Donnelly Loan Propels Him to Top

Head over to the Fitchburg Pride website and catch a rundown of the campaign finance reports for the mayoral candidates, which were due today in the City Clerk's office. As of this writing, the Pride is the only place that has it. Considering how things went down at City Hall this afternoon, chances are it won't be anywhere else tomorrow. We're guessing.

A couple of things, which you can read now or when you're done with the Pride story. Whatever works for you.

-- Tom Donnelly is at the top with almost $18,000 raised, but it took a $5,000 self-loan to get there. Interestingly, he had loaned his campaigns about $15,000 in previous races, and had never paid himself back. Huh. He has compiled the longest list of bold-facers in his donations list. a partial rundown is in the story.

-- Lisa Wong has raised over $14,000, almost half of it from out of town. Interesting, but that's about it for things worth noting.

-- Ted DeSalvatore has raised just short of $11,000, and has spent every penny. He's also carrying $6,600 in "liabilities," or, you know, unpaid bills. Things of interest? There's no listing of spending on campaign signs or printing. Chances are that's part of the $5,100 owed CAP Services under liabilities for "Marketing program -- Balance of Phase 1 and decorations," whatever that means. But I really wanted to know what he spent on all those signs. Also, there are only 13 individual donors listed. You can read more on that at the Pride.

Decency dictates we mention Ron Dionne raised no money, spent no money, but took about $120 in in-kind contributions in the form of printer ink cartridges. The steamroller rolls on, right there.

A few more nuggets in the Pride story. Let 'er fly here.