As he said when he entered the race last week, T-Mobile exec Joe Mallahan is serious about being on par with the Mayor’s fundraising.
Campaign records show he has $218,000—$200,100 of his own money. Here’s the list of his contributors.
I have a call into the mayor’s campaign, which has about $202,000 on hand according to their latest filing, to get their response to this suddenly viable challenger.
Mallahan’s money isn’t exactly apples to apples with Nickels’ numbers because Nickels will certainly have more money when he files his April reports in the next few days. (Reports are due on May 10.) Nickels total money raised is about $300,000.
UPDATE: The mayor’s campaign team issued this statement in response to the news:
“The voters of Seattle are going to see through what is an obvious attempt by a wealthy individual with little experience in public service to buy their way into elected office. In contrast to our opponent putting hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money into his campaign, we have raised our campaign funds from over 1,000 donors across the city of Seattle.”
I called Mallahan’s campaign, and they promise to respond shortly, although they quickly pointed out that the $18,000 they’ve raised from individuals is already more than any of the other challengers have raised. It’s also likely to be close to what Team Nickels has raised this past month.
UPDATE 2: I got a lengthy response from Mallahan’s campaign addressing Team Nickels’ rap that Mallahan is, essentially, a dilettante.
Here it is in full:
Tweet“Joe isn’t a mega-millionaire. He lives in Wallingford and drives a used Prius. So his personal donation to the campaign stings him and his family. But it pales in comparison to the sting thousands of families, seniors, young professionals and small businesses across our city have felt under the eight years of failed leadership from the current mayor. We idle in traffic longer, small businesses are more burdened and the city itself is becoming less affordable to stay and establish roots. Clearly, it’s time for a change. So if you think the kind of experience the current mayor brings to the table – a politician for life – has served the city well, then you should support his re-election. If you think it’s time to change course and a progressive businessman with relevant private sector experience can pull the mayor out from behind his enormous campaign warchest, then you should join us.”
Jesus Christ. I didn’t think it was possible to make Nickels look like a populist.
It would be interesting to see where that $18,000 came from.
Over half of the supporters on Mallahan’s say they live outside of the City of Seattle.
There are megachurch donors on the list, Panarama City Foursquare Church.
Mallahan’s campaign tells me the donors (Frank and Ann Muno, $700 each) are Mallahan’s relatives and are both ministers at the Church.
So, how does the mayor only have 1,000 donors? Hasn’t every business person and city employee donated something to his campaign?
Since Josh won’t include it-presumably because he knows that Publicola is tainted by it’s association with Sandeep-I’ll paste in Sandeep’s comments from a Emily Heffner piece in the Seattle Times.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2009177598_candidate_dumps_200000_of_his.html
As he hinted he would, Seattle’s newest mayoral candidate has written a big check to his own campaign.
T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan reported $200,000 of his own money, plus another $18,000 from donors, to the city’s Ethics and Elections Commission.
Mayor Greg Nickels campaign spokesman Sandeep Kaushik said it still remains to be seen whether Mallahan, who just jumped into the five-way race last week, catches on with Seattle voters.
“He seems to be on the friends and family fundraising plan right now,” Kaushik said.
Nickels has reported about $300,000 in donations for his re-election campaign. Of that, he has spent about $100,000.
Kaushik said the mayor has raised an additional $20,000 to $25,000 in April. April fundraising reports are due to the city next week.
Sandeep is the Mayor’s spokesman. And anyone who think sthat Publicola’s coverage of the mayor’s race isn’t influenced by Sandeep’s association with Publicola is naive. This is the kind of relationship that Josh would have criticized when he worked at The Stranger-and we all know what a piece of crap The Stranger is-don’t we? Josh seems to think he’s moved on up and all he’s accomplished is being co-opted by the big boys.
I keep scanning all the campaign sites, looking for more than rah! rah! type stuff. The megachurch sourece is downright scary. Wonder if that is why my gay friend who used to wrok for t-mobile said, ‘well he knows how to turn a profit, but what does he plan to actually do with the city and what are his politics?’
What megachurch source?
Who is your anonymous gay friend?
Did he really say that?
Is kt really Sandeep Kaushik doing what he is paid to do?
@ kt, as per Josh’s follow up on that question, the megachurch donors are relatives. I don’t know about you, but I have Crazy Christian family members who, were I to ever run for office, would certainly contribute to me because they want to support my success. There is no more of an implication there than there would be from my lesbian aunts’ contribution (but I doubt any fuss would be made over that). Non-issue.
Mallahan is taking the right posture–lean into the criticism and try to flip the script. The career politician jab is a good one. Unfortunately, nobody knows who he is or what is ideas are. I’m not sure you can buy that for $200,000 in Seattle. I’m not sure TMobile VP in a Prius is enough private sector status…perhaps it will play well in Seattle. But the reason Bloomberg and even McGavick were credible candidates for office was b/c they had a substantial amount of private sector success–more than enough to put them in the public eye. Google Mallahan and you don’t get much.
Dan,
Not sure if you missed it, but my post included a lengthy written statement from the mayor’s campaign.
Josh is a fair reporter. I don’t always agree with him and some of his facts in this particular example are hazy (megachurch is a big church, typically evangelical with over 2000 service attendees. Panorama City is a small church, probably grosses less than $400K a year and caters to a small, mostly hispanic community in California. Also, it’s his sister and brother-in-law, not some random megachurch donor).
I am consulting with Joe and also contribute to some stuff on this blog as well. So both sides are represented. That said, Sandeep is a stand up guy – one of the best in the biz. Highest integrity. Nothing is compromised I assure you.
@10 – we’ve been in the race for 4 days. Give us a few more days to memorize the middle names and birthdays of all the city employees and attend the flurry of events on the books. I assure you, you’ll hear plenty of debate on the issues and on experience and what is relevant and what isn’t. We have 6 months to tell the story and convince voters that Joe is the right candidate for the job. But now there is a contrast
@12,
Thanks for the nod.
Sorry about the megachurch adjective. I saw the “Foursquare Church” listing on the campaign finance report, and I’ve always thought Foursquare was part of the evangelical megachurch trend.
I did report that the donors were relatives—and you’ve fleshed that out here (sister and brother-in law.)
If this guy’s campaign centers around the fact that he drives a Prius, and provides no real vision or policies to support that vision, then he’s sunk before he’s launched.
Go Greg! Keep raising those funds Abramoff style!!
What?! You want city approval for waiving a zoning restriction? What have you done for me lately, Mr. Developer? Oh my, thank you for the check.
What?! You want to build a tunnel and stick Seattle with the inevitable cost overruns? Well, you already wrote a check–so no problem.
Greg Nickels has raised money from over 1,000 donors, eh? Maybe he should have been focusing on the issues that effect Seattle residents and their families. Then he wouldn’t have needed a gigantic warchest.
a used prius?????? fucckkkkk who cares????
@16
I agree. Why does the Mallahan campaign keep talking about his used Prius? Would any Mallahan supporters out there like to explain how that fact is relevant?
Joe Mallahan is a business executive who has a personal fortune substantial enough to lend his campaign $200,000. He lives in a home valued at over $700,000, see http://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/3716-Densmore-Ave-N-98103/home/119895. I’m sorry, but saying “he lives with is family in Wallingford and drives a used Prius” does not make him into a regular Joe. I personally don’t have a problem with anyone being a business executive and wanting to serve the public by running for office. But it’s insulting for that business executive to claim to be something that he is not.
A $700K house in Wallingford means nothing. I live in a home valued at $250K in a sort of sketchy area and believe me- I don’t have that kind of bank. Housing values are crazy in this town.
What if he saved $200K through frugal management of his family’s finances? I’ve Googled Mallahan and he doesn’t turn up at any of the society events around town where people with “personal fortunes” typically flock. He doesn’t seem like a flashy guy. Maybe that’s what the campaign is trying to telegraph by talking about Wallingford the the Prius?
Thanks to JasonB for his comments. Much appreciated – and reciprocated.
Contrary to what meany people seem to believe, it is possible to be political adversaries, and to have a frank exchange of views on issues of public import, while still maintaining a sense of civility and a core of respect for the opposition.
Jason and I may be on opposite sides of this race – I am doing the mayor’s press, Jason is consulting for Mallahan – but both of us contribute to this site (on matters unrelated to the mayor’s race). And neither of us has any control or veto power over what Josh writes about this race, or any other for that matter.
@12 – Thanks, JasonB. Looking forward to hearing his story. At @17. Sorry, a $700K house in this town sort of makes you a regular joe. A regular joe for this town anyway. Like 18 says, home prices are crazy, and if you bought 15-20 years ago, that’s not especially unusual.
This guy is like Scott Kennedy (see 2001 primary) times 10.
Why is it that Susanna Williams was Peter Steinbrueck’s biggest Facebook cheerleader and now she is Joe Mallahan’s Deputy Campaign Manager. How did she go from supporting Steinbrueck to supporting someone who has no experience and is buying his way into the race? Can someone please get that story?
What political party does Joe lean towards? I can’t find this information for some reason..does anyone know?? Thanks..
@23,
He is a Democrat. Self-described “Liberal.” He was an Obama delegate to the state level.
This guy is an empty suit.
All he can talk about is the current mayor’s faults. He doesn’t speak of what he would do differently. When cornered he admits to not having details on a particular topic.
Nice…damned idiot with $$$$$.
I don’t trust him. Isn’t he related to the Mallahans in Whatcom County, Victoria Mallahan? YES HE IS! The felons that are currently out on bail, awaiting trial for defrauding investors of hundreds of thousands of $? Maybe they just changed their last name to Mallahan from Madoff??
Just Google & see…