City
O'Brien's Challenging Contribution Challenge
City Council member Mike O'Brien, running for election to a second term in 2013, is launching his kickoff at the Hub in Pioneer Square (105 S. Main St.) at 6:00 tonight, with a twist: Donations are limited to $10, and O'Brien has pledged to raise "not a penny more" until 1,000 people have given $10 each.
It's an audacious plan (and one that would be dangerous if O'Brien wasn't so popular). But just how audacious? To find out, I asked Wayne Barnett, director of the city's Ethics and Elections Commission, whether any candidate for city council had even brought in more than 1,000 donations in recent history.
Turns out, four have. Leading the pack: Former council member Heidi Wills, who got 2,061 individual contributions in 2003, the year she lost to David Della. Next up: Richard Conlin, who got 1,948 individual checks in 2005; Della, who got 1,207 contributions in 2007; Conlin again, with 1,203 contributions in 2009; and Bruce Harrell, with 1,169 contributions in 2011.
Keep in mind, though, that virtually all of those checks were far larger than $10. In a typical race, 1,000 contributions usually translates to several hundred thousand dollars, as opposed to the $10,000 O'Brien has pledged to raise from the same number of checks.
The trend, you'll notice, is that the maximum number of contributors has declined steadily over time reflecting a general decrease in the number of contributors over time---a trend O'Brien says he wants to call attention to with his $10 fundraising gambit.
It's an audacious plan (and one that would be dangerous if O'Brien wasn't so popular). But just how audacious? To find out, I asked Wayne Barnett, director of the city's Ethics and Elections Commission, whether any candidate for city council had even brought in more than 1,000 donations in recent history.
Turns out, four have. Leading the pack: Former council member Heidi Wills, who got 2,061 individual contributions in 2003, the year she lost to David Della. Next up: Richard Conlin, who got 1,948 individual checks in 2005; Della, who got 1,207 contributions in 2007; Conlin again, with 1,203 contributions in 2009; and Bruce Harrell, with 1,169 contributions in 2011.
Keep in mind, though, that virtually all of those checks were far larger than $10. In a typical race, 1,000 contributions usually translates to several hundred thousand dollars, as opposed to the $10,000 O'Brien has pledged to raise from the same number of checks.
The trend, you'll notice, is that the maximum number of contributors has declined steadily over time reflecting a general decrease in the number of contributors over time---a trend O'Brien says he wants to call attention to with his $10 fundraising gambit.
