By Adam Pagnucco.
On Friday, the two ballot issue committees fighting over whether to reduce term limits for the county executive released new campaign finance reports. Which one of them raised more money?
First, let’s look at the Committee for Better Government, which is the committee that petitioned the term limits question to the ballot. This committee was founded by former GOP county executive candidate Reardon “Sully” Sullivan in March 2023 and gathered 15,956 valid voter signatures for its proposal reducing term limits for the executive from three to two. Voters will decide whether to approve this question in next month’s general election. If they do, County Executive Marc Elrich will be ineligible to run for a third term.
From August 21 through October 6, this committee raised $22,425. The biggest contributors were the Progressives for Progress PAC, a group established by Washington Property Company President Charlie Nulsen, which contributed $20,000; apartment building owner and manager Kenneth Becker, who contributed $1,000; and retired concrete contractor executive Nick Paleologos, who contributed $1,000.
The committee spent $19,764, with $13,250 going to campaign management firm Fells Group, which also worked on a Baltimore ballot question to cut property taxes that was thrown off the ballot by the courts. Most of the rest of the money went to online ads.
The committee’s ending bank account balance of $26,235 won’t pay for a lot of voter contact. However, during the period of its existence, the committee has raised a total of $141,210, most of which came from the real estate industry and was mostly used to pay signature gatherers last spring and summer. If the committee can tap into those funding sources for more money, it might be able to mount a real campaign to pass its term limits question.
Now to Against Question A: Make Your Vote Count, which was formed last month to oppose the reduction in term limits. Since its establishment, this committee has raised $1,350. Elrich’s taxpayer-funded staff accounted for a majority of that money, including special assistants Dale Tibbitts ($500) and Claire Iseli ($250). There were also $404 in in-kind contributions, with $332 coming from long-time Democratic activist Sam Statland. The committee had an ending bank account balance of $1,317.
This committee’s website features a large roster of politicians and organizations opposing term limits, but almost none of them have contributed money to the effort to stop term limits. That could change as ballot issue committees are due to file new reports on October 25 and November 19.
But right now, the committee has no money for voter communication other than maintenance fees for its website. Voters are voting right now. Elrich is a sitting county executive. Is this the best that he can do?
The impression from these reports is that Elrich’s enemies in the real estate industry are closing in while any friends – assuming he has any – have so far not come to the rescue.
Is Elrich’s time in the executive suite running out?