October 16, 2009

Ward, Mills top fundraising race

Mayor Art Ward will likely outspend his two opponents by at least a 3-to-1 margin.

The mayor said his campaign plans to raise about $30,000, most of it in small donations that aim to cement his support in the weeks leading up to the November 3 municipal election.

When the campaign filed donation disclosure forms this week, Ward reported that he had raised $15,698 compared to Republican Mary Alford’s $4,370. Independent mayoral challenger Gary Lawton had raised less than $1,000.

Party officials said that while Ward’s campaign would likely double its tally before Election Day, Alford is unlikely to keep pace, leaving the first-term incumbent Democratic with a commanding funding advantage.

Among the 12 City Council contenders, the biggest fundraiser was Republican hopeful David Mills in the 3rd District. He raised $5,455 before the October 1 filing deadline.

Generally, though, incumbents had the stronger hand.

In the 1st District, incumbent Democrat Cliff Block hauled in $3,176 and Republican incumbent Mike Rimcoski collected $2,630 while newcomers Kevin Fuller, a Democrat, and Eldianne Bishop, a Republican, each raised less than $1,000.

In the 2nd District, the money race is a bit closer.

Incumbent Democrat Kevin McCauley heads the pack with $2,930. Next up was GOP challenger Richard Scarola, who raised $2,659. Republican incumbent Ken Cockayne raked in $2,131 while Democratic hopeful Allen Marko raised $885.

In the 3rd District, both Republicans, Mills and Derek Czenczelewski, managed to top the Democrats seeking to claim the two seats that Democratic incumbents are giving up.

Czenczelewski scraped up $2,275 while Democrat Kate Matthews’ donations totaled $1,960 and Terry Parker’s tally came to $1,480.

In the city treasurer’s race, incumbent Democrat Bill Viets collected $310 while Republican Rose Parenti reported that she plans to raise less than $1,000.

Candidates who believe they will raise less than $1,000 do not have to detail their contributions.

The largest single donation in the campaign went to Ward from the Connecticut Laborer’s Political League. It gave the mayor’s campaign $1,500.

The only comparable donations came from Bruce and Deborah Yarde of Bristol, who each gave Ward $1,000.

Here are the donors of $100 or more to each of the mayoral candidates (with apologies for any names spelled wrong since both lists were handwritten and not always easily legible):

Alford’s biggest donors:

Bristol Republican Town Committee -- $400

Edward McPhee -- $250

Sharon Krawiecki -- $200

Stephen Abate (West Hartford) -- $200

Carlyle Barnes - $100

TJ Barnes -- $100

Esther Burham (Cheshire) -- $100

Thomas Hermann (Jacksonville, FL) -- $100

Wendy Jersey -- $100

Ellie Klapatch -- $100

Gary Pelletier (Torrington) -- $100

Lauren Pelletier (Torrington) -- $100

Michael Saman -- $100

Ward’s biggest donors

Connecticut Laborer’s Political League -- $1,500

Bruce Yarde -- $1,000

Deborah Yarde -- $1,000

Central Connecticut Carpenters -- $500

Blake DelleBianca -- $250

Michelle Fitzsimon -- $200

Deborah Laviero -- $200

Tom O’Brien - $200

Rita Pletscher -- $200

Paula Positano -- $200

Antoinett Scalia - $200

Sheet Metal Workers -- $200

Vincent McDermott (Bethlehem) -- $150

David Anderson -- $100

Richard Avery -- $100

Jo-Ann Barrett -- $100

Phillip Benoit (Rocky Hill) -- $100

Andre Bourvet -- $100

Pamela Brown -- $100

Richard Brown -- $100

Kathleen Carroll -- $100

Michael Cassella -- $100

Raymond Chrzanowski (Tampa, FL) -- $100

Dale Clift -- $100

Darlene Coffey -- $100

Tom Colapietro -- $100

Robert Dalfino -- $100

William Dalfino -- $100

Pete Dauphinais -- $100

Suzanne Davis -- $100

Carol Denehy -- $100

Real Downing - $100

Sarah Duffy - $100

William Englert -- $100

Paul Fitta -- $100

Terry Fries -- $100

Kevin Fuller -- $100

Joseph Geladino -- $100

William Greger -- $100

Rex Hamilton -- $100

David Herens -- $100

Howard Holley (Southington) -- $100

David Houlihan -- $100

Richard Inglis -- $100

Roy Izzo (Goshen) -- $100

Paul Janick -- $100

Kim Kasparian -- $100

Brendan Kennedy -- $100

Robert Kowalski -- $100

Richard Lacey -- $100

Dina Laviero -- $100

Patricia Laviero -- $100

Gil Lavoie -- $100

Sharon Legere -- $100

Sandra Leone -- $100

Robert Longo -- $100

Rosemarie Mancini -- $100

Nancy Mandino -- $100

Alex Monico -- $100

Francis Mullins -- $100

Elliot Nelson -- $100

Roger Neilson -- $100

Glen Palmisano -- $100

Mae Palmisano -- $100

Michael Petosa -- $100

Joseph Pikiell (Ft. Myers, FL) -- $100

James Reinwald (Trumbull) -- $100

Raymond Rich -- $100

Donald Sciaretto -- $100

Melissa Simonik -- $100

Joseph Stanco -- $100

Janet Streifer -- $100

Scott Teneyck -- $100

Diane Thibeault -- $100

Scott Thompson -- $100

Lisa Vachio -- $100

Carmelito Valerio -- $100

Robert Violette (Rocky Hill) -- $100

Gardner Wright -- $100


For what it's worth, the city should require that campaign donor lists be typed and entered onto some kind of web-based form so that everybody can see who's giving quickly, easily and completely. This would cost almost nothing but vastly increase the transparency of the campaigns. It would also, no doubt, make sure they're more accurate and thorough. It's just plain silly that these are done by hand on paper nowadays.

*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve, How come you didn't list who was contributing the most to the council candidates? You have in the past. I think it's important.

Anonymous said...

I thought you were not allowed to take money from PACS anymore?

J.R. said...

Why does Ward need so much money if he is running against no one? This $100 donation is a lie list. Because most gave $100 in checks the rest in Cash. How about the breakfast at Laverio's home for Ward - $100 each with only a "Select" few being invited? Where is the money going Ward??
BS on the fund raising.

Steve Collins said...

7:43 -- I ran out of time this week. I'll try to list the major council contributors next week sometime. I agree it's important.

7:59 -- They can take PAC money.

8:11 -- It doesn't matter whether somebody gives cash or a check, it's supposed to be reported. And given that Ward's campaign included many much smaller donors on its list (available at the city clerk's office), I'd be surprised if anybody was left off. The forms also list where the money is spent. I didn't notice anything too interesting.

Anonymous said...

Is this the Geladino that just got a good Real Estate deal from the City?

I thought that he was a Republican!

Steve Collins said...

Yeah, same guy.

Anonymous said...

Is that the Della Biannca of MUDDY WATERS fame???

Steve Collins said...

Blake DellaBianca was part of the muddy water thing this week, but I'm not sure that makes him famous. He's done a lot in town so don't just look at that.

Anonymous said...

Mocabee, how come you don't put your money where your big mouth is?

You talk her into running, and drop her like you have dropped other people.

Anonymous said...

Steve, I appreciate your article. It is critical to see where the $$ comes from.

One comment, though: YOU could easily photocopy the public campaign records at town hall, scan them and post the .pdf versions on your blog site, so that we, lazy people who want to know but don't want to have to go downtown to search for ourselves, can have the info at our fingertips. Since you probably paid to copy those anyway for use in your blog, no additional expense for you or the BP.

Also: campaign financing information CAN be typed and entered onto an online form, then printed out and recorded at town hall. Not all campaigns choose to take advantage of this technology, and would rather handwrite their forms.

I'm not sure that the City has the right to require municipal campaigns to do more than is required by campaign finance disclosure rules that have been established by our state legislature.

Steve Collins said...

11:59 -- I copied the numbers by hand. And it's not quite as simple as you make it sound to scan and post a bunch of PDFs. It takes time that I don't have.
I would say, though, that if anybody wants to create some PDFs, I'll gladly post them.
And perhaps instead of a city law requiring online campaign disclosure forms, it could simply post the forms that it receives as PDFs. After all, the whole point is to let the public know who's donating the money.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure how transparent posting the list online would make it... if I didn't want my name on the list, I'd just pass my contribution through a 3rd party. Or give it to the Laverios and they can just add it to their pot!

Anonymous said...

How do we calculate the rate of return on these investments uh, contributions?

Anonymous said...

Artie, a $100.00 donation is a SMALL donation?????

Rich crowd you run with in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Jelodino is a businessman.
That is an investment!

not likely said...

4:00 - probably can't because you would need to be able to think.

Anonymous said...

9:10

Looks like Jeladinos $100. was pretty good as I see it.

Anonymous said...

Don`t be fooled by Artie.If artie wins This time around. Dave Mills for Mayor.

Anonymous said...

Bill Stortz in 2011 !!!!

Anonymous said...

Anybody but Cockayne!

Anonymous said...

bill Stortz in 2011? Unbelievable!! The people of this town couldn't wait to crucify the man and now you want him to run? As usual the citizens of Bristol are fair weather constituents. If they think you're doing a good job, great. If they decide they don't like you, they'll take every chance they can to destroy you. Oh yeah, and by the way, they have really short memories!!!

Anonymous said...

SOME ONE HAS TO START BUYING PROPERTY IN BRISTOL.

Anonymous said...

SOMEONE HAS TOPUTUP MONEY IN BRISTOL. MAYBE MORE PEOPLE SHOULD INVEST.

Anonymous said...

By comparison Stortz looks great!

Anonymous said...

I don't think that the people wanted to crucify him, but it was just a few people, political and business, that were not happy with him.

Anonymous said...

1:30

I agree, definitely NOT Cockayne

Social Club member... said...

More drinking money for Artie.

Anonymous said...

Voting is as easy as ABC

Anybody But Cockayne

Anonymous said...

Social Club member,

Lucky for you that class isn't a prerequisite for whatever club you're affiliated with...

Anonymous said...

May be more people should start investing in BRISTOL instead ofcomplaing. At least this GELADINO guy has faith in our town . T6he best to him.

Anonymous said...

What if:

Bishop, Fuller, Marco, Mills win??

Two teachers, a Board of Ed memeber, and a retired teacher.

And then McCauley and Parker win: a city employee and a state employee.

And Ward, a retired stste employee.

WOW! what a interesting thought.

Anonymous said...

5:40

Yah, the faith is that the politicians will continue to do him favors if he contributes to their campaign.

Why doesn't he become honest and register as a democrat?

Anonymous said...

Ward is always at the social club drinking, drinking & drinking.

Anonymous said...

Hey 8:30 AM,

If I had to deal with a quarter of the foolish games, lies, insults and just plain stupdity, I'd probably be drinking too. (BTW, what ANY adult does on his or her own time is absolutely none of your business). Do us all a favor and save the gossip for your girlfriends.

Anonymous said...

I don't know where you were, but the people of this town couldn't wait to get rid of Stortz and now people are talking about bringing him back? Come on! It's so tiring! They couldn't wait to get rid of Couture and were all aflutter when Stortz one. Less than a year into his service, he is being looked at a total pariah! I remember very well, unlike most of the people in this town. It doesn't pay to run for any office in Bristol for two reasons. one is people don't know how the city is run so they are so quick to criticize and will (2) make false statements knowing full well they haven't a clue what they are talking about just to say something slanderous about any of people who devote a lot of their time for a pittance and a whole lot of thankless work!

Anonymous said...

3:32pm sorry loser but it does matter if he is Mayor of our city. Sober mind helps - I suppose thats why the city is in such a mess since Ward has been in office. Continue to kiss his butt - I'm sure he'll find you a job with the city soon.

Anonymous said...

5:32

I don't think the people wanted to get rid of Stortz, just a few democrats who wanted to be mayor and a few money men who Stortz didn't suck up to.

I belive he would have been reelected and I believe he would have won if he ran this year.

Anonymous said...

8:01 PM, A sober mind? If you're sitting at a bar all day watching what everyone else is doing, I'd say the quality of yours is probably questionable at best. The fact that you'd anonymously tattle like a gossipy old lady also tells us a lot about your character (and you call me a loser?...LMFAO!).

Once again, what ANYONE does after work on their own dime is none of your business. Why don't you try minding it?

Anonymous said...

Why didn't Bill Stortz step up and run then?

Anonymous said...

12:01

Because the unholy trinity did not want him, just as they did not want him two years ago.

Anonymous said...

They didn't even approach him, although they asked many others.

And you see the result!

Anonymous said...

Ward was arrested for DUI and tried to use his power as a councilman to order the police officer around but to his credit he still arrested him!You don't need to go in a bar to watch Artie,he has the Rudolph nose(that is what happens when you drink to much)!How many DUI's does he have???