Follow the Money Some More, Part Five

Who is financed by Maryland residents and who is backed by out-of-state money? Let’s pull back that curtain, shall we?

Total Receipts from Maryland Contributors (Excludes Self and Family)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $2,427,826
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $1,291,596
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $583,904
4. George Leventhal, County Council: $549,341
5. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $480,376
6. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): $474,066
7. Howard Denis, County Council: $447,130
8. Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20): $345,842
9. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $344,836
9. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $329,014

Total Receipts from Non-Maryland Contributors (Excludes Family)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $641,905
2. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $460,621
3. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $282,164
4. Heather Mizeur, Delegate (D-20): $186,123
5. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $155,939
6. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): $136,571
7. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $109,835
8. Roger Berliner, County Council: $103,890
9. Howard Denis, County Council: $100,258
10. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $92,269

Percentage of Total Receipts from Maryland Contributors (Excludes Self and Family)

1. Steve Kanstoroom, County Council Challenger: 100.0%
1. Cary Lamari, County Council Challenger: 100.0%
3. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 99.1%
4. Steve Abrams, School Board/County Council Challenger: 98.8%
5. Sharon Dooley, County Council Challenger: 98.6%
6. Phil Andrews, County Council: 95.9%
7. Sharon Grosfeld, Senator (D-18): 95.2%
8. Marc Elrich, County Council: 93.8%
9. Charles Barkley, Delegate (D-39): 93.8%
10. Pat O’Neill, School Board: 93.3%

107. Sam Arora, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 20.0%
106. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 22.8%
105. Paul Griffin, Delegate Challenger: 24.5%
104. Hans Riemer, County Council Challenger: 25.6%
103. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: 26.8%
102. Guled Kassim, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 38.0%
101. Leon Billings, Delegate: 42.0%
100. Aaron Klein, Delegate Challenger (D-20): 46.1%
99. Dan Farrington, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 47.8%
98. Heather Mizeur, Delegate (D-20): 48.0%

Duchy Trachtenberg deserves special mention for her ability to raise money nationally as the former President and Treasurer of Maryland NOW. She has raised $460,621 from out of state. The other eight County Council Members have raised $443,989 from out of state combined. Trachtenberg has raised more money from New York City ($89,196) than from Rockville ($88,960) or Bethesda ($79,873). She has raised more money from Los Angeles ($34,500), San Francisco ($24,000) and Berkeley ($22,600) than from Gaithersburg ($11,900) or Silver Spring ($11,365). Following are the in-state contribution percentages for each incumbent County Council Member:

Phil Andrews: 95.9%
Marc Elrich: 93.8%
George Leventhal: 88.0%
Nancy Floreen: 87.0%
Mike Knapp: 81.8%
Nancy Navarro: 78.1%
Valerie Ervin: 75.8%
Roger Berliner: 64.5%
Duchy Trachtenberg: 26.8%

Here is a final statistic: the percentage of receipts that came from self, family and out-of-state entities. The higher this percentage, the less reliant a candidate is on financing from third-party Marylanders.

Percentage of Total Receipts from Self, Family and Out-of-State

1. Steve Kanstoroom, County Council Challenger: 98.2%
2. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 93.9%
3. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 90.7%
4. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 90.2%
5. Sam Arora, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 89.7%
6. Dan Fox, State’s Attorney Challenger: 89.0%
7. Sam Statland, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 85.4%
8. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): 84.8%
9. Tod Sher, Delegate (D-14): 81.7%
10. Paul Griffin, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 80.6%

107. Phil Andrews, County Council: 4.4%
106. Sharon Dooley, Council Council Challenger: 5.2%
105. Sharon Grosfeld, Senator (D-18): 5.4%
104. Pat O’Neill, School Board: 6.9%
103. P.J Hogan, Senator (D-39): 7.8%
102. Carol Petzold, Delegate (D-19): 8.3%
101. Marc Elrich, County Council: 8.7%
100. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 9.6%
99. Dana Dembrow, Delegate (D-20): 10.0%
98. Mike Subin, County Council: 10.4%

We’ll have one more update prior to the primary!

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money Some More, Part Four

Today, we look at self-financing. Which MoCo candidates give themselves the most money? Let’s find out.

Total Receipts from Self (Includes Loans)

1. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): $364,352
2. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: $220,450
3. Sam Statland, Delegate Challenger (D-18): $202,860
4. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $149,428
5. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $125,000
6. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): $121,442
7. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): $105,000
8. Dan Fox, State’s Attorney Challenger: $102,500
9. Tod Sher, Delegate (D-14): $100,830
10. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: $91,272

Percentage of Total Receipts from Self (Includes Loans)

1. Steve Kanstoroom, County Council Challenger: 98.2%
2. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 93.8%
3. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 89.1%
4. Sam Statland, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 82.3%
5. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): 79.1%
6. Dan Fox, State’s Attorney Challenger: 72.7%
7. Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 64.0%
8. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): 58.9%
9. Cary Lamari, County Council Challenger: 54.5%
10. Lucinda Lessley, Delegate Challenger (D-20): 54.1%

Twenty tied at 0.0%

Kumar Barve, Delegate (D-17)
Leon Billings, Delegate (D-18)
Shirley Brandman, School Board
Bill Bronrott, Delegate (D-16)
Jane de Winter, County Council Challenger
Dana Dembrow, Delegate (D-20)
Bob Dorsey, County Council Challenger
Valerie Ervin, County Council
Jennie Forehand, Senator (D-17)
Henry Heller, Delegate (D-19)
P.J. Hogan, Senator (D-39)
John Hurson, Delegate (D-18)
Steve Joseph, County Council Challenger
Cheryl Kagan, Delegate/Senate Challenger (D-17)
Nancy King, Senator (D-39)
Pat O’Neill, School Board
Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20)
Sally Sternbach, County Council Challenger
Len Teitelbaum, Senator (D-19)
Becky Wagner, County Council Challenger

Politicians do not spend vast sums of their personal money on their own races unless they have to. And most of our leaders were in very competitive races. Rob Garagiola beat incumbent Republican Senator Jean Roesser in his first race. All of the other top ten in total self-financing receipts ran for open seats. First-time candidate Mike Lenett got 52% of the vote against two incumbent Delegates in the 2006 District 19 Senate primary. Ben Kramer, Robin Ficker, Dan Fox, Sam Statland, Tod Sher and Dana Beyer share a common distinction: they are the only candidates in recent MoCo history to spend $70,000 or more of their own money on a losing race.

Here’s an estimate of receipts from family members. We included people who shared a surname or a residence with a candidate, or lived in the same residence with another person who did.

Total Receipts from Family (Includes Loans)

1. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $52,150
2. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $49,562
3. Tod Sher, Delegate (D-14): $41,780
4. Susan Lee, Delegate (D-16): $35,566
5. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): $25,200
6. Anne Kaiser, Delegate (D-14): $22,926
7. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: $21,565
8. Karen Montgomery, Delegate (D-14): $18,830
9. George Leventhal, County Council: $18,184
10. Rich Madaleno, Senator (D-18): $17,022

We do not credit the result for Susan Lee, given the fact that “Lee” is a common surname in the Asian community.

Total Receipts from Self and Family (Includes Loans)

1. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): $365,052
2. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: $222,050
3. Sam Statland, Delegate Challenger (D-18): $204,991
4. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $198,990
5. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): $146,642
6. Tod Sher, Delegate (D-14): $142,610
7. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $130,865
8. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $114,150
9. Dan Fox, State’s Attorney Challenger: $112,751
10. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): $110,639

We’ll look at geography in Part Five.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money Some More, Part Three

In our ten-plus-year dataset of MoCo political contributions, business entities and PACs accounted for 25.9% of all receipts and labor PACs and political clubs accounted for 5.2%. Here are the leaders for each category.

Total Receipts from Business Entities (Including PACs but not Individuals)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $1,437,988
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $423,356
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $379,807
4. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $227,928
5. George Leventhal, County Council: $195,719
6. Kumar Barve, Delegate (D-17): $190,630
7. Howard Denis, County Council: $187,102
8. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $174,376
9. John Hurson, Delegate (D-18): $166,475
10. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $166,432

Percentage of Total Receipts from Business Entities (Including PACs but not Individuals)

1. John Hurson, Delegate (D-18): 63.1%
2. Len Teitelbaum, Senator (D-19): 58.6%
3. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 50.6%
4. Kumar Barve, Delegate (D-17): 50.3%
5. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): 50.1%
6. P.J. Hogan, Senator (D-39): 48.4%
7. Luiz Simmons, Delegate (D-17): 47.2%
8. Carol Petzold, Delegate (D-19): 47.0%
9. Jennie Forehand, Senator (D-17): 46.6%
10. Brian Feldman, Delegate (D-15): 46.3%

107. Leon Billings, Delegate (D-18): 0.0%
107. Jane de Winter, County Council Challenger: 0.0%
107. Steve Kanstoroom, County Council Challenger: 0.0%
107. Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16): 0.0%
103. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 0.1%
102. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: 0.2%
101. Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 0.2%
100. Tom DeGonia, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 0.4%
99. Phil Andrews, County Council: 0.6%
98. Diane Nixon, Delegate Challenger (D-20): 1.0%

Many of the leaders in business receipts have positions that are conducive to raising that kind of money. Garagiola sits on the Senate Finance Committee. Hogan and King have held spots on the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. Hixson is the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Hurson and Barve have been House Majority Leaders. It is noteworthy that even though Hurson has been out of politics for almost five years, he has still raised more business money than longtime business ally Nancy Floreen. And that statistic only includes two of Hurson’s four terms.

Total Receipts from Labor

1. Tom Hucker, Delegate (D-20): $112,777
2. Valerie Ervin, County Council: $74,322
3. George Leventhal, County Council: $71,549
4. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: $69,811
5. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $69,073
6. Howard Denis, County Council: $41,350
7. Roger Manno, Delegate (D-19): $39,010
8. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $37,750
9. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $33,865
10. Kumar Barve, House Majority Leader (D-17): $33,100

Percentage of Total Receipts from Labor

1. Tom Hucker, Delegate (D-20): 47.5%
2. Valerie Ervin, County Council: 31.8%
3. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: 24.1%
4. Joan Stern, Delegate (D-39): 21.9%
5. Craig Zucker, Delegate Challenger (D-14): 20.6%
6. Roger Manno, Delegate (D-19): 19.8%
7. Laura Berthiaume, Delegate/School Board: 17.3%
8. Charles Barkley, Delegate (D-39): 16.6%
9. Marc Elrich, County Council: 14.6%
10. Henry Heller, Delegate (D-19): 13.7%

Twenty-four tied at 0.0%

Phil Andrews, County Council
Sam Arora, Delegate Challenger (D-19)
Hugh Bailey, County Council Challenger
Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18)
Shirley Brandman, School Board
Nancy Dacek, County Council
Hoan Dang, Delegate Challenger (D-19)
Jane de Winter, County Council Challenger
Sharon Dooley, County Council Challenger
Dan Farrington, Delegate Challenger (D-18)
Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger
Dan Fox, State’s Attorney Challenger
Steve Hollman, Senate Challenger (D-18)
Steve Kanstoroom, County Council Challenger
Guled Kassim, Delegate/County Council Challenger
Cary Lamari, County Council Challenger
Lucinda Lessley, Delegate Challenger (D-20)
John Mahoney, Senate Challenger (D-19)
Bo Newsome, Delegate/County Council Challenger
Diane Nixon, Delegate Challenger (D-20)
Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16)
Jean Roesser, Senator (D-15)
Ryan Spiegel, Delegate Challenger (D-17)
Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19)

Hucker, as the founder of Progressive Maryland, and Ervin, who spent twenty-five years in the labor movement, are natural leaders in labor money. Denis, a Republican who served six years on the County Council, was also one of its most pro-union members. Elrich, Heller and Barkley are all former MCEA members.

We’ll look at self-funding tomorrow.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money Some More, Part Two

Time to get to work on our gigantic dataset of Montgomery County political contributions!

Here is the distribution by category of all contributions and loans received by 107 MoCo politicians since 1999.


Individual contributions dominate the database. They account for 78.7% of all contributions and 50.0% of all money. Business entities follow, accounting for 25.9% of all money, but that is misleading. Many individual contributors are business owners, and they are not above using their children, spouses and employees as channels for their money. Even so, business donated about five times the money that labor contributed (5.2%). Self-funding totaled over $3 million and had the highest average contribution/loan level ($3,865). That reflects the fact that candidates are allowed to donate unlimited amounts to their own campaign funds, and some do!

Maryland-based entities accounted for 83.4% of contributions and 79.8% of all money, with entities in D.C. (7.1%) and Virginia (4.4%) running far behind. But many politicians collect far larger sums from out of state, and we will be identifying them.

Here are the leaders in total receipts and receipts from individuals from 1999 through January 2010.

Total Receipts (Including Loans)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $3,143,083
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $1,704,625
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $938,834
4. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $743,267
5. George Leventhal, County Council: $677,530
6. Howard Denis, County Council: $649,938
7. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): $574,539
8. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $572,676
9. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $483,255
10. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): $460,867

Total Receipts from Individuals (Not Including Self or Family Financing)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $1,610,767
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $1,091,559
3. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $596,567
4. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): $445,904
5. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $364,600
6. George Leventhal, County Council: $347,822
7. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): $343,880
8. Howard Denis, County Council: $292,486
9. Heather Mizeur, Delegate (D-20): $253,500
10. Roger Berliner, County Council: $235,764

Percentage of Total Receipts from Individuals (Not Including Self or Family Financing)

1. Phil Andrews, County Council: 98.9%
2. Leon Billings, Delegate (D-18): 91.8%
3. Shirley Brandman, School Board: 89.7%
4. Pat O’Neill, School Board: 88.8%
5. Jane de Winter, County Council Challenger: 86.1%
6. Bill Frick, Delegate (D-16): 85.7%
7. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): 82.7%
8. Saqib Ali, Delegate (D-39): 81.9%
9. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: 80.3%
10. Bill Bronrott, Delegate (D-16): 78.5%

107. Steve Kanstoroom, County Council Challenger: 1.8%
106. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 3.7%
105. Robin Ficker, County Executive/County Council Challenger: 5.2%
104. Tod Sher, Delegate (D-14): 7.8%
103. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): 9.6%
102. Sam Statland, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 9.9%
101. Steve Abrams, School Board/County Council Challenger: 12.9%
100. Luiz Simmons, Delegate (D-17): 16.3%
99. Dan Fox, State’s Attorney Challenger: 16.8%
98. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): 20.2%

Phil Andrews is the distant leader in individual receipt percentage because he has always turned away developer and PAC contributions. Some of the candidates who received the lowest percentages from individuals benefitted from self-funding. We’ll find out who they are later in the series.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at business and labor.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money Some More, Part One

Last fall, we ran a series called “Follow the Money” in which we examined the sources of campaign contributions for MoCo politicians. As ambitious as that series was, it had two shortcomings. First, it did not include the new batch of campaign finance reports that were submitted in January. And second, it did not include enough politicians. As all of our devoted readers know, there can never be enough politicians! Who else will answer (or arrange to have answered) the ranting emails we fire off at three in the morning?

So with those flaws corrected, we proceed with our update. Let’s Follow the Money Some More!

Last time, we studied 61,483 loans and contributions to 61 active and potential candidates in MoCo since 1999. That’s child’s play compared to our new dataset, which includes 87,768 loans and contributions to 107 current and former candidates. Our database includes all incumbent county officials and state legislators, plus the following other candidates:

Former County Executive Candidate: Steve Silverman
Former County Council Members: Mike Subin, Howard Denis, Nancy Dacek
Former Senators: Jean Roesser, Chris Van Hollen, Sharon Grosfeld, Len Teitelbaum, Ida Ruben, P.J. Hogan
Former Delegates: Tod Sher, Mark Shriver, Richard LaVay, Bill Bronrott, Cheryl Kagan, Leon Billings, John Hurson, Adrienne Mandel, Carol Petzold, Gareth Murray, Dana Dembrow, Joan Stern
State’s Attorney: John McCarthy, Dan Fox
School Board: Shirley Brandman, Pat O’Neill, Phil Kauffman, Laura Berthiaume, Judy Docca
Council Candidates: Pat Ryan, Steve Kanstoroom, Cary Lamari, Hans Riemer, Becky Wagner, Jane de Winter, Pat Baptiste, Hugh Bailey, Bob Dorsey, Sharon Dooley, Steve Joseph, Sally Sternbach
Senate Candidates: Steve Hollman, John Mahoney
Delegate Candidates: Pete Fosselman, Ryan Spiegel, Dan Farrington, Dana Beyer, Diane Nixon, Aaron Klein, Lucinda Lessley, Craig Zucker, Eric Luedtke, Tom DeGonia, Paul Griffin, Alec Stone, Sam Arora, Bonnie Cullison, Jay Hutchins, Hoan Dang, Will Smith, Sam Statland, Reggie Oldak
Other Candidates: Steve Abrams, Robin Ficker, Guled Kassim, Bo Newsome

We did not include statewide candidates like Doug Duncan, Doug Gansler, Tom Perez or Peter Franchot. We also did not include deceased politicians or totally non-competitive candidates. We probably missed a few names we should have included, but if you want perfection, look for it in Heaven.

We are using the same categories of contributions as before:

Individual Contributions
These are checks written by individuals, who are limited to $4,000 in total contributions to one entity and $10,000 in total contributions to all entities in one four-year election cycle. We isolated certain categories of individuals as described below.

Business Contributions
This category includes business entities, which are permitted to donate directly to state campaigns, and business PACs. We do not include business owners who contribute as individuals in this category, a MAJOR caveat in our analysis. Our case studies of racetrack owner William Rickman and corrupt developer Ronald Lipscomb illustrate how business owners sometimes contribute through their spouses, children and employees, all individual donations serving a corporate design. Linking business owners to family members and corporate entities would be a worthy and illuminating exercise, but it is beyond our time constraints to do it for every candidate in the county. That said, any measure of business influence in our analysis must be regarded as a significant understatement.

Labor Contributions
This includes labor union PACs and political clubs. We did not include individuals who are union members in this category. Indeed, that information is not public record.

Political Fund Contributions
These are PAC and political clubs that usually have an overt partisan affiliation. Examples include the Maryland Democratic Party, the Hispanic Democratic Club of Montgomery County and the Potomac Women’s Republican Club.

Candidate Fund Contributions
These are funds controlled directly by candidates, who sometimes give money to allies.

Self Contributions
This category includes loans, the device of choice for self-funding candidates. Candidates and their spouses are permitted to contribute or loan unlimited amounts to their campaign funds.

Family Contributions
We attempted to determine family membership by including contributions from people with the same surname as the candidate, living at the same home address or sharing surnames with co-habitants. This is an imperfect measure when applied to candidates with common surnames, so this measure can only be regarded as an approximation in some cases.

Lump Sum Contributions
The State Board of Elections permits candidates to report contributions under $51 from multiple individuals as aggregate “lump sums” for purposes of convenience. Campaign treasurers can save lots of time with lump sums, but the practice does conceal the identities of small contributors. Few candidates use lump sums, but we will report on the ones who do.

Other Contributions
A small number of contributors did not fit any of the above categories.

Tomorrow, we will begin our analysis of contributions in the above categories. When computing contribution shares, we will exclude those politicians who have raised less than $20,000 because their small bases will skew the percentages. They are:

Phil Kauffman: $19,589 in receipts
Richard LaVay: $17,125
Pat Ryan: $15,520
Will Smith: $12,618
Pete Fosselman: $12,211
Mark Shriver: $9,576
Judy Docca: $8,525
Bonnie Cullison: $7,590
Jay Hutchins: $6,820
Eric Luedtke: $5,700

Politicians beware, because now we will begin naming names!

Read More...

Summary only...

From the MPW Vault

Dear readers:

At the time of my retirement, I had several pre-written MPW series in my cache and ready to go. In the small chance that any of you may be interested in this material, it seems a waste to let it go unread. So we will be running those series over the next few weeks, starting with an update to last fall’s Follow the Money that I wrote in May. This update includes the January 2010 reports and covers MANY more candidates than the original.

No, it’s not new original content, but hopefully it will be enjoyable, illuminating, and perhaps irksome to a few politicians who would prefer that their finances not be scrutinized!

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money, Part Six (Updated)

So you think that Maryland political candidates have to disclose all their donors? Well, they don’t. They can legally conceal their identities by reporting “lump sums.”

The State Board of Elections’ (SBE) Summary Guide lays out the circumstances under which lump sums can be used:

Certain contributions, including ticket sales, may be reported on Schedule 1 of the Campaign Finance Report as a lump sum, pursuant to the following guidelines:

Contributions under $51 from different contributors may be aggregated and characterized on the Campaign Finance Report as “lump sum contributions.”

Ticket purchases under $251 from different contributors (provided the purchase price of each individual ticket is $50.99 or less) may be aggregated and characterized on the report as “lump sum ticket purchases.”

Once a contributor exceeds $51 or $251 through a series of contributions or ticket purchases for that election cycle, the contributor must thereafter be reported by name and address.

If you choose the lump sum option, even though you may lump receipts as described above on the Campaign Finance Reports, the books and records required to be kept by the treasurer must identify all contributors, including ticket purchasers, by name, address, date of contribution, and amount, regardless of the amount.

SBE discourages the practice:

It is recommended that you not lump sum report contributions. First, it is difficult to keep track of the aggregate for each contributor. Second, if you are using ELECTrack, you will not be able to take advantage of the automatic aggregate feature. Finally, if you are using ELECTrack or any other software, you will not have the benefit of having that contributor's information as part of your database.

Seven of our sixty-one tracked candidates have reported lump sum contributions.

Total Receipts from Lump Sum Contributions

1. Jennie Forehand, Senator (D-17): $36,251
2. Kathleen Dumais, Delegate (D-15): $8,747
3. Henry Heller, Delegate (D-19): $8,340
4. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): $1,310
5. Jean Cryor, Delegate (D-15): $930
6. Craig Rice, Delegate (D-15): $51
7. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: $1

Jennie Forehand is on a different level than anyone else, with 21.4% of her total receipts since 1999 reported as lump sums. That exceeds Hank Heller (15.1%) and Kathleen Dumais (6.7%) and blows away everyone else in Montgomery County.

Lump sums are most commonly used by PACs, which often rely on countless small donations from members of organizations. When candidates report lump sums, they are often in small amounts – hundreds of dollars or less. Candidate-reported lump sums of $1,000 or more are uncommon.

Forehand has reported five of them:

$14,085 on 8/1/02, labeled “contribution by checks under $51”
$7,825 on 1/12/04, labeled “total of checks of $10 to $50 from individuals”
$5,621 on 1/10/06, no label
$4,925 on 11/25/00, labeled “contributions of $50 and under – from 11/25/00 to 11/1/01”
$1,305 on 11/20/00, no label

If each of Forehand’s lump sum contributions was comprised of $50.99 checks – the maximum allowed by law – that would equal 711 contributors, each of whom would have to be identified if they contributed any more money. Our database contains just 247 identified individual contributions to Forehand over the last ten years.

Forehand’s 8/1/02 lump sum of $14,085 is remarkable. Only seven lump sums reported by candidates have exceeded it over the last ten years. And to our knowledge, only two other candidates have raised more money through lump sums than Forehand: former Charles County Sheriff Fred Davis ($117,204) and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Norman Conway ($83,377.60).

The use of lump sums might make sense in instances of large numbers of tiny contributions, as is the case with many PACs. But when a candidate employs them to shield one-tenth, one-fifth or more of his or her donor base from identification, that creates the possibility of abuse. And worst of all, nothing short of a forensic audit by SBE can detect whether a lump sum is legitimately used or not. It’s impossible for any member of the public to tell what is really going on. We will be looking for this practice in the future. Politicians, you have been warned.

Next year, elections for state and county offices will be held. We will repeat our analysis of campaign funding after the next batch of reports arrives in January and issue profiles for each reporting candidate in the county.

Update: One of our sources had this to say about one of Forehand’s lump sums:

How do you do a lump sum PROSPECTIVELY???

$4,925 on 11/25/00, labeled “contributions of $50 and under – from 11/25/00 to 11/1/01”

She deposited it on 11/25/00 and includes folks who gave like 10 months later…?

Perhaps the Senator will consider answering that question.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money, Part Five

Who is financed by Maryland residents and who is backed by out-of-state money? We know the answers and now so do you.

Total Receipts from Maryland Contributors (Excludes Self and Family)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $2,427,826
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $1,165,525
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $495,469
4. George Leventhal, County Council: $478,014
5. Howard Denis, County Council: $447,130
6. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $420,955
7. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): $419,512
8. Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20): $346,492
9. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $321,484
10. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $294,203

Total Receipts from Non-Maryland Contributors (Excludes Family)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $641,905
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $242,064
3. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $236,671
4. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): $130,346
5. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $127,464
6. Heather Mizeur, Delegate (D-20): $107,537
7. Howard Denis, County Council: $100,258
8. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $97,711
9. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $87,605
10. Hans Riemer, County Council Challenger: $85,559

Percentage of Total Receipts from Maryland Contributors (Excludes Self and Family)

1. Cary Lamari, County Council Challenger: 100.0%
2. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 99.1%
3. Steve Abrams, School Board/County Council Challenger: 98.8%
4. Sharon Dooley, County Council Challenger: 98.5%
5. Phil Andrews, County Council: 95.9%
6. Charles Barkley, Delegate (D-39): 94.6%
7. Jean Cryor, Delegate (D-15): 93.5%
8. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 93.1%
9. Karen Montgomery, Delegate (D-14): 92.6%
10. Marc Elrich, County Council: 92.6%

61. Paul Griffin, Delegate Challenger: 24.5%
60. Hans Riemer, County Council Challenger: 25.6%
59. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 29.3%
58. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: 33.5%
57. Guled Kassim, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 38.0%
56. Bill Frick, Delegate (D-16): 47.7%
55. Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16): 48.2%
54. Heather Mizeur, Delegate (D-20): 54.8%
53. Ryan Spiegel, Delegate Challenger (D-17): 62.5%
52. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): 63.1%

Candidates with large percentages of their receipts from Marylanders generally fall into two categories: long-time politicians with lots of local friends, and challengers with little base outside the state. Some out-of-state-backed candidates, including Dana Beyer, Hans Riemer, Heather Mizeur and Jamie Raskin, have tapped into national networks to mount a challenge.

Duchy Trachtenberg may be the only County Council Member with an ability to raise money nationally. As the then-President of Maryland NOW, Trachtenberg received significant amounts of money from California ($63,600) and New York ($61,696) in her 2002 and 2006 races. Most of that money came from big checks of $2,000 or more. Trachtenberg has received 24 of those checks from individuals in California, 22 from individuals in New York and 17 from individuals in Maryland (three of which came from herself). Since her former Chief of Staff is the new National President of NOW, that capacity may continue into 2010.

Here are the percentages of in-state receipts for each County Council incumbent, excluding contributions from self and family.

Phil Andrews: 95.9%
Marc Elrich: 92.6%
George Leventhal: 87.5%
Nancy Floreen: 87.2%
Valerie Ervin: 84.0%
Mike Knapp: 81.8%
Nancy Navarro: 77.7%
Roger Berliner: 63.7%
Duchy Trachtenberg: 33.5%

Here is a final statistic: the percentage of receipts that came from self, family and out-of-state entities. The higher this percentage, the less reliant a candidate is on financing from third-party Marylanders.

Percentage of Total Receipts from Self, Family and Out-of-State

1. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 94.5%
2. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 94.1%
3. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 89.5%
4. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): 82.9%
5. Paul Griffin, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 80.6%
6. Hans Riemer, County Council Challenger: 79.7%
7. Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 77.9%
8. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: 73.6%
9. Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16): 71.6%
10. Guled Kassim, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 68.3%

61. Phil Andrews, County Council: 4.5%
60. Sharon Dooley, Council Council Challenger: 5.8%
59. Jean Cryor, Delegate (D-15): 6.7%
58. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 7.0%
57. Marc Elrich, County Council: 10.4%
56. Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20): 13.9%
55. Valerie Ervin, County Council: 16.0%
54. Kirill Reznik, Delegate (D-39): 16.1%
53. Cheryl Kagan, Delegate/Senate Challenger (D-17): 17.4%
52. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): 17.8%

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money, Part Four

It’s time to look at self-financing. Which MoCo candidates depend on themselves the most? Let’s find out.

Total Receipts from Self (Includes Loans)

1. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: $220,450
2. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): $164,352
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $149,428
4. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $125,000
5. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): $121,442
6. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): $105,000
7. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: $91,272
8. Howard Denis, County Council: $87,000
9. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): $83,203
10. Roger Manno, Delegate (D-19): $70,370

Percentage of Total Receipts from Self (Includes Loans)

1. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 94.0%
2. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 93.9%
3. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): 67.6%
4. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): 64.8%
5. Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 64.0%
6. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 62.5%
7. Cary Lamari, County Council Challenger: 54.5%
8. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): 47.9%
9. Roger Manno, Delegate (D-19): 45.7%
10. Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16): 41.0%

61. Kumar Barve, House Majority Leader (D-17): 0.0%
61. Bill Bronrott, Delegate (D-16): 0.0%
61. Jean Cryor, Delegate (D-15): 0.0%
61. Valerie Ervin, County Council: 0.0%
61. Jennie Forehand, Senator (D-17): 0.0%
61. Henry Heller, Delegate (D-19): 0.0%
61. Cheryl Kagan, Delegate/Senate Challenger (D-17): 0.0%
61. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 0.0%
53. Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20): 0.0%
52. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): 0.1%

Politicians do not spend vast sums of their personal money on their own races unless they have to. And most of our leaders were in very competitive races. Rob Garagiola beat incumbent Republican Senator Jean Roesser in his first race. All of the other top ten in total self-financing receipts ran for open seats. Howard Denis won an open seat in a 2000 special election, narrowly defeated Duchy Trachtenberg in 2002 and lost to Roger Berliner in 2006. First-time candidate Mike Lenett got 52% of the vote against two incumbent Delegates in the 2006 District 19 Senate primary. Ben Kramer, Robin Ficker and Dana Beyer share a common distinction: they are the only candidates in recent MoCo history to spend $70,000 or more of their own money on a losing race.

Here’s an estimate of receipts from family members. We included people who shared a surname or a residence with a candidate, or lived in the same residence with another person who did.

Total Receipts from Family (Includes Loans)

1. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $49,462
2. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $36,650
3. Susan Lee, Delegate (D-16): $32,016
4. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): $25,200
5. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: $21,565
6. Anne Kaiser, Delegate (D-14): $20,001
7. Karen Montgomery, Delegate (D-14): $17,800
8. Rich Madaleno, Senator (D-18): $16,897
9. Howard Denis, County Council: $15,550
10. George Leventhal, County Council: $14,778

We question the result for Susan Lee, given the fact that “Lee” is a common surname in the Asian community.

Total Receipts from Self and Family (Includes Loans)

1. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: $220,450
2. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $198,890
3. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): $164,952
4. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): $146,642
5. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $130,365
6. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): $110,639
7. Howard Denis, County Council: $102,550
8. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $94,650
9. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: $91,272
10. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): $85,303

We’ll look at geography in Part Five.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money, Part Three

In our ten-year dataset of MoCo political contributions, business entities and PACs accounted for 27.1% of all receipts and labor PACs and political clubs accounted for 4.9%. Here are the leaders for each category.

Total Receipts from Business Entities (Including PACs but not Individuals)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $1,437,988
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $372,996
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $310,427
4. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $206,779
5. Howard Denis, County Council: $187,102
6. Kumar Barve, House Majority Leader (D-17): $180,766
7. George Leventhal, County Council: $177,019
8. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $164,662
9. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $146,531
10. Brian Feldman, Delegate (D-15): $129,809

Percentage of Total Receipts from Business Entities (Including PACs but not Individuals)

1. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): 52.7%
2. Kumar Barve, House Majority Leader (D-17): 52.1%
3. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 49.2%
4. Jennie Forehand, Senator (D-17): 46.6%
5. Luiz Simmons, Delegate (D-17): 46.4%
6. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: 45.8%
7. Brian Feldman, Delegate (D-15): 44.4%
8. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): 37.8%
9. Steve Abrams, School Board/County Council Challenger: 36.6%
10. Cheryl Kagan, Delegate/Senate Challenger (D-17): 35.8%

61. Tom DeGonia, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 0.0%
61. Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16): 0.0%
59. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 0.1%
58. Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19): 0.2%
57. Phil Andrews, County Council: 0.3%
56. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: 0.3%
55. Bill Frick, Delegate (D-16): 0.8%
54. Al Carr, Delegate (D-18): 2.0%
53. Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18): 2.1%
52. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): 2.7%

Many of the state legislators who lead in the business category have key positions in Annapolis. Sheila Hixson is the Chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which includes taxes and slots in its portfolio. Kumar Barve chairs the revenue subcommittee of Ways and Means and is the House Majority Leader. Brian Feldman chairs the banking subcommittee on the House Economic Matters Committee. Rob Garagiola is the only MoCo member of the Senate Finance Committee, which covers banking, insurance, slots and utility regulation, and is a possible future contender for the Senate Presidency. Howard Denis was the last Republican County Council Member and represented Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac.

Total Receipts from Labor

1. Tom Hucker, Delegate (D-20): $92,427
2. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: $68,231
3. George Leventhal, County Council: $62,949
4. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $53,123
5. Valerie Ervin, County Council: $45,072
6. Howard Denis, County Council: $41,350
7. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $34,040
8. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $31,450
9. Sheila Hixson, Delegate (D-20): $28,550
10. Mike Knapp, County Council: $26,340

Percentage of Total Receipts from Labor

1. Tom Hucker, Delegate (D-20): 49.3%
2. Valerie Ervin, County Council: 32.5%
3. Nancy Navarro, School Board/County Council: 27.8%
4. Laura Berthiaume, Delegate/School Board: 17.3%
5. Charles Barkley, Delegate (D-39): 15.4%
6. Marc Elrich, County Council: 14.2%
7. Henry Heller, Delegate (D-19): 13.7%
8. Roger Manno, Delegate (D-19): 12.8%
9. Nancy King, Senator (D-39): 10.6%
10. George Leventhal, County Council: 10.6%

Tied at 0.0%

Phil Andrews, County Council
Dana Beyer, Delegate Challenger (D-18)
Sharon Dooley, County Council Challenger
Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger
Guled Kassim, Delegate/County Council Challenger
Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger
Cary Lamari, County Council Challenger
Reggie Oldak, Delegate Challenger (D-16)
Ryan Spiegel, Delegate Challenger (D-17)
Alec Stone, Delegate Challenger (D-19)
Craig Zucker, Delegate Challenger (D-14)

Tom Hucker founded Progressive Maryland and was its first Executive Director. He later worked for the Laborers Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition. Valerie Ervin was a union member, organizer and educator for twenty-five years before becoming George Leventhal’s Chief of Staff. Nancy Navarro ran in two special elections in which the county’s public employee unions perceived that their contracts were endangered. Laura Berthiaume was MCEA’s choice to knock out former School Board member Steve Abrams. Elrich is an MCEA member and Elrich, Ervin and Leventhal were among the co-sponsors of the 2008 Prevailing Wage Law.

In most races, labor money has not been that significant. Labor’s strength comes from different sources, including MCEA’s powerful Apple Ballot, the unions’ ability to turn out volunteers and their efforts to communicate their endorsements to their own members.

We’ll look at self-funding tomorrow.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money, Part Two

Let’s start crunching our colossal dataset of Montgomery County political contributions!

Here is the distribution by category of all contributions and loans received by every MoCo county and state incumbent, along with nineteen past incumbents and potential challengers, since 1999.


Individual contributions dominate the database. They account for 79.7% of all contributions and 50.4% of all money. Business entities and PACs follow, accounting for 27.1% of all money, but that is misleading. Many individual contributors are business owners, and they sometimes use their children, spouses and employees as channels for their money - a practice that we did not track. Even with this extraordinarily narrow definition, business donated more than five times the money that labor contributed (4.9%). Self-funding totaled almost $2 million and had the highest average contribution/loan level ($4,036). That reflects the fact that candidates are allowed to donate unlimited amounts to their own campaign funds, and some do!

Maryland-based entities accounted for 84.2% of contributions and 80.2% of all money, with entities in D.C. (7.2%) and Virginia (4.7%) running far behind. But many politicians collect far larger sums from out of state, and they will be revealed in time.

Here are the leaders in total receipts and receipts from individuals from 1999 through 2009.

Total Receipts (Including Loans)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $3,143,083
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $1,537,954
3. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $821,824
4. Howard Denis, County Council: $649,938
5. George Leventhal, County Council: $596,637
6. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): $510,255
7. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $503,505
8. Herman Taylor, Delegate (D-14): $471,061
9. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $450,367
10. Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20): $402,518

Total Receipts from Individuals (Not Including Self or Family Financing)

1. Steve Silverman, County Council/Executive Challenger: $1,610,767
2. Ike Leggett, County Executive: $975,573
3. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): $406,849
4. Duchy Trachtenberg, County Council: $323,317
5. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): $322,395
6. Nancy Floreen, County Council: $317,879
7. George Leventhal, County Council: $298,585
8. Howard Denis, County Council: $292,486
9. Ida Ruben, Senator (D-20): $231,448
10. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): $201,101

Percentage of Total Receipts from Individuals (Not Including Self or Family Financing)

1. Phil Andrews, County Council: 98.8%
2. Bill Frick, Delegate (D-16): 88.1%
3. Jean Cryor, Delegate (D-15): 85.8%
4. Jamie Raskin, Senator (D-20): 84.2%
5. Saqib Ali, Delegate (D-39): 82.6%
6. Brian Frosh, Senator (D-16): 79.7%
7. Bill Bronrott, Delegate (D-16): 78.2%
8. Guled Kassim, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 75.7%
9. Marc Elrich, County Council: 73.3%
10. Heather Mizeur, Delegate (D-20): 71.9%

61. Ben Kramer, Delegate/County Council Challenger: 2.4%
60. Robin Ficker, County Executive/Council Challenger: 5.0%
59. Steve Abrams, School Board/County Council Challenger: 12.9%
58. Mike Lenett, Senator (D-19): 13.3%
57. Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate (D-18): 15.5%
56. Luiz Simmons, Delegate (D-17): 16.6%
55. Rona Kramer, Senator (D-14): 18.6%
54. Roger Manno, Delegate (D-19): 24.1%
53. Henry Heller, Delegate (D-19): 24.2%
52. Rob Garagiola, Senator (D-15): 24.5%

Just one of the leaders in individual receipts has run in only one election: District 20 Senator Jamie Raskin, who knocked off incumbent Ida Ruben in 2006. Known as being one of the county’s leading progressives, Raskin has developed into one of its top fundraisers. Phil Andrews, the runaway leader in percentage of receipts from individuals, has long turned away contributions from developers and PACs. Marc Elrich also refuses developer financing. Some of the candidates who received the lowest percentages from individuals benefitted from self-funding. We’ll find out who they are later in the series.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at business and labor.

Read More...

Summary only...

Follow the Money, Part One

Now it can be told. For months, we have been quietly gathering tens of thousands of records of political contributions to county and state candidates in Montgomery County. After countless hours of scrutiny, analysis and data-crunching, we are finally ready to unveil the results of our most comprehensive survey of campaign funding yet. We have followed the money, dear readers, and now we are showing you where the footprints lead.

The Democratic primary is less than a year away. In almost every part of the county, that primary determines who will hold office for the next four years. Many candidates have not announced. Very few have laid out their positions for next year. No endorsements have been made. But one item relevant to the incumbents’ record – and also some of the possible challengers – is the sources of their campaign money. Let the investigation begin!

We obtained the contribution and loan records of every incumbent holding a County Executive, County Council or state legislative office. In addition, we included these candidates who were past incumbents or challengers.

County Executive/County Council: Steve Silverman, Robin Ficker
County Council: Cary Lamari, Hans Riemer, Howard Denis, Sharon Dooley
School Board/County Council: Steve Abrams
County Council/Delegate: Guled Kassim
Senate: Ida Ruben
Delegate: Craig Zucker, Jean Cryor, Reggie Oldak, Ryan Spiegel, Dana Beyer, Paul Griffin, Tom DeGonia, Alec Stone
Delegate/Senate: Cheryl Kagan
Delegate/School Board: Laura Berthiaume

Note that former County Executive Doug Duncan, one of the most prodigious fundraisers in the county’s history, is not in our dataset. Much of his campaign contributions were collected for a Governor’s race and we do not expect him to run for a county or state legislative office in the future.

These former and potential candidates, along with the incumbents, had a combined 61,483 contribution and loan records on file since 1999. That’s two-and-a-half cycles of data. We went through every single record and divided them into the following categories:

Individual Contributions
These are checks written by individuals, who are limited to $4,000 in total contributions to one entity and $10,000 in total contributions to all entities in one four-year election cycle. We isolated certain categories of individuals as described below.

Business Contributions
This category includes business entities, which are permitted to donate directly to state campaigns, and business PACs. We do not include business owners who contribute as individuals in this category, a MAJOR caveat in our analysis. Our case studies of racetrack owner William Rickman and corrupt developer Ronald Lipscomb illustrate how business owners sometimes contribute through their spouses, children and employees, all individual donations serving a corporate design. Linking business owners to family members and corporate entities would be a worthy and illuminating exercise, but it is beyond our time constraints to do it for every candidate in the county. That said, any measure of business influence in our analysis must be regarded as a significant understatement.

Labor Contributions
This includes labor union PACs and political clubs. We did not include individuals who are union members in this category. Indeed, that information is not public record.

Political Fund Contributions
These are PAC and political clubs that usually have an overt partisan affiliation. Examples include the Maryland Democratic Party, the Hispanic Democratic Club of Montgomery County and the Potomac Women’s Republican Club.

Candidate Fund Contributions
These are funds controlled directly by candidates, who sometimes give money to allies.

Self Contributions
This category includes loans, the device of choice for self-funding candidates. Candidates and their spouses are permitted to contribute or loan unlimited amounts to their campaign funds.

Family Contributions
We attempted to determine family membership by including contributions from people with the same surname as the candidate, living at the same home address or sharing surnames with co-habitants. This is an imperfect measure when applied to candidates with common surnames, so this measure can only be regarded as an approximation in some cases.

Lump Sum Contributions
The State Board of Elections permits candidates to report contributions under $51 from multiple individuals as aggregate “lump sums” for purposes of convenience. Campaign treasurers can save lots of time with lump sums, but the practice does conceal the identities of small contributors. Few candidates use lump sums, but we will report on the ones who do.

Other Contributions
A small number of contributors did not fit any of the above categories.

Next week, we will begin our analysis of contributions. Politicians beware, because we will begin naming names!

Read More...

Summary only...