MD, State of CT
Rosita Murphy, New Haven, homemaker
Justin Neuman, New Haven, Assistant Professor, Yale
Cyd Oppenheimer, New Haven, Senior Policy Fellow, CT Voices for Children
Kerala Snyder, New Haven, Retired
Richard Snyder, New Haven, Retired
Randall States, New Haven, Geotechnical Engineer, Nobis Engineering, Inc.
Bonnie Sullivan, New Haven,
Shaun Sullivan, New Haven, n/a, Wiggin & Dana
Anthony Patrick Urbano, Orange, Conn., Self-employed Real Estate Investor/Developer
Ivan Dremov, Stamford, Conn., consultant, Mars & Co.