Central Mass Donors Favor Brown Over Warren
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Today GoLocalWorcester brings you an in-depth look at Scott Brown’s war chest, profiling some of his big money supporters, including his out of state funding. Yesterday GoLocal reviewed Elizabeth Warren's campaign war chest.
Colin Reed, spokesman for Scott Brown said, "Elizabeth Warren is very popular with out of state liberals and Hollywood elites but in Massachusetts she’s simply known as the woman who falsely claimed to be a Native American minority law professor. Scott Brown has a reputation for being a regular honest guy who works hard and is a straight shooter."
Tracking the Money
The Federal Election Commission (FEC), which tracks campaign donors and expenses, reports that during 2011 and 2012, Senator Scott Brown has raised $11,204,059, with $7,852,225 in itemized donations, $1,816,614 in unitemized donations and $1,531,614 in PAC (Political Action Committee) donations.
Reed said, "Scott Brown is extremely proud that two-thirds of his campaign donors come from Massachusetts. This is a strong endorsement of Scott Brown from the people who know him best."
According to the FEC, unitemized donations are those that are less than $200 from any individual donor. Judith Ingram, Press Officer for the FEC, said campaigns are required to track individual donations, since once an individual’s donations exceed $200, it must be itemized.
During this election cycle, donors are permitted to contribute $2500 per person, per election.
Browns’s financial summary on the FEC website runs from January 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012; because Elizabeth Warren’s data begins on August 16, 2011, GoLocalWorcester's analysis of Brown’s itemized donations begins on that date as well.
While Warren’s $15.6 million fundraising has outpaced Brown’s, Brown has garnered more local support, and raised more money in state and in New England.
Local Support
Central Mass. donors have contributed $233,157 to Brown’s campaign since August 16, 2011. There have been 613 recorded donations; each donation is recorded separately, and there are many individuals who have given multiple times.
Throughout Central Mass, Outside of the city, 26 individuals have donated $2000 or more, and there are at least two married couples on the large donor list: Victor and Judith Melfa of Westborough and Philip and Kathleen Cambo of Sturbridge.
"He's more conservative," Mrs. Melfa said. "We were very happy when he was able to take Ted Kennedy's seat. I feel he would be better for the economy and for social issues - he supports the family."
Bonnie Johnson, co-founder of the political action committee Activate Worcester, said there is a lot of local support for Senator Brown. "I think Warren is not in tune with the voters of Central Mass," Johnson said.
Massachusetts Donors
Western Massachusetts donors have contributed $106,821 to the Brown campaign; donors in eastern Massachusetts have given $2.7 million, including $7662 from donors in Brown’s hometown of Wrentham. The Brown campaign has received $222,366 from residents on the Cape and Southeastern Mass.
Chris Pinto, treasurer of the Worcester Republican City Committee, said he was not surprised by the amount of local support for the senator.
“The towns outside of Worcester are moderate to conservative leaning. This was evident in the results of the last state wide election, when Sherriff Lew Evangelidis and many Republican State Representatives were elected from the Central Mass area,” he wrote in an email to GoLocalWorcester. “While the Faux Cherokee Warren may be very popular in Cambridge and Amherst, her intellectual foundation for the Occupy movement and her ideas on redistribution of wealth (social justice) don't sell with the hard working people in the heart of the Commonwealth.
“It is evident from her campaign speeches that she would vote to the the left of Jim McGovern and Barak Obama and strictly along party lines. Scott Brown has proven to be an independent thinker that votes on every bill based on its merits and not based on an extreme ideology,” Pinto wrote.
Out of State Donations
Looking more closely at the FEC data, GoLocalWorcester has learned there have been 10,750 individual donors to the Brown campaign. Brown has received more support from New Englanders than Warren, by nearly a 2 to 1 margin. Like Warren, Brown's support has come from nearly every state in the country.
Out west, where Warren has received much greater financial support from the Western states than she has from her New England neighbors, Brown has only collected $110,490 from 215 donors in California.
In Florida, Brown has an edge - he has received $301,277 in campaign contributions from 402 donors, while Warren has received $222,286 from 681 donors.
Brown has also received 365 donations totaling $364,612 from New York, $63,555 from New Jersey and $39,419 from Pennsylvania.
Around the DC beltway, Brown has received support of $69,915 from 110 DC donors; $54,809 from 84 donors in Maryland and $73,612 from 132 donors in Virginia.
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