Tomorrow is the deadline for filing campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections. In the meantime, expect campaigns that did well in that department to announce their results ahead of time. One such announcement comes from the Annise Parker campaign, which proclaims over $800,000 raised for the six-month reporting period. From their press release:
The Annise Parker for Mayor Campaign released its fundraising totals through June 30 today, raising $810,114.92 from 2,254 donors.
“We’re building a grassroots campaign like Houston has never seen before,” said Parker. “It will take all of us to keep Houston moving through these tough times to a strong economic recovery – and that’s why there is a place in our campaign for everyone to make a difference.”
The full release, which goes into detail about the numbers, is beneath the fold. According to the PDF report from January 15 that I can find via the simple campaign finance report search form but annoyingly cannot link to, Parker had about $238K cash on hand six months ago. That will give her a pretty good total, though it should be noted that Council Member Peter Brown started the year with $897K on hand. Gene Locke, who didn’t formally announce his candidacy until March (he filed his Treasurer’s report in February), doesn’t have a January finance report. Roy Morales does have one, with no money shown in it.
The one other announcement of which I am currently aware comes from City Council Member Pam Holm, who is running to replace Parker as Controller. She announced on Twitter raising $300K for the period. Add that to the $241K she started the year with, and she’s in strong financial shape. As for her opponents, At Large #4 Council Member Ronald Green began the year with $32K, and District F Council Member MJ Khan had $300K. I know Green has been busy fundraising these past few months; he’ll need to have been quite successful to catch up to these two.
By the way, since Parker touts her Facebook and Twitter followings in her release, and since I found out about Holm’s numbers via Twitter, I realized as I was writing this that while I was following all of the Mayoral candidates’ feeds (Parker, Locke, Brown, Morales) as well as CM Holm’s feed, I didn’t even know if Green and Khan had them. Turns out that they do – Khan, Green – and so now I’m following them as well. Oh, and if you’re wondering about Mayoral candidate TJ Huntley, well, here’s his Twitter feed. Go ahead, click it. I got nothin’.
If I receive or hear of any other announcements, I’ll add them to this post. There ought to be a boatload of announcements from state and federal candidates as well – for example, I’ve just seen (via Twitter, of course) that Kirk Watson has reported over $1.4 million on hand. Not as much as the Republicans, but then he’s not actually running for Governor yet. Anyway, and in the meantime, here’s Parker’s press release. Muse has more.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: July 14, 2009
Contact: Jeri Brooks
832-287-5627 cell | [email protected]Annise Parker Campaign Raises More than $800,000 from 2,254 donorsParker: “We’re building a grassroots campaign like Houston has never seen before.”
Houston, TX – The Annise Parker for Mayor Campaign released its fundraising totals through June 30 today, raising $810,114.92 from 2,254 donors.
“We’re building a grassroots campaign like Houston has never seen before,” said Parker. “It will take all of us to keep Houston moving through these tough times to a strong economic recovery – and that’s why there is a place in our campaign for everyone to make a difference.”
The proof, according to Parker’s campaign manager Adam Harris, is in the numbers:
• 2,254 donors – the campaign set a goal of 2,000 donors for the period and easily surpassed it
• 7,008 supporters on Facebook and Twitter – greater than three times those of all Parker’s opponents combined
• 1,099 online donors contributed a total of $303,927.87
• In the last two days of the period, 291 donors contributed $42,948 online in response to an email appeal Parker sent to her supporters
• 1,002 donors made 1,144 contributions of $50 or less
• 742 people signed up to volunteer
Harris, who has worked on campaigns across the country, said the campaign has applied lessons learned from last year’s presidential campaign: “We’re bringing more people into our campaign using 21st Century tools – like organizing through social networks and online fundraising – in addition to the tried and true methods of phone banks and block walks.”
Harris added that the campaign’s substantial investment in its grassroots infrastructure was worth it: “This is the lesson of Obama’s campaign,” Harris continued. “Each one of our 2,254 donors is a powerful fundraiser – capable of reaching out and asking each of their friends to join our campaign by making a contribution.”
Parker added: “These 2,254 people are more than stakeholders in our campaign – they are stakeholders in the future of our city.”
Harris said the Parker campaign would file its finance report on the July 15 due date.
Parker added: “These 2,254 people are more than stakeholders in our campaign – they are stakeholders in the future of our city.”
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Some more than others and that of course raises the question of what the larger stakeholders get in return. At least Annise Parker avoided calling it a “victory” the way Kay Bailey Hutchison did. More and more politicians, it seems, are not running on platforms but merely press releases pointing out how much money they’ve raised. Maybe we should just start selling the offices since the politicians themselves already are.
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