Mr. Moneybags
With just five weeks to go ‘til the primary, Seattle City Council member Tom Rasmussen leads the field in fundraising with $191,318 as of yesterday— And the guy doesn’t even have an opponent. In fact Rasmussen, who’s finishing his first term on the council, is the only incumbent without a challenge in this year’s contest.
Rasmussen’s donor list includes big names in development like Martin Selig of Martin Selig Real Estate, Jon Runstad of Wright Runstad Co., Kevin Daniels of Nitze-Stagen, and Urban Visions’ Jeff Schoenfeld. He's also collected dough from consultant Joe Quintana, who’s heading up efforts for the Forward Seattle PAC, and council candidate Tim Burgess (who donated before he got into the race against David Della).
Burgess, by the way, is closing in on Della with $147,663 as of reports filed yesterday. Della has $162,547. The current reports, however don’t track spending. But according to the most recent expenditure filing current to June 30, it's still a horse race: Burgess has more than $80,000 cash on hand, Della has more than $89,000.
Incumbents Jean Godden and Sally Clark are easily out-raising their smattering of opponents with $163,869 and $123,975 respectively— though greenie Joe Szwaja who jumped in against Godden less than two months ago has managed a respectable $30,020.
With $125,633, Bruce Harrell's leading the pack for the seat now held by Peter Steinbrueck. Venus Velázquez has $103,363, though it’s hard to know how much they actually have in the bank since contestants for this position (because they’re involved in the primary) haven’t had to file an expenditure report since May 31. Stay tuned. They turn in their receipts July 31.
Although he has no opponent, Rasmussen's still managed to spend more than $65,000 on things like a campaign office, fundraising consultant (Colby Underwood), newspaper add (Seattle Gay News), and yard signs. (Yard signs?) No matter. Rasmussen’s still going to have one hell of a war chest for the next time around. …Looks like his safe seat keeps getting safer.
1 comment(s)
Seely says:
Without commenting on how formidable a candidate Rasmussen is, it\'s mind-boggling to me that a one-term incumbent for anything doesn\'t draw so much as a token challenge in a city as big as Seattle.
Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 17 2007 @ 6:29PM