If you didn’t get paid by one of the leading District mayoral campaigns over the last two weeks, you weren’t trying hard enough. Both Vince Gray and Muriel Bowser spent more than $1 million combined in just the two weeks since March 10, according to new campaign finance reports filed last night.
Tommy Wells‘ campaign finance report isn’t available yet.
Vince Gray
Raised: $99,255; Expenses $487,212.86; Cash on Hand $322,435.38.
Gray campaign expenses included $124,001.05 for a New York-based strategy firm, $10,000 for campaign manager Chuck Thies, and $11,750 for campaign political director Steve Glaude. The campaign also paid $7,000 to pollster Ron Lester and $19,500 to another firm for polling and mailing list help.
Gray administration officials continued to back their boss, including city administrator Allen Lew ($500), Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Paul Quander ($500), and District Department of Transportation director Terry Bellamy ($200). Gray also took in $2,000 from the D.C. Chamber of Commerce PAC and $100 from Large Retailer Accountability Act activist Graylan Hagler, who apparently has gotten over Gray’s support for a “little bitty cracker corporation from Arkansas.”
Muriel Bowser
Raised: $77,894; Spent: $567,484.47; Cash on Hand: $204,703.36.
Bowser’s year of comparatively stingy campaigning came to an end this week, with her operation spending more than half a million dollars in two weeks.
Bowser’s campaign spent big on advertising this month, paying Comcast and local TV stations a combined $107,234 for ad time. Former Barack Obama administration mouthpiece Robert Gibbs got his piece, too, with Bowser’s campaign paying his firm $29,567.31 for digital advertising.
The firm owned by Adrian Fenty political mastermind Tom Lindenfeld, meanwhile, received $54,736.85 from Bowser’s campaign. The campaign sent a combined $320,987.30 to two companies for mailer postage and printing.
Bowser donors include local gadfly Marie Drissell ($100), former at-large candidate Pete Shapiro ($500), lottery contract figure and Jim Graham antagonist Warren Williams ($2,000), EMILY’s List ($1,000), and developer Jair Lynch ($1,000). Marijuana activist Adam Eidinger gave Bowser $420, which was a nice touch.
Jack Evans
Raised: $67,120; Expenses: $345,513.90; Cash on Hand: $179,436.94.
It’s a world turned upside-down—-Evans is being outraised and outspent. Evans donors this period include former George Washington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg ($100), Logan Circle liquor store Barrel House Liquors ($2,000), a company associated with gas baron Joe Mamo ($1,000), and Late Night Shots founder and bro extraordinaire Reed Landry ($1,000).
In news that should surprise no one with a mailbox, Evans’ campaign spent big on printing this period, paying a Connecticut-based printing company a total of $251,279.57.
Andy Shallal
Raised: $32,389.97; Expenses: $15,163.35; Cash on Hand: $65,785.37.
Shallal got a cool $2,000 from Ben and Jerry’s founder Ben Cohen, along with another $15,000 from himself.
Vincent Orange
Raised: $11,450; Spent: $3,250; Cash on Hand: $26,258.48.
Orange took in $2,000 from the grocery store union that endorsed him, along with $500 from something called the “On the Potomac Special Project,” a business that shares its address with a Mt. Vernon liquor store. While Orange’s expenses were low, his campaign did pay a Laurel, Md.-based limousine company $400.
Reta Jo Lewis
Raised: $8,130; Expenses: $20,712.57; Cash on Hand: $21,446.38.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery