Davies takes a look at who didn’t fund Philly mayoral-race super PACs

If you’ve paying even a modicum of attention to the mayoral-primary race, or take note of political commercials on television, you probably already know that super PACs have had quite a bit of public say lately.

But today, WHYY’s Dave Davies took a look at that impact through a different prism: Specifically, he asked “Who didn’t fund Philly’s super PACs?”

Davies’ overarching discovery?

What’s striking to me is that in this mayor’s race, when the door was open to big money, only the unions came to play. The law firms, insurance brokers and developers stayed home.

Yeah, that is rather interesting.

On to question No. 2: “So why didn’t the old special interests put their money into super PACs this year?”

One reason: Starting a super PAC is a lot of effort. Giving a big check to a candidate in the good ole’ days was costly, but it was simple. You gave him 50 grand and that was it.

But to help your candidate with an independent expenditure committee, you have to essentially build a campaign apparatus yourself. You have find somebody you trust to manage it, do polling, craft a message, make commercials, buy TV time, the works.

And you have to think strategically about what will best help your candidate win. …

Another reason: I’m just guessing here, but it may be that the law firms and developers are relieved they don’t have to be making huge donations, and aren’t so anxious to find ways around contribution limits.

You can check out Davies’ full report via this link.