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Wheatley: Raised $62K

Published by Tim McNulty on .

The third major candidate in the Pittsburgh mayor's race, state Rep. Jake Wheatley of the Hill District, raised $62,000 this spring, spent $21,000 and had $41,000 going into the last bit of the campaign.

Much of Wheatley's money ($29K) came from fellow Rep. Dwight Evans of Philadelphia, a Wheatley mentor who appointed him to the House Appropriations Committee a decade ago.

A $10,000 contribution from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on May 3 is not reflected in the report -- it went to Wheatley's state campaign PAC.

Other major contributors include Ohio developer Keith Key, who has contracted with the Pittsburgh Housing Authority ($4,000) and construction executive Robert Mistick ($2,000), who also gave to the Bill Peduto and Jack Wagner campaigns.

Wheatley May Report

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City Council spending reports

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Here are the Jan. 1-May 6 campaign finance figures in Pittsburgh's city council races (updated as numbers come in; to read the full reports go here.)

District 4:

Johnny Lee: Raised $31.890; spent $24,275; had $7,614 in cash.

Natalia Rudiak: Raised $112,120; spent $58,568; had $53,552 in cash.

District 6:

Dok Harris: Raised $27K, spent $10,249 and had $16,860 in cash.

Daniel Lavelle

Tonya Payne: Raised $6,466; spent $3,993; had $2,474 in cash.

District 8:

Jeanne Clark: Sole contribution was $2,000 loan to campaign, but got a late $6,000 reflected in other reports.  UPDATE: Whoops, wrong report: Raised $58,242; spent $49,600; had $8,641 on-hand.

Dan Gilman: Raised $178K ($55K brought forward from 2012); spent $74K and had $103K in cash on hand.

Sam Hens-Greco: Spent $10,700 and had a negative cash balance of $12,750.  Note: Mr. Hens-Greco says his full campaign report will show contributions of roughly $40K and remaining cash of $7K.

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Peduto reports $946K

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Bill Peduto raised $946,624 this spring, spent $689,197 and had $257,427 in cash in the late sprint toward the upcoming primary.

He brought forward $261,000 from last year and raised $685,682 through the first four months of the year.

His main competitor the May 21 Democratic nomination, Jack Wagner, raised $1.2 million this spring ($865K in new giving), spent $927,000 and had $309,000 left as of Monday.

Peduto's large PAC contributors included: Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald ($50,000); WUF PAC ($45,000); Local 32PJ/SEIU ($25,000); Western Pennsylvania Laborers ($15,000).

Large individual contributors included: Medical executive Bill Benter and his wife Vivian Fung ($20,000); developer Mark Aloe ($5,000); attorney Paul Gitnick ($5,000); realtor Peter Gordon ($5,000); and construction executive Robert Mistick ($10,000).

Peduto May report

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Ravenstahl's anti-Peduto spots cont.

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's attack ads on rival Bill Peduto's mayoral bid will continue up to the May 21 Democratic primary.

Ravenstahl's "Committee for a Better Pittsburgh" placed an advertising buy for the week of May 13-20 that was posted last night by WPGH-TV. It looks to be a $69,672 buy marketwide, largely on the three network channels.

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Wagner raises $1.2M

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Jack Wagner's mayoral campaign raised $1.2 million this spring, spent $927,000 and had $309,000 left as of WagnerMonday.

Wagner's haul is comprised of $371K brought forward from his Auditor General account and $865K in new giving.

Notable PAC contributors included: Jim Ferlo ($10K); IBEW Local 5 ($27.5K); TC PAC/Trumbull Corp. ($10K); EQT Corp. ($10K); Local 66 Operating Engineers ($19K); Boilermakers ($10K); Thorp-Reed ($10K).

Large individual contributors included: Indiana, Pa., insurance executive Josheph Reschini ($5K); Downtown attorney Louis Caputo ($5K); Washington Landing wind power exec James Spencer ($10K); construction exec Robert Mistick ($10K); realty exec James Rudolph ($10K); retired US Steel CEO Tom Usher ($5K); Pittsburgh Penguins C.O.O. Travis Williams ($5K); Pitt-Ohio trucking exec Charles Hammel III ($25K); philanthropist Henry Hillman ($2K); businessman/Pittsburgh Power owner Lance Shaner ($10K); political consultant Bill Green ($8K); investor Murray Gerber ($10K); developer Ira Gumberg ($10K).

Total giving for individuals and PACs would have been capped at $4K and $8K respectively in the mayor's race, before a county judge suspended them on a technicality in April.

In recent giving -- since Monday -- a separate report shows Wagner collecting another $58K, which includes $10K from Reed-Smith and another $15K from Local 66.

UPDATE: Early version of this post said $8K was from political consultant Bill Green. It is in fact a real estate developer from Mars with same name. Sorry about that.

Wagner May Report