Dems rake in cash in 5th District race for Congress
Li, Scanlon sit atop fund-raising numbers
Based on FEC reports and the candidates, Democrats running in the 5th U.S. Congressional District primary have raised almost $2 million to fuel their campaigns.
“It’s a short campaign season so communicating with voters is very important,” said Joel Coon, campaign manager for frontrunner Mary Gay Scanlon, the former president of the Wallingford Swarthmore School District. “Campaign finances are relevant with respect to the ability to communicate with as many voters as possible. Television and mail costs money.”
Candidate Lindy Li, who said she’s raised $600,000, agreed that money is necessary to get a message out.
“It’s also a symbol of your viability,” she said. “Do people believe in you enough to invest in your campaign?”
In addition to Li, here’s how the candidates rank according to the amount of money they’ve raised, according to Federal Election Commission reports and data on Opensecrets.org: • Mary Gay Scanlon, $403,928; • Ashley Lunkenheimer, $402,182; • Dr. Molly Sheehan, $231,605; • Rich Lazer, $163,300; • David Wertime, $102,357. • State Rep. Margo Davidson, $29,916;
• State Rep. Greg Vitali, $29,104; • Lawrence Arata, $8,208; • Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland, $7,300;
Figures were not available for Theresa Wright.
Pearl Kim, the sole Republican left in the race, had raised $221,749 in the same period.
Scanlon was the top vote-getter at the recent Democratic endorsement meeting, but no candidate received enough support to win an endorsement. Lunkenheimer was in hot pursuit, coming in second.
Several candidates, including George Badey and Shelley Chauncey, dropped out of the race after the endorsement meeting.
Scanlon has received one of the most high-profiled endorsements, from former governor and Philly Mayor Ed Rendell. He is general counsel for the Philly uber law firm Ballard Sparhr, where her husdand is the firm’s chairman. Scanlon lead the pro bono work for the firm. Ballard Spahr attorneys have kicked in a little less than half the money she has raised.
Not all were thrilled or accepting of the large sums of money needed for congressional campaigns.
At the NextGen America event Thursday, Arata spoke to this, as well as in a letter he penned to the Delaware County Daily Times,
which directly criticized Lazer.
“Rich Lazer, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress Pennsylvania District 5, is benefiting from Citizens United-enabled Super PACs with unlimited donations from unknown donors,” Arata wrote. “Big money in elections (is) the main reason people are cynical about our political system ... Electrical Workers Union leader, Johnny Dougherty, launched an independent expenditure committee for Lazer in March called ‘Middle Class PAC,’ which can spend unlimited money to support him. Local 98 has contributed $200,000 to the group.”
Citizens United v. the FEC was a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that granted larger organizations and business First Amendment rights for funneling money to political candidates and critics question the wide latitude of nondisclosure associated with those donations.
Arata pointed to Lazer, saying he had been employed as a consultant to Local 98 three years ago and that his wife is a secretary there.
Lazer’s campaign declined to comment on Arata’s assertions, but issued the following statement through spokesman Gabe Roberts.
“Rich Lazer has received the support of numerous groups that represent the interests of working families and share his vision of universal health care, pay equity and a $15 minimum wage,” it read.
Among the 20 unions listed supporting Lazer included the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals; Service Employees International Union Pennsylvania State Council; the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades; and Dela-
ware County Fraternal Police, Lodge 27.
A teacher, Arata said he himself has not had time to raise “a ton of money,” as he was too busy teaching and coaching thousands of kids and raising children.
“I have nothing against union money in politics,” Arata said. “I am the only union member in the race. If not for union support, Democrats’ coffers would often be bare as corporate donations usually go to the Republicans.”
He continued, “I do have a problem with Citizens Unitedenabled Super PACs funneling unlimited amounts of dark money into our campaigns ... Our system of legalized bribery must end ... Sources of donations must not be secret nor unlimited. Elect me and the days of big money in politics will be numbered.”
The campaign of state Rep. Margo Davidson, D-164, of Upper Darby, noted her rank among her peers in the short time she has begun to seek the office.
“Since launching her campaign last month, Margo’s grassroots campaign has outraised several of her opponents, including two other elected officials, and received endorsements from across the district,” her spokesman Aaron Hecht said. “In the weeks since she announced her candidacy, she Order of has opened her campaign office, hired staff, and added the support of Democratic Caucus Secretary Rosita Youngblood and (William Penn) School Director Robert Wright. We need a congressmember who has proven her dedication to our community and will fight for our working and middle-class families, not someone funded by the bigmoney interests that have had a corrosive influence on our government. As a longtime state representative, Margo has a large and committed volunteer base and is confident she’ll have the resources to energize and mobilize her supporters around the historic nature of her candidacy to become the first African-American Congresswoman in Pennsylvania’s history.”
Others in the race also pointed to the problems that can surface through campaign finances.
“Since 2016, our campaign has raised over $500,000 through many small dollar contributions from individuals,” Li said. “I’m running for Congress to implement campaign finance reform so that we limit the influence of big money and special interests in our elections. We’ve institutionalized bribery. Candidates should be measured on our ideas, character and ability, rather than fundraising capacity.”
Molly Sheehan spoke to the issue at the NextGen America event Thursday as she identified it as the top priority on her list.
“There’s price tags being put on every aspect of our lives,” she said. “That’s why we don’t get gun reform even though most people agree on it. That’s why we haven’t been able to move to a single-payer health system even though it is, by far, the most fiscally responsible way to provide health care to everybody and every other western nation has done it. It’s why we haven’t been able to combat climate change, it’s the oil money.”
Sheehan said the amount of influence on elected officials should be equal.
“Every single person should have the same exact size of string attached to their representative,” she said. “If money is speech, then absolutely, we should level the playing field.”
Mary Gay Scanlon said in the current system, money is necessary – but it does need to be addressed.
“If you want to go to Congress, ... you have to raise money to get elected,” she said. “Do we have to do something different to fix this? Yes. Will it be easy? No.”
However, she said she did believe that it was possible with cooperation from both sides of the aisle.
“It clearly is undemocratic and it clearly raises hurdles but that’s one of the things I looked at when I was thinking about whether I should run,” she said. “I got into this because of what I perceived to be real threats to our democracy right now.”