Fanny Villarreal
The big spender and big fundraiser in the At-Large Common Council race is Republican Fanny Villarreal.
As of Oct. 30, Villarreal had raised $12,660 and spent $20,740, according to campaign finance disclosure reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections. She has spent $10,000 on TV ads alone, according to the reports.
Villarreal could not be reached Oct. 30 for comment about her campaign finance reports.
Villarreal is one of three candidates seeking the two At-Large Councilor seats on the Common Council. The other two candidates are Democrat Lance Denno, who has been the District 5 Councilor since 2008, and Democrat Jean Kessner, community and government affairs director for AIDS Community Resources. The election is Nov. 3.
Villarreal has raised and spent most among the three candidates. Denno has raised $825 and spent $72. Kessner has raised $8,526 and spent $4,197. Neither of the two candidates has spent any money on TV and radio ads, according to the campaign finance reports as of Oct. 30.
Here’s an overview of Villarreal’s fundraising, according to the state board of elections:
•58 percent of her contributions — $7,350 — came from eight local companies.
Six of them gave more than $200. The largest two donors are Tupper Property Management and University Hill Realty, LLC.
•29 percent of her contributions — $3,660 — came from Friends of Joanie Mahoney. That’s campaign fundraising committee of Mahoney, a fellow Republican and Onondaga County Executive.
•9 percent of her contributions — $1,150 — came from seven local individual donors.
With her spending, Villarreal is in the red: She spent more on campaign ads than she has raised, according to the state board of elections. Among her expenses:
•48 percent — or $10,000 — went to Colligen Lamont Agency and Time Warner for TV ads.
•31 percent of her expenses — $6,386.05 — went to Colligen Lamont Agency for radio ads.
•15 percent of her expense — $3,058 — went to postage and printing of mailers and other literature sent and given to local likely voters.
•6 percent of her expenses — $1,296 — went to lawn signs.
Another highlight of Villarreal’s fundraising is all her contributions came in after Oct.8. Denno’s first contribution came in on Sept. 17. Kessner has been raising money since April 23.
Among the three candidates, Villarreal is also the last to file the financial disclosure reports with the state board. She missed the deadline of a required report 11 days before an election on Oct. 23. The other two candidates both filed on time.
Kristi Andersen, political science professor at Syracuse University, said it’s not unusual for small local campaigns to routinely miss some campaign finance deadlines or fail to comply with some campaign-finance rules. “The rules are very complicated,” Andersen said. “Campaign treasurers are often either the candidates themselves or friends who are helping out.”
(Lynette Chen is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
(an earlier version of this story reported on Villarreal’s potential problems in failing to report her campaign finances by the Oct. 23 deadline)
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