From a fundraising standpoint, this mayoral race isn?t even close.
Since early January, Mayor Sheila Dixon has raised $1.2 million, nearly doublethe $651,000 raised by key opponent Keiffer Mitchell. The amount of cash on hand is even more lopsided with Dixon at $723,000 and Mitchell, a member of the City Council, at $200,000, as the Sept. 11 Democratic primary draws closer. There are eight candidates.
“We’re picking up momentum every day, and her support is widening,” said Martha McKenna, Dixon?s campaign manager..
But Mitchell campaign spokesman Jayson Williams said the mayor?s cash surplus is the result of City Hall cronyism.
“She has more money because she is shaking down every contractor in the city,” Williams said. “Seventy-seven percent of our support comes from people who have given us $250 or less. We like being the underdog.”
Williams declined to release any additional information concerning the questionable campaign spending of Mitchell’s father, Dr. Keiffer Mitchell Sr., who resigned as his son?s campaign treasurer last week after allegations that he misused $40,000 of campaign funds. The disputed amounts include $14,000 for a Towson hotel room used by Mitchell Sr.’s wife as she recovered from knee surgery and $19,000 in checks made out to cash.
The campaign has yet to determine how all the disputed money was used, Williams said.
“We’re not 100 percent sure, which is why we’re having a CPA review everything,” he said, adding that the records would be released after the Aug. 14 deadline for filing a campaign finance report with the Maryland State Board of Elections.
“Keiffer Mitchell [Jr.] agrees that every expenditure was for the benefit of the campaign,” said Billy H. Murphy, attorney for Mitchell Sr. “He has done nothing wrong.”
State Del. Jill Carter declined to give specifics on her campaign?s finances.
“I don’t have enough, otherwise I’d be on TV every night” she said. “But at least we can buy hot dogs and feed people in some the city’s neglected neighborhoods.”
Carter plans to be on the corner of Eastern Avenue and South Grundy Street between 10 o?clock tonight and 6 o?clock tomorrow morning, her fifth overnight stay on a dangerous city street corner in less than a month.
“You don’t need millions of dollars to reach the people and get votes,” Carter said, “just honesty, trust and integrity, which can’t be bought.”
