Out-of-town real-estate representatives give to Boston at-large council candidates
Big names and developers number among the many out-of-town donations that have fueled at-large candidates’ campaigns in the City Council race.
Incumbents Michelle Wu, Annissa Essaibi-George and Michael Flaherty, who led the pack in September’s preliminary election, each picked up donations from executives at HYM, a developer behind giant Boston projects at Suffolk Downs and Bulfinch Crossing.
HYM lawyer Thomas O’Brien of Cambridge gave Wu and Essaibi-George each $1,000, and Flaherty received a combined $1,000 from HYM officials John Hurley of Milton and Douglas Manz of Southboro, according to state data.
Arthur Choo, of the busy Choo & Co. architectural firm in Quincy, gave to the top four vote-getters from the preliminary, including $1,500 to Wu, $2,000 to Essaibi-George, $1,250 to Flaherty and $350 to challenger Alejandra St. Guillen.
More than a dozen out-of-town property and real estate hopefuls from around the state gave to Wu, including Weiner Ventures, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, Rubicon and Peregrine Development, and also to Flaherty, including Lincoln Property Co., J. Derenzo, City Realty Group and Hilco Development.
The Herald reported earlier this week that upwards of 40% of the total number of donations to the eight candidates in the citywide at-large race come from outside of the city.
Michelle Wu, the incumbent city councilor who’s seen as a possible challenger to Mayor Marty Walsh, saw 34.3% of her 1,876 donations come from outside the city. Fellow big-name incumbents Michael Flaherty received 44.2% of his 1,460 donations from out of town. Essaibi-George’s number was 33.6% of 1,131 donations, the Herald review found.
Three challengers also received more than 40% from people outside of the city: David Halbert with 60.4% of his 714 donations, Alejandra St. Guillen with 43.2% of 1,205 and Julia Mejia with 41.6% of 1,117 donations, according to the data.
Incumbent Althea Garrison’s low-budget campaign is largely self-funded. Challenger Erin Murphy’s 384 donations included 24% out-of-towners.
Several well-known political players from outside of Boston also chipped in.
Former Attorney General Martha Coakley of Medford — now a honcho at the vape company Juul — gave $200 each to Wu and Essaibi-George.
Roger Lau, a big-name Democratic consultant from Somerville who now runs U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, gave $200 to Wu and $100 to St. Guillen.
Former Boston Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang of Villa Park, Calif. — listed as “unemployed” for last November’s donation following his departure from BPS — tossed $300 Mejia’s way. Mejia, a former MTV reporter, took home $950 from New York “TV executives” from Viacom, National Geographic and Turner Broadcasting.
Jimmy Tingle, the stand-up comedian from Cambridge who ran for lieutenant governor in 2018, gave $50 to Halbert.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/33bRhAp
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