Sifting the pile of money spent in the primary

When it rains, it pours, and it poured money in Philadelphia last month on the day of the Democratic primary election.

The candidates for mayor spent a record amount - about $24 million, according to official records.

But wait: There's more.

Another record was set in spending for the other offices on the ballot - City Council, various judgeships and row offices.

Spending in these races totaled about $7 million, according to campaign finance records on file at the city's Election Bureau.

Add it all up, and it comes to an average of $106 spent in the primary season for each vote cast in the Democratic primary.

Personally, I would have preferred it if the candidates had just pooled their money and bought me a gift certificate to Borders, but that's not the way it's done.

A big wad went to buy television and radio ads, virtually all of it spent by the five mayoral candidates.

But several million was spent on field operations, mostly in the form of street money that went to ward leaders and committee people who work the polls on election day.

I don't have a total yet on how much street money was out there last May 15. I can tell you that judicial candidates alone funneled $1 million to the wards to feed the kitty. Another $1 million (easily) was spent by other candidates.

Since we recently passed a law in Philly to limit campaign contributions, you might ask: How come this election broke the record for the amount of money spent?

There were several reasons.

A big one was the candidacy of Tom Knox, the millionaire businessman. In his campaign, Knox spent $12 million, virtually all of it from his own pocket. The new law sets no limit on use of personal funds for campaigns.

Still, money can't buy happiness. Knox lost the Democratic nomination to Michael Nutter by 12 percentage points. Nutter spent $4.2 million.

The other candidates for mayor trailed Knox and Nutter in votes and in the money department. Bob Brady spent $2.7 million, Dwight Evans $2.9 million, and Chaka Fattah $2.2 million during the 2007 primary season.

The presence of competitive City Council races was another factor.

For instance, there were 17 Democrats running for five at-large Council seats. They spent a total of about $1.9 million. The pack was led by a non-incumbent, Bill Green, the son of the former mayor, who spent $374,000. Green won.

Sharif Street, another son of another mayor, was second in spending. He shelled out $225,000. He lost.

Out in the neighborhoods, there were expensive races as well. In the First District, incumbent Councilman Frank DiCicco spent $391,000 to defeat challenger Vernon Anastasio. I don't know Anastasio's total because he has yet to file his final spending report.

In the Fourth District, the four candidates running spent a total of $430,000. Carol Campbell, the incumbent, lost that one to Curtis Jones Jr.

The total in the Eighth District is likely to exceed $400,000 as well - as soon as candidate Cindy Bass files her overdue report. In that race, incumbent Donna Reed Miller (once again) won against a strong field of three opponents.

Judicial elections in the city are a joke. No one knows who is running. No one really cares.

Yet, candidates have to shell out millions (to be exact, $2.3 million this year), mostly to buy their way onto sample ballots handed out by committee people outside the polls on election day.

The champion spender this year was Mike Erdos, who spent (gulp) $547,000 to win a seat on Common Pleas Court. Two other big spenders, Alice Beck Dubow ($324,000) and Ellen Green-Ceisler ($173,000), won as well.

Most of the money spent by these candidates - in fact, by all of the judicial candidates - came from their own pockets or those of family members.

Of all candidates, the guy who got the biggest bang for his buck clearly was Willie Singletary.

Singletary spent only about $2,500 for his campaign for a seat on Traffic Court and had to face 15 opponents. He came in first. Why? Because he had top ballot position.

Turns out that Singletary knows a lot about traffic laws. He was a scofflaw who was listed as owing $11,500 in back traffic fines. His father paid the fines after the election.

Anyone need more proof of how nuts it is to elect judges in a big city?

One final note:

In going through campaign finance records, I discovered there was one candidate who has not filed a single piece of paper regarding what he raised or spent, in clear violation of state and local election laws. Can you guess who it is?

T. Milton Street.