Indiana

Look Left

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

While most Marion County politicos were watching County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi not run for a third term and Helen Marchal announce her candidacy, there was some interesting movement on the Democratic side of the equation.

Candidate David Orentlicher filed paperwork showing he had more than $183,000 in cash on hand in his race for prosecutor.   Greg Bowes had about $4,500.   Party favorite Terry Curry had not filed yet, but campaign sources say his reports will likely show less than $80,000 on hand.   I called Curry’s campaign on Friday, but no one has gotten back with me.

Shortly after I posted this information on my blog and Twitter feed, Democrat Terry Burns immediately jumped up to comment that most of Orentlicher’s money came from a handful of donors and those weren’t “real contributions.”   When I asked Orentlicher about that he told he had more than 125 donors.  Which is true, while there about six donors who gave Orentlicher $25,000 or more 99% of the rest of the donations were in the $75-$500 range.

In addition, the campaign finance experts I spoke with all said that Orentlicher’s fundraising puts him in a very strong position because by raising very large contributions he can show other donors that he can raise money and isn’t wasting anyone’s time.   Obviously he’s had an impact on the County party and is scaring someone, otherwise Burns (who won’t breathe unless Chairman Ed Treacy gives him permission) would not have chimed in so quickly on both my blog and Twitter feed.

Now I am not saying that Orentlicher even has a chance at winning slating, those cards were stacked a long time ago.   However, if he does decide to buck the party establishment and run his own race against the slate, his access to cash would make him an extremely formidable opponent.

Stay tuned.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on January 16, 2010 (boomark / email).