[caption id="attachment_14143" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="Joe Mallahan and spokeswoman Charla Neuman"][/caption]

Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan's campaign just filed its updated campaign-finance reports for August. (Total money raised: $416,179, including more than $230,000 from Mallahan; total spent: $71,390; total cash on hand: -$(that's negative) 26,782.

Among the biggest expenditures: $4,500 for campaign spokeswoman Charla Neuman (that's in addition to a $5,000 retainer owed to Argo Strategies, Mallahan's campaign consultant).

Mallahan himself speaks to the press almost exclusively through Neuman—which is now becoming something of a joke among the press corps. In person, Mallahan  is prone to gaffes misstatements, and retractions, such as his infamous "racial agenda" comments (which he initially denied making, then acknowledged through Neuman, who apologized for Mallahan's denials) and his awkward performance at last week's mayoral debate, where he stumbled over basic questions and made frequent outbursts (e.g., "That's disingenuous!") while his opponent, Mike McGinn, was speaking.

Neuman's salary is on the high end for a campaign staffer. (McGinn paid his consulting firm, Mercury Communications, $4,000 in August, but his campaign spokesman is a volunteer). But given how much talking she does compared to the candidate she's working for, it looks like Mallahan's getting his money's worth.