Q&A #6 -- Out-Of-State Fundraising

Published Apr 28 2009, 03:57 PM by David S. Bernstein

"Conor" asks via email:

What do you think about Boston municipal candidates raising money out of state? Does this make a candidate less representative of Boston? Or less likely to be corrupted by local developers, unions, etc.? Is money raised in Somerville different from money raised in Western Mass different from money raised in NYC different from money raised in SF?

Personally, I have no problem with it. And frankly, I think the $500 maximum annual contribution is a bad joke; with that individual limit, of course candidates have to widen their vistas.

Plus, of course, in SOME Boston municipal elections, it MIGHT be hard to raise money locally because SOMEONE might hold extraordinary power over the city and MIGHT be accused of using that power to punish SOME people who support SOMEBODY's opponents by, say, writing them a check. But that's really justa hypothetical.

All that said, I believe that it's my job to report on things like, say, the fact that more than 70% of the $30,000 Sam Yoon just deposited into his campaign account came from out-of-state contributors. Because it's up to the voters to decide what matters, so we need to get them as much information as we possibly can; that's how the whole sunlight/disinfectant thing is supposed to work. Right?

Q&A #7 -- More City Council Questions

Q&A #6 -- Specter and EFCA

2 Comments

Boston Bertie said:

Yes - but why don't we hear about all Menino's money from developers who do business with the city? Is it not better to have people with no financial interest in the city give than people who are looking for a city contract? We got to clean up the whole campaign fundraising system here ... that's the real problem.

April 28, 2009 5:57 PM
Boston Money said:

Those numbers are off - most of Sam's money comes from Boston - they are just lower dollar contributions. In other words they come from ordinary people, not the fat cats who are getting city contracts. Until we fix the campaign finance system like Sam Yoon has proposed, where else are challengers meant to raise money to get their message out?

April 29, 2009 3:33 PM