Bass and Treatman lead fundraising in Eighth District race

Less than two weeks before the city’s Democratic Primary, Eighth District Council candidate Cindy Bass is leading a crowded field in available campaign funds.

Bass, who’s staging her second Council bid, has $124,688 on hand as of May 2, according to campaign finance reports filed by today’s 5 p.m. deadline. But one of her rivals, Howard Treatman, a wealthy real estate investor, has since made a financial splash that may place him closer to Bass’ total . As of the reporting deadline, he had donated $150,000 to his own campaign, although much of that has now been spent.

 

Cash on hand

Between Jan. 1 and May 2, the other six Eighth District candidates have the following amounts left in their war chests:

William Durham – $11

Andrew Lofton – $209

Greg Paulmier – $39,000

Robin Tasco – $668

Howard Treatman – $50,889

Verna Tyner – $9,439

 

NewsWorks, however, has learned that Treatman has written an additional $50,000 check to his campaign since May 2. That means he may actually have over $100,000 available to date.

 

Fundraising strength

Today’s campaign finance reports also reveal which candidates have fundraising star power on their side. The packed field raised the following amounts from Jan. 1 to May 2:

Cindy Bass – $139,092

William Durham – $1,650

Andrew Lofton – $1,460

Greg Paulmier – $16,163

Robin Tasco – $3,280

Howard Treatman – $167,334

Verna Tyner – $14,023

 

Much of Bass’ money remains as the result of major campaign donations from government officials and judicial candidates.

Nutter for Mayor, Mayor Michael Nutter’s political action committee, cut Bass a check for $10,600, the maximum amount a PAC can give under state campaign finance laws. Mayor Nutter endorsed Bass in early April.

Bass also received $5,000 from Fattah for Congress, the political action committee for Democratic U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, among other donations. Bass is currently on leave from her long-time job as a staffer for Fattah.

 

Spending totals

So far, the candidates have spent the following amounts on campaign-connected expenses:

Cindy Bass – $85,521

William Durham – $1,638

Andrew Lofton – $1,250

Greg Paulmier – $16,263

Robin Tasco – $2,661

Howard Treatman – $116,443

Verna Tyner – $12,210

 

The candidates are vying to become the Democratic nominee on May 17 for the seat being vacated by Democratic Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller.

For a more complete breakdown of today’s campaign finance filing deadline see Dave Davies’ blog post.