Skip to main contentWhen City Commissioner Amanda Fritz won her council seat in 2008, she financed her run with public money, an option voters took off the table last year.
On Friday, Fritz disclosed she given her campaign a second $25,000 loan. That means of the $63,000 she has raised so far, $50,000 has come from her own checkbook.
Fritz's opponent, State Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Portland) has raised twice as much, without so far digging into her own wallet.
A couple other noteworthy contributions in city races:
After mayoral candidate Eileen Brady last week disclosed a $35,500 contribution from her mother-in-law's estate, one of her rivals, State Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) disclosed later that same day a $10,000 check from Susan Burmeister-Brown, the editor of the Portland literary quarterly Glimmer Train.
Smith didn't have to report that Nov. 16 check for 30 days but may have decided that with Brady building a large fund-raising lead over him and the third major candidate, former city commissioner Charlie Hales, that it was time to show some cash.
Hales also disclosed a big check—$20,000 from Rejuvenation founder Jim Kelly—but that's because he had hit the 30-day deadline for reporting the check.
Brady has now raised $359,000, about as much as Hales ($223,000) and Smith ($135,000) combined. But Brady the candidates all have about the same amount of cash on hand—$142,000 for Brady; $103,000 for Smith; and $128,000 for Hales.
WWeek 2015