The Sawant recall: a tale of two campaigns

As the legal proceedings in the effort to recall District 3 City Council member Sawant begin to wind down, the election campaigns — both for and against recall — are spinning up. Over the last two months the “Recall Sawant” campaign and the “Kshama Solidarity” campaign have both formally organized, filed their paperwork, and begun furious fundraising. While there are many similarities between the two sides of the recall — including their use of mailchimp to send out regular missives demonizing their opponent while pleading for money (Recall Sawant, Kshama Solidarity) — their campaign finance filings reveal some stark differences …

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A quick look at the campaign and PAC financial disclosures

Largely I’ve tried to stay above the fray of the City Council elections, but yesterday was an important milestone: three weeks out from Election Day, the fourteen City Council candidates and the registered PACs all were required to file a campaign finance summary (a “Form C-4” report). I scraped the numbers (well, three important ones), and here’s a glimpse of their fundraising and expenditure numbers — and perhaps more significantly, how much cash they are set to spend over the next 21 days.

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