Yesterday's Plain Dealer says that Jim Draper has reported raising only $44,000 for his mayoral campaign. But here's political reporter Mark Naymik on July 7 (no longer on line):
Mayoral tidbits: Former Cleveland Safety Director and mayoral candidate James Draper, a Democrat, raised campaign money like President Bush last week, collecting about $100,000 at his first major fund-raiser.I know there was a later story about unnamed business donors "defecting" from Draper to Republican David Lynch. But did they ask for their checks back?
The Republican feel was no coincidence. The event’s hosts included businessmen Ed Crawford and Malachi Mixon, who last year helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Bush’s campaign.
“We were working to get George Bush elected. One year later we are working to get Draper elected,” Crawford said at the event at the City Club of Cleveland.
Mixon predicted that Draper’s campaign will have about $250,000 by the end of this week, giving the candidate a chance to make a noise in the nonpartisan mayoral race.
Somebody's got some 'splainin' to do.
Other comments on the PD story at Right Angle Blog (with a handy graph), democracy guy and BFD.