(Media folks assume most people know At-Large Charlotte City Council members/ 2009 Mayoral Candidates John Lassiter (Republican) and Anthony Foxx (Democrat). Experts say that's not the case at all.)
Lassiter & Foxx: Where their campaign cash comes from
Elizabeth Martin and David Miller don't think of themselves as special interest donors. But according to Charlotte's two mayoral candidates, they are.
The subject flared during Wednesday night's televised debate between Democrat Anthony Foxx and Republican John Lassiter, putting contributions such as Martin's and Miller's in the spotlight in the campaign's waning days.
Foxx accused Lassiter of being beholden to developers. Lassiter attacked him for taking out-of-state money. It was the latest effort by both men to showcase differences in a race that once seemed to offer few.
It also shed light on who's bankrolling Charlotte's first million-dollar mayor's race.
An Observer analysis shows Lassiter has gotten at least $104,000 - 20 percent of the money he raised - from individuals, such as Miller, who listed jobs in the real estate, building and development industries. Foxx got $28,000, or 5 percent of his money, from such donors.
Foxx got more than $54,000 - or one in every $10 - from people like Martin, who live outside North Carolina. Lassiter got $11,000 from out of state, about 2percent of his money.
In a new fundraising appeal Wednesday, Lassiter said Foxx "has resorted to accepting special interest money from groups and individuals that have no affiliation with the Charlotte community.
"Their agenda is set on priorities that are not aligned with the priorities of the citizens of Charlotte," he said Thursday. "We have focused our fundraising on folks who live and work in this community."
But Foxx said, "All this conversation about the out-of-state money is to obfuscate the massive contributions by developers to (Lassiter's) campaign."
Lawyers are big givers
The Observer found both candidates tapped into some of the same groups of donors:
Foxx, a lawyer, raised at least $83,000 from fellow members of the legal profession. Lassiter, also a lawyer and a former president of the Mecklenburg County Bar, got at least $77,000 from donors so identified.
Foxx took in at least $46,000 from individuals with banking and finance interests. Lassiter raised at least $31,000 from that group.
Each candidate got $3,000 from the Bank of America political action committee and $2,500 from Wells Fargo's PAC. Each also received money from PACs representing Piedmont Natural Gas, the N.C. Home Builders and N.C. Realtors.
Some donors say they gave because they know the candidate, not for any agenda.
"I've known John for 25 years," says Lassiter donor David Miller, CEO of a commercial real estate business. "The assertion that a person who supports a political candidate has ulterior motives might be offensive to people who make contributions to any candidate."
Elizabeth Martin went to school with Foxx at West Charlotte High. She's now a lawyer in Manhattan and helped organize a Midtown fundraiser for him last month.
"We reached out to our Charlotte networks," said Martin, who said the fundraiser drew former Charlotteans and graduates of Davidson College and New York University's law school, which Foxx attended.
While the candidates tapped into many of the same professional groups, Foxx got more financial support from his party.
The only party-related contribution Lassiter reported was $250 from Republican Mayor Pat McCrory's gubernatorial campaign. (McCrory also gave him $2,000).
Foxx, on the other hand, had nearly $42,000 in party-related contributions. That includes almost $31,000 in the form of mailings paid for by the state Democratic Party. He also got $4,000 from a PAC affiliated with U.S. Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte and $4,000 from Watt's congressional campaign committee.
Gov. Bev Perdue sent $500; former Gov. Jim Hunt sent $750. This week House Speaker Joe Hackney of Chapel Hill hosted a Durham fundraiser. Political support also has come from outside North Carolina.
Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker gave Foxx $4,250. Another $250 came from U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat.
No apologies
In Wednesday's fundraising e-mail, Lassiter asked supporters for $70,000 "in the next 72 hours" to help "send a message to my opponent's campaign that Charlotte cannot be bought."
"I hear a lot about the supporters that I have from out of the state, most of whom are either family or friends or friends of family and friends," said Foxx. "And there's no interest other than supporting me as someone they think would be a good leader for Charlotte."
He said voters should be concerned about Lassiter's support from real estate and development interests. "If you look at the tremendous amount of money John has attracted from developers and then look at his record it's a pretty clear correlation," he said.
He cited Lassiter's votes against a bicycle master plan last year and street guidelines in 2007.
Lassiter said he's raising money to combat, among other things, a state Democratic Party mailing that began Wednesday that echoes Foxx. It says Lassiter has taken thousands of dollars from developers "and then supported their agenda of unrestrained sprawl." A party spokesman said she didn't know what the mailings cost.
Lassiter makes no apologies for his support.
"I have been working aggressively for the past six years to bring projects to this community that create jobs," he said.
"The only way a lot of things happen is by individuals and organizations that put capital at risk," he said. "That folks in the development community support my campaign is some indication that I have a reputation for getting things done."
Both men say they make independent judgments, unswayed by contributions.
2009 Charlotte Mayoral candidates agree on 1 thing: It's the Economy
They've argued over tax increases and streetcars. But the two candidates for mayor of Charlotte agree that turning around the faltering local economy in North Carolina's largest city is the priority.
Republican John Lassiter and Democrat Anthony Foxx are competing in next week's election to replace Mayor Pat McCrory, who is stepping down after 14 years.
The candidates say Charlotte has to move quickly to create and retain jobs.
With the nation's banking meltdown, Charlotte has lost thousands of financial services jobs. Bank of America, one of the nation's largest banks, is headquartered in Charlotte.
Foxx says the city should recruit more financial services companies for its experienced workers. Lassiter says the city also must diversify its Economy.
View Larger Map
Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, News14, Huffington Post, Youtube, Google Maps
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment