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Political candidates like to say every vote counts. When it comes to campaign contributions, some people clearly have a louder voice than others.
Last week, WW gave you an analysis of special-interest groups' funding of the leading mayoral candidates' campaigns.
But we noticed something else in the numbers: In a race that's crossed the million-dollar line, about a quarter of the cash raised—$286,608—comes from people or companies giving $10,000 or more.
Former City Commissioner Charlie Hales is relying more on big donors than are businesswoman Eileen Brady and state Rep. Jefferson Smith—44 percent of Hales' cash comes from people giving north of 10 grand.
And one prominent Portland developer is hedging its bets, giving big donations to more than one candidate.
Eileen Brady
$35,508: The Catherine H. Rohter Living Trust, the estate of the mother of Brady's husband, Brian Rohter.
$20,000: Brady's loans to her own campaign.
$10,000: Stan Amy, a New Seasons Market founder. • Christy Eugenis, Amy's wife. • TMT Development Co., the real-estate company, founded by movie-theater mogul Tom Moyer, behind Fox Tower and other downtown buildings. • Frank Foti, CEO of Vigor Industrial, a Portland-based ship-repair company. • FamilyCare Inc., a Medicare provider that could be affected by state health-care reforms. (Brady sits on the Oregon Health Fund Board.) • Steven McGeady, former Intel exec, now chairman of ShiftWise, maker of staffing software for health-care providers. • PM Financial Services, a Tigard-based financial planning company.
Charlie Hales
$25,000: David Nierenberg, owner of a Camas, Wash.-based investment group. (The Hales campaign says Nierenberg is a friend from Hales and his wife's book club.) Stacy and Witbeck Inc., a streetcar-development company.
$20,000: James Kelly, founder and CEO of Rejuvenation.
$10,100: Candace Young, a Vancouver, Wash., psychologist. (Also a book club friend, the campaign says.)
$10,000: Hamilton Construction, which specializes in freeways and bridges. • TMT Development Co. Yes, the same firm that gave to Brady. • Melvin Mark, chairman of Melvin Mark Cos., a commercial real-estate firm. • Barbara Hall, Hales' sister-in-law. • Albert Solheim, an investor at Portland-based AWS Real Estate. • The Greenbrier Cos., owner of Gunderson, the Portland-based rail car and marine-barge maker.
Jefferson Smith
$11,000: Megan Hull, a Washington, D.C., political consultant.
$10,000: Susan Burmeister-Brown, editor of Glimmer Train Press.
$6,000: Stephen Luczo, CEO of Cupertino, Calif.-based Seagate Technology. • Curtis Thompson, a Portland physician.
$3,500: Kenneth Lewis, former executive with Lasco Shipping Co. (a Schnitzer family company).
For up-to-date campaign finance data from the 2012 mayoral race, visit wweek.com/pdxvotes
WWeek 2015