Janey’s tops in builder bucks
Essaibi-George second in money taken in from developers, real estate sector
Developers have built their support around Acting Mayor Kim Janey and, to a somewhat lesser extent, City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George — and both had to give back donations from a particularly infamous local landlord.
Janey appears to have brought in more than $100,000 since the start of March from developers and others involved in real estate, out of her $831,000plus total haul between March 1 and June 30, according to data from the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Essaibi-George, whose husband is a developer, brought in north of $80,000 from real estate and developer types out of the more than $733,000 she raised in total during the same time, according to OCPF.
It’s a little bit of an inexact science figuring out quite who’s a developer; donors are required to put both their specific employer and their general occupation, but through a mix of blanks, typos and creative descriptions of “occupation,” numbers get iffy, if only on the margins. Various people who are clearly developers by their names and places of business identified their “occupation” as “real estate,” “developer,” “builder,” “self employed,” “principal” or “CEO.”
A sweep of occupations containing “real” — “real estate,” “Realtor,” “real estate developer,” etc. — quickly comes up with a little more than $96,000 in donations to Janey from March 1 through June 30. A search through other records quickly comes up with at least $5,000 in terms of sure-thing developers.
For Essaibi-George, the “real” search brings more than $64,000 since March, and a perusal of related terms comes back with about $6,000 more.
Both Janey and EssaibiGeorge received a maximum donation from Anwar Faisal, a big-time AllstonBrighton landlord who’s infamously been the target of a range of complaints over the years. Both campaigns says they have returned the $1,000 Faisal tossed them.
Faisal, who once was the subject of a Boston Magazine profile titled “Lord of the Sties,” didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Janey’s campaign said she’s “blessed to have support from a wide range of folks, from all backgrounds and neighborhoods, who believe in the progress she is making and want to see it continue. We all know Boston has a housing crisis — home ownership allows residents to build generational wealth, and our trade and construction industries provide good paying jobs that lift people out of poverty.”
Essaibi-George’s campaign said she “has sought the support of everyone across the city and has not particularly focused on one group or another.”
Former city economic development director John Barros is running at the back of the pack in terms of fundraising, but is next in terms of developer dough, with north of $34,000 out of $479,000 total between March 1 and June 30.
City Councilor Andrea Campbell raised $588,000 over this timeframe, with about $32,000 coming from that world.
City Councilor Michelle Wu, who’s alone of the candidates in supporting broad rent-control measures, has taken in $19,000 from real estate folks and developers out of $606,000 total over this stretch.