Campaign funding for Roanoke City Council races went through the roof in 2006. Comparitively, anyway. With the fate of Victory Stadium in the balance, money rolled into the campaigns, and as it turned out, the cash-infused independent "For the City" ticket swept the election. That prompted cries of the seats being bought by Roanoke's well-heeled, especially the Business Leadership Fund, the political action committee of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, which pumped tens of thousands of dollars into the coffers of all three "For the City" candidates -- David Trinkle, Gwen Mason and Alfred Dowe.

That election seemed to have changed the game, and brought to local elections, at least in a more significant way, the idea of special interest groups buying influence. It also shined a light on the importance of making more available information on where money to finance political campaigns comes from, even at the local level.

You can find that very information for both the 2006 and the current Roanoke City Council elections right now in the DataSphere.

Take a look, and see how much the candidates are raising, and from whom. And, just as important, see where in the city is that money coming from, because the addresses of the donors are mapped for you.

You can see, for example, that mayoral candidate David Bowers, while he has a hefty warchest with over $15,000 raised, has funded his campaign almost entirely from his own wallet with a personal loan.

Thanks to the mapping, you can plainly see that newcomer council candidate Court Rosen, who is the leader in dollars raised, is funded almost entirely by contributions from his neighbors in Roanoke's well-to-do South Roanoke neighborhood, as well as that same Business Leadership Fund. (That's a map of his contributors on the left.) The same goes for Mayor Nelson Harris in his re-election bid.

You can also search by donor, and see what kinds of candidates a particular donor tends to support.

It's all there, and it's all a matter of public record. Candidates for local office are required to file disclosure forms detailing each contribution with their local voter registrar. The Roanoke Times collects these paper records and, working with the Virginia Public Access Project, converts them to electronic records. Thanks to VPAP for that. VPAP, which maintains a terrific database of statewide campaign finance data, also has information in individual donors, such as their professions, which they add to the data in the public records.

So, you tell me, is anyone buying influence in this election? What does it say about our political process, when campaign finance comes from such limited quarters? All those things you hear about special interests funding for in federal and state election campaigns, can they really be problems at the local level, too?

• Share this entry
  • Digg this entry
  • Mark in Ma.gnolia
  • Tag with del.icio.us
  • Seed Newsvine
  • Post to Google
  • Add to Yahoo!
  • Share on Facebook
  • Submit to Reddit
  • Related at Technorati
• Posted by Matt Chittum in
• :: Comments (3)