Neighbors, friends and labor unions are among the major sources of campaign funds for Toby Shelley as he seeks the Onondaga County Legislature’s District 6 seat.
“You can’t physically knock on enough doors to win an election,” Shelley said. But donations from family friends and from unions, he said, could help to get him elected in November.
Shelley, a deputy sheriff and road patrol officer for Onondaga County, is the Democratic candidate for Onondaga County Legislature’s District 6 seat. He faces Republican Mike Plochoki, former mayor of Marcellus. The two are running to fill the seat vacated by James Rinehart, R-Skaneateles, who is retiring. Shelley also running on the Working Families and Veterans parties’ lines.
District 6 includes the southwestern part of Onondaga County, including Marcellus, Skaneateles, Spafford, Otisco and a small southern portion of Camillus. The district has a strong Republican majority with 41 percent of the district registered Republican and 26 percent Democratic. The election is Nov. 8.
Unions had contributed $2,700 to Shelley’s campaign as of Oct. 28, according to campaign finance reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections. And one donor is a neighbor who gave him $1,000 — about 8 percent of his total contributions.
This is Shelley’s second run for public office. In 2010, he unsuccessfully challenged his boss and incumbent Republican Kevin Walsh for county sheriff. For that race, Shelley went about $1,000 into the red. He spent that out of his own pocket, Shelley said.
For this 2011 election, here’s an overview of Shelley’s fundraising, from reports filed with the state board of elections:
- As of Oct. 28, Shelley had raised a total of $12,185.
- Of that, the majority—about 45 per cent, or $5,437—came from named individual donors.
- About 22 per cent—or $2,700—came from unions.
- As of Oct. 28, Shelley’s campaign had $7,978 on hand.
- His biggest single individual donor was his neighbor, Linda Church of Marietta, who gave $1,000.
- The biggest donor on the union side was the Civil Service Employees Association, which gave $1,000 to Shelley.
Shelley was one of seven Democratic candidates in Onondaga County to receive a $1,000 donation from the union, said Rick Noreault, the union’s political coordinator. If the county were to propose lay-offs for public workers, Noreault said, the union sees Shelley as a candidate who would fight those lay-offs.
Linda Church, the largest individual donor to Shelley’s campaign, Shelley said, is his neighbor. She lives nearby on the former homestead of Shelley’s great grandfather. Church did not respond to calls for this story.
Of Church’s donation, Shelley said, “That was an absolute surprise.” He has not seen her for years, he said.
Last year’s sheriff race has become a useful campaign tool, Shelley, said, because now more people know his name. He’s also trying to raise his profile, he said, by knocking on doors. Since July, he calculates, his team has knocked on 1,500 doors That makes about $8.12 raised for every door his campaign team has knocked on since summer.
(Annie Knox is a senior newspaper journalism major.)
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