Baltimore's mayoral race has gotten off to one of the earliest — and priciest — starts in recent history, according to campaign finance filings made public Thursday.
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who became mayor last year after Sheila Dixon resigned, has more than $842,000 cash on hand, more than three times her nearest potential opponent and nearly $600,000 more than Dixon had raised by January 2007.
State Sen. Catherine Pugh, rumored to be contemplating a run, has $252,000 cash on hand, putting her a distant second in fundraising. Pugh says she is focused on her work in the State House, and if she were to run for mayor, she would not announce her bid until the end of the General Assembly session in April.
Former city planning director Otis Rolley, whose campaign has generated more buzz than the other challengers, has $106,000 in his account. And City Councilman Carl Stokes, who has been talking with political consultants about a possible campaign, is lagging far behind with just $14,700 in his account.
Rawlings-Blake's hefty campaign treasury is to be expected for an incumbent, and it could pave the path to victory, said Donald F. Norris, chairman of the public policy department at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
"The mayor signs a lot of contracts, and people who do business with the city find it in their best interest to donate to her campaign," he said. "Unless there's some major debacle between now and September, I see Stephanie Rawlings-Blake winning hands down."
But a bigger purse alone does not guarantee victory. Adrian Fenty lost his bid for a second term as mayor of Washington last year, despite raising nearly four times what his opponent, Vincent Gray, collected.
Rolley said he was on track with his fundraising goals and is confident he can appeal to voters without spending a lot of cash.
"This is not going to be won or judged based on how much money is made," said Rolley. "If I run a traditional campaign, I lose."
Colleen Martin-Lauer, who runs Rawlings-Blake's fundraising operation, said the donations indicated "people showing that they support the kind of leadership she's shown in the past year."
"The mayor has a strong message; we want to remind voters about it," said Martin-Lauer. "Campaigns are about resources. Money is one resource; volunteers are another."
The race for cash began in earnest last week when Rolley and Rawlings-Blake held dueling fundraisers on the same night. Rolley's event, which was hosted by comedian Bill Cosby and announced first, brought in $42,000; Rawlings-Blake raised more than $600,000 at a party at the Hippodrome.
Only Martin O'Malley has raised more early money for a mayoral race than Rawlings-Blake — when he ran for his second term as mayor. In January 2003, O'Malley reported having about $1 million cash in his campaign account.
Rawlings-Blake's more than 800 donors include many of the city's best-known developers, contractors and lobbyists, many of whom are connected to projects that have recently been in the news.
Ekistics, a development firm that was awarded the state contract to build the new State Center complex, donated $1,000. Willard Hackerman, whose Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel could become part of an arena/convention center complex under a proposal from the Greater Baltimore Committee, gave $4,000.
Jon Laria, an attorney who represents the development team behind Remington's 25th Street Station Walmart shopping center, donated $1,000, as did Jay Davidson, the head of the team putting together the Baltimore Grand Prix. The contractor whose firm is handling roadwork for the race, Pierce J. Flanigan IV, contributed $4,000 to Rawlings-Blake.
Pugh's contributors include Constellation Energy CEO Mayor Shattuck and lobbyist Gerald Evans, who each gave $1,000.
The names of the donors to Rolley's campaign were not immediately available because of a technical glitch in the manner the data was submitted, said Jared DeMarinis, campaign finance director for the State Board of Elections.
Other potential challengers, including Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors Vice President Joseph T. "Jody" Landers and former car salesman Scott Donahoo, have not created campaign accounts, said DeMarinis.
Clerk of Court Frank M. Conaway Sr. filed an affidavit indicating that his campaign has neither raised nor spent more than $1,000 since he last filed a report, DeMarinis said. Conaway's most recent report, filed in September, indicated a balance of negative $25,000.
The next batch of finance reports will not be made public until August, shortly before the primary race that is all but guaranteed to determine the next mayor in the heavily Democratic city.
twitter.com/juliemore