Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Newell Doubles Silver's Latest Fundraising Numbers

The odds are stacked against both challengers to the Speaker of the House in Assembly District 64. The man that is one of three in the proverbial room up in Albany is a powerful one and has many strong allies on his side that want to see the status quo continue as is, with pay to play and obstructionism in full effect. Luke Henry and Paul Newell are trying to change that. While we won't know how residents will divide up their votes, but if fundraising in the last period is any indication of things to come on the September 9th, Paul Newell must be ecstatic.

From Paul Newell:

New York , NY- Paul Newell, the insurgent Democrat challenging Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has raised more than twice as much money as Silver in the most recent filing period -- and has done so without taking any money from the lobbyists and PACs that fill Silver's coffers.

"The momentum is shifting rapidly in this race," said Newell. "Downtown voters understand that change is very much possible in New York State and they have shown that by re-upping their support of an Albany unswayed by corporate contributions."

Newell, who was recently endorsed by The New York Times and the New York Post, raised $40,015 in the most recent filing period compared to Silver's $19,575.

"It is not just the total numbers that are important" explained Evan Hutchison, Newell's campaign manager, "but where the money came from that matters. This is truly a grassroots campaign and these filings bear that out.

There was no money from PACs or special interests for Newell. Silver on the other hand benefits greatly from them, including anti-congestion pricing groups and the despicable Bruce Ratner that has tried to destroy and re-develop Brooklyn.

Unfortunately for Luke, he only raised a fraction of Newell and Silver's amounts, with just $510 in donations with $8,600 going out, leaving him with $9,000 for the last week of the campaign. Since this is a heavily Democratic district, the primary is for all-intensive purposes the final race for AD-64. Hopefully in the last week before the election, the people of Lower Manhattan will take a close look at each candidate and decide if they want more of the same out of Silver, or a new way of doing things with the insurgent candidate.