Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

From the archives | Columbia city council campaign hopefuls raise record war chests

Running for a City Council district seat wasn't always this expensive.

Brian Boyer and Belinda Gergel are breaking records in their pursuit of the District 3 seat, which covers the Five Points, Shandon and parts of Two Notch Road areas.

Gergel has raised nearly $150,000 and is still going, backed by $1,000 contributions from law firms and hundreds of $50 checks from small get-togethers she calls "Wine, cheese and Belinda."

Boyer, on the other hand, is landing $1,000 contributions -- the maximum allowed by law -- from developers and their limited liability corporations that allow them to stuff his coffers. He has reported $119,045.

At stake is an open seat on City Council that could determine how the city grows -- and what it will look like.

Campaigning also comes at a time when the city has accounting problems and needs a police chief -- in other words, plenty of ammunition for candidates. All of this over a district with a little more than 17,000 registered voters -- less than half of whom probably will vote.

Historically, fundraising is dominated by candidates for the two citywide council seats and the mayor. In 2006, incumbent Mayor Bob Coble raised about $200,000 while the second top vote-getter, Kevin Fisher, raised about $93,000.

"Good God. A district race?" said former City Councilman Jim Papadea said about the money raised so far. "I don't know what I'd spend it on."

A third candidate, Reed Swearingen, a developer, is the opposite -- he refuses to accept donations of more than $250 to "ensure my loyalties lie with the people of District Three, not the big checkbooks," according to his campaign literature. He has raised close to $5,000.

"In a district election that is walkable, you can get your message out by going door to door," Swearingen said.

Gergel has raised close to $40,000 from attorneys -- the most of any contributing profession. A good deal of that comes from connections through her husband, Richard Gergel, a prominent Columbia attorney.

She also has successfully mined the wallets of the arts and academics crowd, most likely stemming from her connections as a former history professor at Columbia College and her past work with Historic Columbia.

But more than half of her contributions are $100 or less from people who list their occupations as housewives, ministers and educators.

"It takes a lot of money to run a race today," Gergel said. "Our average gift has been a lot smaller than (Boyer's). We are going after that smaller donor."

Boyer gets most of his money from "businessmen" -- developers and homebuilders who are connected to his father-in-law and business partner, Columbia financier Don Tomlin.

His contributions come from interests like Mungo Homes Inc., LCK Construction and the S.C. Builders Political Action Committee -- whose sole purpose is to donate money to political candidates who are "friends of the building industry."

"My line of work has nothing to do with it," Boyer said. "She has much more attorneys from her husband than I have from developers."

Now that the media-hogging presidential candidates have left town, Boyer is starting to spend some of that money. He launched his first offensive last week, when two billboards and three posters went up across the city. Gergel plans to respond in the coming weeks with an onslaught of 500 yard signs.

"She's not that far ahead money-wise," Boyer said. "I've had more momentum in the last five days" because of the billboards and posters.

But the spending hasn't matched the fundraising. Gergel has spent close to $59,000 -- with $41,000 going to Ferillo and Associates, a public relations firm run by Bud Ferillo.

Boyer has spent a little more than $38,000 but has split his money between three consulting and design firms: Lenker Design LLC, Steve Fooshe & Associates, and Campaign Research & Strategy.

But city observers say having the most money in a district race isn't the deciding factor for voters.

Boyer, Gergel and Swearingen were firing off their platforms at Monday's meeting of the Columbia Sertoma Club at Seawell's -- the third time the three candidates have appeared together at an event.

From the lectern, the three candidates sounded the same -- railing against the city's financial woes, declaring their dedication to public safety and promising to add capacity to the city's water system.

In a nonpartisan race with this much agreement, observers say the race will depend on who meets the most people.

"If you have as much money as it looks like they are projecting to have for a city council race, there's only so much you can do," said Joe Werner, who worked on Coble's successful 2006 re-election campaign.

"The amount of money you have becomes irrelevant."

Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.