For his campaign cash, Democrat Gary Morris is counting on a small army of donors giving less than $200 each in his race for Onondaga County Clerk.
Between March 26 and Oct. 1, Morris received 53 separate contributions – or 88 percent of all his campaign donations – of $200 or less.
That’s according to the Oct. 5 financial report filed with the New York State Board of Elections.
Morris is running against Republican candidate Sandra Schepp in an open-seat election for Onondaga County Clerk. Ann Ciarpelli, who was the clerk for 16 years, retired in July. The election is Nov. 6.
Here are some of the highlights of Morris’ campaign fundraising:
● In addition to the $200-and-less donors, at least 21.6 percent – or $2,800 – comes from other Democratic political figures.
● Among those donations are $100 from former county Democratic chairwoman, Vita DeMarchi. She also nominated Morris to run for county clerk.
● Another $2,700 comes from eight other Democratic leaders, including Mark English, the currrent chair of the Onondaga Democratic Committee; state Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida; Syracuse Common Councilor Nader Maroun; state Assemblyman Bill Magnareli, D-Syracuse; Mark Stanczyk, Onondaga County Legislator for District 9; Edward Ryan, outgoing Democratic commissioner for the county elections board; Diane Dwire, former chairwoman of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee; and Ed Szczesniak, former Democratic commissioner for county elections board.
● One donation of $2,000 came from a labor union, Iron Workers Local 60’s political action committee.
● As of Oct. 1, Morris had spent $10,540 and had $2,436 on hand.
Among his donors giving $200 or less are three members of the Abramovsky family. Retired New York state judge Deborah Abramovsky and her children, Dov and Aviva Abramovsky, have donated a total of $600 to Morris’ campaign.
Deborah Abramovsky said she does not donate to political candidates often, but said she thinks money is critical to a campaign for public office. “Without money, you can’t get the word out,” she said.
Morris’ biggest contribution from a named individual was $800 from Frank Manzi Jr., who is the owner of Yellow Cab Co. of Syracuse. The company also contributed $500 to Morris’ campaign. Manzi Jr. is connected to Morris through his son, Frank Manzi III, who had Morris as one of his teachers at Onondaga Community College. Morris teaches business administration classes at OCC as well as Cazenovia College.
Frank Manzi III said of Morris: “He was an older guy going back to school, reeducating himself. I remember that from when I was younger and I started supporting him after that.”
Some recent controversy marked Morris’ campaign after The Post-Standard reported on Oct. 5 about Morris filing for bankruptcy five times since 1986. Only two of these filings were completed. Morris and his supporters said in interviews the bankruptcies are not relevant to his qualifications for the county clerk position and he was solely taking advantage of one of his rights as an American during tough times.
Of the controversy, Morris said, “We’re campaigning. We’re not stopping.”
(Amy Lipman is a senior with dual majors in broadcast journalism and international relations.)
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