From Racking Up Developer Money to Raising Nothing at All - Prov Mayoral Candidates’ Latest Totals
Tuesday, May 03, 2022
The 2022 first-quarter fundraising totals are in — and here are the results for Providence Mayoral candidates.
Smiley Raises Big Money From Developers and Construction Industry
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTProvidence Democratic mayoral candidate Brett Smiley looks to be the favorite son of the construction industry and developers.
GoLocal tracked tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from major developers, contractors, and their lawyers to the Smiley campaign for the first quarter in 2022.
Among the donors are Washington, DC developer James Abdo — whose development of the old Providence Journal building behind Providence City Hall has stalled. He donated $1,000 to Smiley.
Multiple executives at Gilbane gave $500, including Paul Choquette and Steve Duvel.
The controversial head of the 195 Commission Robert Davis and his wife Sally each gave Smiley $1,000.
Both Brad and Paul Dimeo of Dimeo Construction donated $500. Chris Marsella, the developer of the new food hall in Providence donated $1,000. Eric Zuena, founder of ZDS architectural firm donated $500. And Colin Kane of Peregrine Group donated $500. George Potsidis of Sega Construction also gave $1,000.
Cuervo Has His Best Fundraising Quarter - More Than 50% Higher than Previously Reported
Democratic Providence Mayoral candidate Gonzalo Cuervo had his best fundraising quarter — raising $90,000 from individuals and raising more than 50% more than any of the previous five quarters.
But, he trails Smiley for the quarter and overall by a 2-1 margin. But Cuervo and Smiley were nearly tied in the total number of individual donations.
SLIDES: See Providence Mayoral 2022 Q1 Fundraising Totals BELOW
Cuervo's donations were eclectic.
Donors at the $1,000 included former Cicilline staffer Andy Andujar, lobbyist George Caruolo, Jhonny Leyva of Heroica Construction, club owner and promoter Frank Manfredi, CCP’s Lee Beliveau, Ramon Feliz of Main Street Home Loans and Peter Marino, CEO of Neighborhood Health.
LaFortune’s Money Moves
Following Smiley and Cuervo, City Council member Nirva LaFortune raised just over $50,000 for the quarter.
Notable donors include developer Buff Chace maxing out for the primary at $1,000 along with Johnnie Chace; former city council members Seth Yurdin and Sam Zurier, who is now State Senator, also contributed to LaFortune’s campaign.
LaFortune’s campaign finance records show she spent over $10,000 with St. Louis, MO political consultants “FiredUp.”
Last month, LaFortune's then-communications consultant Alisa Pina announced she was leaving the campaign.
No Fundraising for Solomon — But He Says He’s “In”
Democrat and former City Council President Michael Solomon didn’t raise any money at all in the first quarter of 2022.
“I didn’t think it was that important,” said Solomon, who still hasn’t officially declared his candidacy.
Solomon currently has $275,012.83 cash on hand. He also carries a “loans payable” liability of $577,000.
What he did spend money on in the first quarter was polling — $17,500 with Harvard pollster John Della Volpe’s company SocialSphere.
When GoLocal asked if he would share the results, Solomon said, “Absolutely not.”
When asked if he was still in fact running, Solomon replied, “As of today I am.”
He said he plans an official campaign kickoff later this month.
Related Slideshow: Providence Mayoral Q1 2022 Fundraising Numbers
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