With two months until the preliminary election, Mayor Domenic Sarno of Springfield, Massachusetts, has opened up a massive fundraising advantage over his competition as he seeks another term in office.
In early June, when asked about running for re-election, Sarno said he was taking nothing for granted, but he was going to be paying attention to running the city.
However, during the second half of June, his campaign paid attention to raising money: $71,000 during that period, according to campaign finance data provided to the state.
And Sarno finished last month with more than $169,000 in the bank.
As for his competition, Linda O'Connell raised about $5,600 during the same time period, and Yolanda Cancel $1,300.
O’Connell’s total includes $2,400 in money she loaned her campaign. At the end of last month, O’Connell had about $3,600 on hand, while Cancel’s war chest had $1,300 in it.
A third Springfield mayoral challenger, Jeffrey Donnelly, has filed no finance reports with the state, and hasn’t appointed a bank to handle his campaign .
The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance is fining Donnelly for not selecting a bank. In a letter, it threatened to turn the case over to the state attorney general’s office if he doesn’t do so and pay the accumulated penalty.
