Candidates for City office in the 2009 elections reported raising substantially less money during the last six-month disclosure period than in previous filing periods. According to an analysis of financial disclosures filed with the Campaign Finance Board covering the six-month period ending January 11, 2009, fundraising was also down in this filing period compared to the same period in previous election cycles.
OVERALL FUNDRAISING DROPS
The six-month period concluded January 11, the sixth of the 2009 election cycle, was the slowest fundraising period since the start of the election cycle. Fundraising for the past six months is down 66 percent compared with the previous filing period. Compared with the same period in the past two citywide elections, contributions are down by more than 60 percent. (See Chart 1.)
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Several factors may have had an effect on contributions to City campaigns. Bad news about the economy, an intense local focus on the national elections, and uncertainty caused by the extension of term limits may each have played a part in candidates’ decreased fundraising.
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Fundraising may have slowed even though more campaigns were fundraising over the past six months than in the same time period during either of the previous two election cycles. (See Chart 2.) Similarly, even with the decrease in contributions over the last disclosure period, candidates have still raised more to this point in the election cycle ($32,590,548) than at a similar point in either the 2005 ($23,016,450) or 2001 ($26,471,668) campaigns.
AVERAGE CONTRIBUTION SIZE DECREASES
The average size of individual contributions is also down. While overall contributions to City candidates are down, the proportion of fundraising from small donors has increased. Over the past six months, the size of the average contribution to all candidates dropped by almost half from the previous disclosure period, to $205. (See Chart 3.) For the entire 2009 cycle to date, the average contribution is almost three times larger, at $602. This further growth in small contributions continues a trend started in July of 2007.
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During the disclosure period just concluded, 85 percent of all contributions were for $250 or less, compared with 73 percent from the previous disclosure period. These small contributions make up about a third of overall contributions raised during the six months ended January 11, 2009.
A central goal of the Campaign Finance Program is to enhance the voice of small contributors by matching them with public funds. Small contributions help decrease the possibility or perception of corruption in the political system, and they create a more active class of citizens who invest not only their money, but their time in the political process.
One factor in helping candidates focus on smaller contributions is the increased matching rate; starting with the 2009 elections, the CFB will match the first $175 of contributions from City residents with public funds at a rate of $6 to $1.
New, low limits on contributions from people doing business with the City are now in place, covering a full range of transactions with government, including contracts, franchises, concessions, grants, pension investment agreements, economic development agreements, real property transactions, and land use actions. Expansion of the Doing Business Database to cover new categories of ― "doing business" during the past six months could be partly responsible for the renewed focus on small donors as well.
CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES CONTINUE TO GROW
While fundraising slows, campaign spending continues to grow. Even as fundraising slows, candidates are continuing to increase their spending as the election grows nearer. Campaign expenditures for the past six months are greater than they were in the previous six months.
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Over the past six months, candidates spent over $2.8 million, a slight increase from the previous reporting period. (See Chart 4.) Though there are more active candidates in the current cycle, spending showed only a slight increase from the same time frame in the 2005 election cycle. Given the trend established by the previous two cycles, a larger increase in spending may have been expected. Over the entire election cycle to date, however, candidates have spent $10,184,218—an amount that is still higher than that spent through the first three full years of both the 2005 ($6,362,023) and 2001 ($7,162,475) election cycles.