Why do labor unions pour so much money into City Council campaign coffers?
[Originally posted Aug 15, updated periodically] – One thing I have always found puzzling is the amount of money donated to the campaign accounts of incumbent city councillors. I suppose this could be interpreted as financial support for those who have supported unions in their noble quest for better wages, benefits, and working conditions, but the fact is that all incumbents and challengers appear to share this sentiment. So perhaps it’s something different. There is a longstanding pattern of labor representatives being recruited by some of the larger real estate developers to speak in favor of new development – supposedly because of the jobs involved, but that always struck me as too simplistic. Many of the people who control the funds of these political action committees are, to say the least, politically connected.
There’s also the matter of political contributions from people tied to real estate development. This is always difficult to evaluate because of the simple fact that it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to determine motive. There are people who have been generous charitable contributors for ages who also happen to own and/or develop Cambridge real estate. Are their contributions related to their real estate interests or not?
Of course, there’s also the matter of whether or not contributions come from Cambridge residents. It’s not always easy to draw conclusions from this – primarily because some candidates have family and friends scattered across the rest of the state and the country.
Here’s a revised account of the (a) Cambridge contributions, (b) union contributions, (c) real estate contributions (as best as I could discern), and (d) total of union and real estate money contributed over this election cycle starting from Feb 1, 2018 through Jan 31, 2020 (a full two-year election cycle) for all City Council candidates (notes: – receipts include loans from candidates to their campaigns; refunds deducted if clearly a refund):
Table of reported City Council campaign receipts (Feb 1, 2018 - Jan 31, 2020 - a full two-year election cycle) - Total, Cambridge, Unions, Real Estate - updated Oct 24, 2:16pm to include extremely late-reported receipts to ABC and Zondervan| Candidate (and PACs) | Receipts | Cambridge | Pct | unions | Pct | Real Estate | Pct | unions+RE | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McGovern, Marc C. | $107,006.21 | $46,638.00 | 43.6% | $12,550.00 | 11.7% | $30,200.00 | 28.2% | $42,750.00 | 40.0% |
| Simmons, E. Denise | $64,111.19 | $31,466.19 | 49.1% | $6,250.00 | 9.7% | $20,600.00 | 32.1% | $26,850.00 | 41.9% |
| Toomey, Timothy J., Jr. | $63,112.80 | $33,325.14 | 52.8% | $5,100.00 | 8.1% | $13,350.00 | 21.2% | $18,450.00 | 29.2% |
| Mallon, Alanna | $42,475.25 | $28,537.25 | 67.2% | $6,450.00 | 15.2% | $1,900.00 | 4.5% | $8,350.00 | 19.7% |
| Siddiqui, Sumbul | $33,654.68 | $19,871.68 | 59.0% | $5,250.00 | 15.6% | $350.00 | 1.0% | $5,600.00 | 16.6% |
| Musgrave, Adriane | $42,278.35 | $20,919.35 | 49.5% | $4,200.00 | 9.9% | $600.00 | 1.4% | $4,800.00 | 11.4% |
| Kelley, Craig A. | $40,385.00 | $32,378.00 | 80.2% | $2,500.00 | 6.2% | $1,650.00 | 4.1% | $4,150.00 | 10.3% |
| ABC - PAC | $25,850.26 | $21,593.23 | 83.5% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $2,907.00 | 11.2% | $2,907.00 | 11.2% |
| Sobrinho-Wheeler, Jivan | $28,430.00 | $18,710.42 | 65.8% | $1,500.00 | 5.3% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $1,500.00 | 5.3% |
| Carlone, Dennis | $33,648.00 | $27,098.00 | 80.5% | $500.00 | 1.5% | $250.00 | 0.7% | $750.00 | 2.2% |
| Mednick, Risa | $19,541.00 | $13,908.00 | 71.2% | $500.00 | 2.6% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $500.00 | 2.6% |
| Azeem, Burhan | $14,724.35 | $11,969.35 | 81.3% | $450.00 | 3.1% | $35.00 | 0.2% | $485.00 | 3.3% |
| Williams, Nicola A. | $31,662.28 | $24,412.02 | 77.1% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $50.00 | 0.2% | $50.00 | 0.2% |
| Akiba, Sukia | $3,000.00 | $980.00 | 32.7% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| BikeSafety-PAC | $3,480.00 | $2,155.00 | 61.9% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| CCC - PAC | $19,155.00 | $18,275.00 | 95.4% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| CResA - PAC | $3,173.08 | $3,005.00 | 94.7% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Franklin, Charles | $34,392.78 | $22,639.78 | 65.8% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Kopon, Derek Andrew | $8,873.16 | $7,295.01 | 82.2% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Levy, Ilan S. | $650.00 | $550.00 | 84.6% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| McNary, Jeffery | $0.00 | $0.00 | - | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Moree, Gregg J. | $1,500.00 | $1,500.00 | 100.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Nolan, Patricia M. | $23,236.23 | $13,630.00 | 58.7% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| ORC - PAC | $1,992.00 | $1,892.00 | 95.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Pitkin, John | $14,335.00 | $12,172.00 | 84.9% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Simon, Ben | $12,863.56 | $7,118.23 | 55.3% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Zondervan, Quinton | $47,226.23 | $34,317.23 | 72.7% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Total | $720,756.97 | $456,356.44 | 63.3% | $45,250.00 | 6.3% | $71,892.00 | 10.0% | $117,142.00 | 16.3% |
Source: Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF)
ABC-PAC: “A Better Cambridge Political Action Committee”
BikeSafety-PAC: “Cambridge Bicycle Safety Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee”
CCC-PAC: “Cambridge Citizens Coalition Political Action Committee”
CResA-PAC: “Democracy for Cambridge Political Action Committee” – Cambridge Residents Alliance
ORC-PAC: “Our Revolution Cambridge Political Action Committee”
Jan 16, 2020 – As expected, David Weinstein was elected at the Jan 16 Vacancy Recount to the Cambridge School Committee seat vacated by Emily Dexter (who was elected in the November 2019 municipal election but decided not to serve the term to which she was elected).
Jan 9, 2020 – A vacancy has been created in the School Committee due to the decision of Emily Dexter to not serve as a member of the School Committee for the term beginning January 6, 2020. Pursuant to the Cambridge Charter and Massachusetts General Law Chapter 54A, the Cambridge Election Commission will hold a Vacancy Recount to fill the seat.
Sun, Jan 5 – It’s the Eve of Inauguration of the 2020-21 City Council (10:00am start, City Hall) and School Committee (6:00pm start, Cambridge Public Library, Lecture Hall, 449 Broadway). Upon inauguration of the City Council, they will proceed directly to the Election of the Mayor (and then the Vice Chair should a Mayor actually be elected). There has been the usual chatter among residents (as well as some posturing of incumbents meant to suggest who might have disproportionate influence in the process) but other than the logic of those with high vote totals deserving an advantage in the selection, I have no specific information on how the vote will go. Often the person who is seen as delivering the decisive vote is rewarded by being elected Vice Mayor or getting choice committee assignments. I have attended these inaugurations every two years for a very long time and have generally found the mayoral maneuvering to be interesting, especially in trying to decipher which favors are granted to whom in exchange for votes. It would so much more interesting if there were actual horses being traded.
