Examiner Staff Writer Development companies have pumped tens of thousands of dollars into Prince George’s County Executive candidate Rushern Baker’s campaign, boosting his donation totals for the last eight months to more than 10 times those of his opponents.
Baker has reported raising $368,137 since Jan. 14, the beginning of the last fundraising period, compared with candidates Michael Jackson and Gerron Levi — who followed Baker with totals of $37,450 and $14,710, respectively.
More than 50 percent of Baker’s contributions since mid-January come from developers. And at least $52,000 can be traced back to David Hillman, apartment complex mogul, and the Apartment and Office Building Association — an organization that lobbies on behalf of local developers and of which Hillman is vice president. Baker has been criticized in the past for his campaign being primarily funded by Hillman, a longtime friend whose Vienna company, Southern Management Corp., owns 11,000 apartments in Prince George’s.
Hillman says he is helping Baker into office on behalf of his renters.
“We have close to 50,000 people living in those apartments,” Hillman told
contributed
roughly $29,410 — not including donations from Southern Management or Hillman. The organization’s PAC gave $6,000 and the rest came from companies serving on the AOBA advisory board such as Silver Spring’s Grady Management Inc. and Alexandria’s Scott Management Inc. Hillman and his wife gave Baker $2,500 each. Frank Glorioso, who co-owns an accounting firm with Hillman, donated $2,000. On July 20, a “revocable trust” and an “irrevocable trust” with addresses matching Southern Management gave a combined $8,000, and companies addressed to the adjacent suite together contributed $5,000.
On Jan. 13, 24 hours before the most recent reporting period started, a Silver Spring company affiliated with Hillman loaned Baker $200,000.
Businesses and individuals cannot legally contribute more than $4,000 to a candidate, unless it is in the form of a loan.
In response to his critics, Hillman said, “I’ve always said don’t complain if you’re not gonna get in the game.”
Baker took a softer, more diplomatic approach with a written statement: “I’m pleased that so many business leaders small and large support my campaign.”
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08/26/10 20:00:00 PM
