Personal connections equal money in Republican Jim DiBlasi’s re-election campaign. He is a 4-term incumbent running in the 7th District for Onondaga County Legislature.
He says he fundraises from the people who know him best.
“A lot of people are people that know me. They are personal friends. It’s a lot of people, like ‘Oh, I like him. Our kids go to school together or I know him from this or that.’” [DiBlasi]
According to the New York State Board of Elections, DiBlasi has raised $22,700 so far for his campaign. Here’s where his campaign money comes from:
-
He has one hundred different individuals donors out of 116 total donors.
-
That makes 86 percent of his donors are individual contributors.
-
He has $15,600 in individual donations — that’s 69 percent of all the moneyhe’s raised.
-
And he has only one corporate contribution: $500 from Armstrong Communications in Syracuse.
His competition for the 7th District seat is Democrat Tom Buckel.
Buckel has raised $28,999 — about $6,000 more than DiBlasi. Buckel has raised $13,264 from individual donations. That’s 46 percent of Buckel’s contributions from individuals, compared to the 69 percent of DiBlasi’s money from individuals.
Charles Duprey of the Onondaga Republican Party downplays the importance of money.
“Money isn’t everything.” [Duprey]
Duprey says being a part of community is more important.
“The North side hasn’t had a lot of change so I think a lot of it is the established candidate.” [Duprey]
As an established candidate, DiBlasi’s says he’s receiving a lot of contributions from people who know him.
“They either like me personally or they have a big interest in making sure Onondaga County continues with good government.” [DiBlasi]
DiBlasi’s biggest single personal donation is $500 from six different Syracuse-area businesspeople. The $500 donors are Joseph Falcone, Larry Ike, Jake McKenna, Frank Mento, Robert Palucci and John Sposato.
Election day is November 6th.
For Democracywise, I’m Richard Zussman.
(Richard Zussman is a broadcast journalism graduate student.)
-30-
