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”
Here are the little nuggets that I found comment-worthy this week:
Committee Report #1. 
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.
This is the first regular City Council meeting of the 2020-21 term. The mayoral vote at the Jan 6 Inauguration was a single take, and newly minted Mayor Siddiqui broke the record for fastest City Council committee appointments. Here are a few items on the agenda of some interest.