Yesterday's post on city council incumbent Nick Licata and challenger Jessie Israel is causing a little stir, so here's a related item:

I was on KUOW yesterday morning (go to about the 34-minute mark) talking about the city council races with Seattle Times editorial writer Lynne Varner. When we talked about Licata and Israel, Varner made a curious attempt to portray Israel as the candidate in the race who's representing small contributors, traditionally Licata's bailiwick.

Calling Licata "the money-getter in that race," Varner said Israel was "getting a lot of smaller donations from community interests,  neighborhood groups and environmentalists. He's raised more money than she has."

Varner's caricature was misleading. Although Licata has raised more than Israel, he has more small donors. Citing campaign finance records, I corrected Varner, and she conceded, "I don't want to say she's the voice of the small people."

Here are the numbers, according to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission:

Small donors:

Four percent of Licata's donors ($3,585) contributed less than $25, compared to two percent of Israel's ($1,098) .

10 percent of Licataa's donors  ($8, 939) contributed between $25 and $99 compared to eight percent of Israel's ($5,731).

Mid-size donors:

35 percent of Licata's donors ($32,902) contributed between $100 and $399 compared to 47 percent of Israel's ($32,725).

Big donors:

Eight percent of Licata's donors ($7,125) contributed between $400 and $599 compared to 15 percent of Israel's ($10,534).

15 percent of Licata's donors ($14,000) contributed over $600 compared to 27 percent of Israel's ($18,850).

Licata has raised $94,000 and Israel has raised $68,000.

* The remaining 28 percent of Licata's money, almost $27,000, is carryover from his previous campaign.