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Campaign Beat

Mitchell Raised the Most Money in the 44th District Delegates Race

August 20, 2010
By

Former City Councilman and 2007 mayoral candidate Keiffer Mitchell so far has raised more than $35,000 to fund his effort to unseat an incumbent delegate in Baltimore’s 44th Legislative District, according to campaign finance records. That’s the most of the eight candidates in the Democratic primary. But Mitchell has also spent about half of that amount, leaving him with the second-most money in the bank behind two-term incumbent Keith Haynes, who has nearly $29,000 on hand.

The biggest spender so far has been one-term incumbent Melvin Stukes, also a former Baltimore City councilman. He’s spent nearly $20,000 and raised about $12,500–$4,500 of which came in on one day, Aug. 3, from three Baltimore-based towing companies: Frankford Towing, Mel’s Towing and Service Center, and Ted’s Towing Services. These are significant not only because the three donations comprise such a large amount of his total take, but because Stukes’ main accomplishment during his four legislative sessions has been to establish a state task force to study towing practices.

Haynes raised $13,625 this reporting period. Most of it–$10,650–came from selling tickets to a fundraiser. And much of that–$3,000–came from Armand, Victoria, and Alexandra Volta of Catonsville. Armand Volta is a personal injury lawyer with the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos, where Haynes also works.

Ruth Kirk, who’s been a 44th District delegate since 1983, raised $4,675, the bulk of it from two sources: $2,500 from the Maryland Insurance Council PAC and $1,000 from SEIU DC/MD State Council No. 54 PAC.

Billy Taylor hasn’t raised much money–a total of $3,445–but it comes from a high-profile list of local donors, including former Congressman Kweisi Mfume, former mayor Kurt Schmoke, former Housing commissioner Dan Henson, former state’s attorney Stu Simms, and law professor (and long-time political guru) Larry Gibson. Taylor’s largest single donation, $1,000, came from Henry Baines of Stop Shop Save Food Markets.

Three other candidates in the Democratic primary–Chris Blake, Gary English, and Arlene Fisher–have little money to work with, though there is still time for them to raise and spend money before the Sept. 14 primary.

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  • Chris Blake

    Greetings,

    This is Chris Blake. You are correct that I haven't raised a lot of money, but that is by design. If you look at my campaign report in detail you will see that virtually all of the money has come from my personal bank account. Even to the point that all of the spending so far has been in-kind contributions from me, not loans, so that when I win this primary I can't/won't have fundraisers to repay myself. (I will have fundraiser, but the money I have spent so far, and will spend is gone.)

    I am making a personal financial sacrifice on behalf of the residents of the 44th District. A politician can't go into an office promising to make big changes when they are already bought and paid for by the overall political machine they claim they are going to change. I will go in on my own two feet, standing tall unbought by any political entity, with one goal in mind; Bring Positive Change to the 44th District via the Legislative Process.

    I have been very selective as to which political entities I would seek and/or accept contributions from. Believe me, in my many years in Annapolis; MTA, Black Caucus and privately, I have built up many friendships, and could have easily raised at least $12,000 by now. But, I have chosen to spend my own money, and there is more where it came from.

  • Guest

    You would still think that your family, friends, and neighbors could support you and apparently they don't.

  • anyone but keiffer

    @Guest, that reads like the type of mean-spirited comment that would come from Mitchell or one of his team.. Not everyone has a huge family, and some people are selfless enough not to overburden their friends. Chris Blake seems like a good guy.

    @Lee Gardner, Why don't you list Keiffer (some say Thieffer) Mitchell's sources of contributions as you do others? Is he going to use any of his bundles to replace the 56k that went missing, mysteriously, from his last campaign? Curious, how that, for you, is now, a non-issue. You know, the disappearing funds for which he shamelessly blamed his father? The City Paper has a bias for Keiffer and his ilk because they are pawns of the financial and political establishment that keep Baltimore stagnant.

    Mitchell sat his lazy, frat boy butt on the city council for 12 years and did nothing. Then he wasted lots of donor money on his losing campaign for mayor-TG. These are my questions: Where did the money go? Did he really fail 7 attempts to pass the bar exam and then just give up? Is the rumor that Keiffer can't read, true? Now, that would be a strory….Wishing good luck to all the other candidates running for delegate in the 44th, except Billy Taylor. The last thing this poor district needs is tall, dumb, and phony Keiffer in Annapolis-sheesh!

  • lgardner

    Actually, I didn't write the piece. Due to an inadvertant error (mine) during the uploading of the post, my name wound up as the byline instead of Van Smith's.

    @abk Do you have any direct knowledge or proof to back up your accusations? We do our best to cover these races and the candidates, but we're always open to good leads. You can contact us via vsmith[at]citypaper[dotcom] and/or lgardner[at]citypaper[dotcom].

  • ABK

    LG, I did not make accusations. I asked questions based on a combination of fact and rumor. We know that at the conclusion of his losing campaign for mayor, media reported that his campaign could not account for 56k. He blamed this on his father, remember? The race ended and Keiffer was no longer news. Now, the CP article touts him as the candidate that raised the most money with no mention of the prior missing money. We know he went to law school but never became a lawyer, why? I rememeber a woman asking him at a forum whether it was true he had failed the bar exam seven (7) times. Rather than answer the question, he responded with a defensice question, ” What, are you trying to say I'm stupis”? Obviously, the question struck a nerve. It matters to me and probably others in terms of giving a true portrait of a candidate. It is not necessarily a deal breaker that one has failed at something. But, the number of times, and then, to ultimately, just give up, would be a relection on his tenacity, or lack thereof, and possibly even his character. It has been rumored that his failure to pass the bar exam is related to his rumored inability to read well, possibly dizlexia, for which he should not be condemned. But, let the public know who this character truly is.

  • abk

    Ps…plz excuse the spelling errors. I was in a rush, but now find i must take additional time. I am not dislexic:-). I am also not running for office, possibly misleading the public about whi I am.

    corrections: defensive (not defensice)
    stupid (not stupis)
    dislexia (not dizlexia)

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