Melissa Bailey Photo
This time, the leftover money has to go to a good cause — not to the party machine.
Mayor John DeStefano, who was elected to a record ninth term in November, closed out the year with about $7,000 left in his campaign piggy bank, Democracy Fund Administrator Rob Wechsler announced Thursday.
Because of new rules governing the city’s clean elections program, DeStefano can’t do what he did the previous election cycle — funnel the money to fellow Democratic candidates who support City Hall.
This year, DeStefano has three options: give the money to charity, give it back to the contributors, or give it to the Democracy Fund, the board set up to administer the city’s public financing program for municipal campaigns. The voluntary program gives grants to qualifying mayoral candidates who agree to limit campaign spending. The aim is to curtail the influence of lobbyists, contractors and political action committees and level the playing field for democracy.
The rules were clarified in early 2009 to address how participating campaigns can use leftover money, explained Wechsler at the board’s meeting Thursday in City Hall.
DeStefano’s 2007 campaign wrapped up the year with $12,500 in the bank. Campaign staff said they didn’t know what to do with the money, because the guidelines weren’t clear. They turned the money over to a political action committee called the James Hillhouse Society, which in turn used the money to work against aldermanic candidates who threatened the mayor’s power.
The Democracy Fund concluded the campaign “flew in the face” of the spirit of the clean election campaign, but didn’t break the letter of the law. The board ended up giving DeStefano a pass for abusing a “loophole.”
This year, the loophole is closed, Weschler said.
The rules are clear now, said Democracy Fund board chair Caleb Kleppner with a tone of relief.
“You can’t give surplus funds to a PAC,” he asserted.
The mayor’s campaign took in about $191,000 in contributions for DeStefano’s 2009 reelection run, said Weschler, who summarized DeStefano’s latest campaign filing for the board. The filing covers Oct. 21 to Dec. 31, 2009.
After potential foe and former state Rep. Bill Dyson decided not to run, DeStefano ran virtually unopposed. He won handily with 71 percent of votes cast.
The mayor’s campaign was the only one to receive matching funds from the clean elections program. In exchange for agreeing to limit spending and to cap contributions, his campaign received $11,390 in taxpayer money.
The mayor’s campaign spent about $184,000 on the campaign, leaving it with $7,000 in the bank.
Recent expenses included $2,000 paid to the Elm & Oak PAC, with which the campaign shared office space and a phone.
The Democracy Fund has requested a state investigation into the fishy relationship between the campaign and the Elm & Ivy PAC. Click here to read more. Weschler calculated the DeStefano campaign paid 35 percent of the rent and 20 percent of the phone bill for the shared headquarters.
DeStefano 2009 campaign manager Keya Jayaram could not be reached for comment Thursday. An automated email response indicated she is on a honeymoon.
I said it before and I will say it again, keep on making this a pain for the Mayor and he will not participate in a publicly financed election again. He raised close to $180,000 by himself and got $11,400 from the Democracy Fund. Next time he will work a bit harder to raise an additional $15,000 and not have to put up with the Fund telling him how to raise and spend money. More-so look at the Supreme Courts ruling and there is even less of an incentive for an established office holder to use public funds...