GE SHINES ON WALSH
Cash from execs boosts incumbent edge
It was a major coup for Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Monday — digging a shovel into the dirt on the site of General Electric’s new Boston headquarters.
The next day, Walsh unearthed another treasure — a $1,000 campaign contribution from GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
Immelt’s donation was one of 22 by GE executives to Walsh over just the past month, totaling $12,150 for the mayor’s re-election campaign, according to campaign finance records reviewed by the Herald.
Others chipping in with $1,000 checks included Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Bornstein and VP Ann Klee, who joined in the groundbreaking. Immelt’s contribution was made May 2 but was processed in Walsh’s campaign fund on Tuesday, according to a Walsh campaign spokeswoman.
The donations show the power of incumbency for Walsh, who helped lure GE to Boston with $25 million in tax relief. They also demonstrate just what his challenger, City Councilor Tito Jackson, is up against.
Walsh rides in a chauffeur-driven SUV. Jackson takes Uber. Walsh goes to groundbreakings. Jackson goes to budget hearings. Walsh has a corral of highpaid consultants. Jackson has no full-time paid staffers.
The Boston mayor hasn’t even officially announced he’s running, yet he’s wielding his incumbency for all its worth, whether it’s keeping a busy schedule of “official events,” making headlines with high-profile verbal shots at President Trump, or raising hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.
In just a single day this week, Walsh’s campaign raked in $98,345, records show. That’s more than Jackson has managed to raise in the past four months.
On Monday, Walsh also cut the ribbon on a new public housing development in Codman Square, taking credit for the creation of 44 new affordable homes. Jackson, meanwhile, toiled away in his office out of the spotlight. His only public event on Tuesday was a Fire Department budget hearing.
Jackson announced his candidacy four months ago yet is still struggling to gain traction. He is lucky to raise $30,000 a month or get just a few reporters to his events. He currently has no campaign manager or press secretary. When he goes to events, Jackson takes Uber or a rental car, according to campaign reports.
Yet despite Jackson’s clear disadvantage, Walsh’s campaign seems to be worried and the reason is clear; the political climate in Boston and the rest of the nation is still roiling from the election of Trump. The charismatic Jackson is wooing liberals and vying to make history as the city’s first black mayor.
So Walsh continues to display his muscle, largely with official city events that cost his campaign nothing. It’s four months before the preliminary, and Walsh’s only campaign events have been a handful of small fundraisers.
His aides say he is careful to separate city business from campaigning, such as reimbursing the city for times he uses his city vehicle to go to fundraisers.
Among the mayor’s recent contributors are hundreds of city employees whose jobs are controlled by the mayor’s office. Everyone from Water and Sewer workers to golf course managers gave to Walsh.
At the same time, he rakes in $1,000 donations from movers and shakers in Boston’s business world, such as Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish, and Louis Jacobs of Delaware North, the corporate owner of the Boston Bruins.
Jackson did manage a few big donations, including $500 from Teamsters’ president Sean O’Brien.
But he is never going to compete against Walsh’s incumbency edge, and there’s not much time. The November election is coming fast, and Walsh seems perfectly content to be the mayor and ride out the clock.