Billionaire Robert E. Rich Jr., chairman and majority owner of Rich Products, donated $10,000 to Mayor Byron W. Brown’s reelection campaign.
Developer Douglas Jemal and the executive vice president of his company, Paul Millstein, each donated $5,000.
In a recently closed campaign reporting period, Walton, a political newcomer and democratic socialist, raised an average of $6,000 per day in a 33-day period, most of it after her June primary win.
Six members of another billionaire family – the Jacobs family, owners of Delaware North and the Boston Bruins hockey team – gave $30,000 to the mayor’s campaign.
But large donations to the Brown campaign have slowed markedly since the mayor suffered a very unexpected defeat in the Democratic Primary on June 22, according to a report filed by the mayor’s campaign Saturday.
The Brown campaign has received a total of 18 donations for $5,000 each, but none of them after June 22.
"I think in many ways this is a blessing in disguise," Brown said of his first defeat at the polls in 28 years, "because it is energizing the community and bringing the community together in ways I have not seen in a very long time."
Hundreds of other donors gave much smaller donations, including some as little as $3 to $5, the report shows.
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But only four donations of $1,000 – and none above $1,000 – were received after the primary defeat.
Those are some of the highlights from the Brown for Buffalo campaign’s latest fundraising report, which was filed Saturday afternoon. The report shows 349 donations made to the campaign between May 10 and July 11, totaling $201,339.40.
The report was due midnight Thursday. Brown officials said Friday afternoon that the campaign was having a technical problem uploading its financial disclosures to the website, but they provided overall numbers.
The four-term mayor now faces an uphill battle in a write-in campaign following India Walton’s upset win in the Democratic primary.
Brown, four-term leader of New York's second largest city and former chairman of the Democratic State Committee, must soldier on without Buffalo Democrats that are either tired of his reign or sensing new political currents flowing through the city.
The Buffalo News asked Deputy Mayor Betsey Ball, a senior adviser to the campaign, whether campaign officials are worried about the drop off in larger donations after the Walton primary win.
“We are encouraged by the strong support the mayor received over the last month, and we fully expect that his support at every level will continue to strengthen and grow as we approach November,” Ball said.
Erie County Conservative Party Chairman Ralph C. Lorigo, a Brown supporter, said he was “kind of shocked” to hear that the mayor’s campaign received only four $1,000 donations after the primary.
But Lorigo quickly added that he believes Brown will receive overwhelming support from the Buffalo business community and will defeat Walton, even as a write-in candidate.
“There is a lot of time between now and November, a lot of time for the mayor’s campaign to gain momentum,” Lorigo said. “He’s capable of raising a lot of money. I think the business community needs to step up for the mayor, and will step up.”
Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown has committed to participating in a debate Oct. 12 against his opponent in the mayoral race, Democratic Party nominee India B. Walton.
“This is not a matter of left wing, right wing politics,” Lorigo added. “Buffalo is the driver of the economy for this entire region, and this is a very important election.”
The News reached out to the Walton campaign for comment about the mayor’s fundraising, but received no response.
Proof of Walton's appeal among urban professionals can be seen in a close look at the election results.
Walton’s fundraising has surged since her primary win, The News reported Friday. Her campaign organization reported to the State Elections Board that donations of $199,000 were received between June 7 and July 11.
Campaign records show that the Brown campaign received a huge flurry of donations – more than $118,000 – in the two weeks before the June 22 primary. That flurry included the $30,000 from the Jacobs family, $10,000 from Rich and $10,000 from Jemal and his associate.
Jemal told The News Saturday that Brown is one of the main reasons why he has chosen to do several major projects in Buffalo.
"The mayor has been an asset to the entire community, not to me," Jemal said. "He's done a fabulous job. He's a pro-business mayor, and we all know that socialism doesn't work. Look at what is going on in Cuba."
The companies, organizations and individuals that made $5,000 donations – all before the primary – included Timothy Graves of Clarence, Trinity Title & Abstract Corp. of Buffalo, NK Star Construction of Lancaster, Paul Lamparelli of Buffalo, Myra Musicant of Newton, Mass., Greater Buffalo United Accountable Care Organization, Norstar Property Management of Irving, Texas, New Yorkers for Putting Students First and the Service Employees International Union.
A donation of $10,600 came from the Committee for Economic Growth at 257 E. Genesee St., the political action committee of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership business organization.
The fact that no donations of more than $1,000 came in after the Walton primary victory should be “an area of concern” for Brown’s political organization, said Kenneth Kruly, a political analyst and former Erie County Democratic party official who writes a blog called "Politics and other stuff."
“They still have time to regroup before the election, but such a big drop off in large donations, coming after the primary, should concern them,” Kruly said on Saturday.
Ball, the deputy mayor, said she believes the mayor will gather strong support from people of all economic classes as the campaign continues.
“We believe that people who care about continued progress in the city of Buffalo will support Mayor Brown,” Ball said.
