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Woods ahead in fundraising race
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University of Wisconsin senior Lauren Woods currently leads sophomore Eli Judge in fundraising for the District 8 aldermanic race, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday with the city clerk.
The reports also revealed that most of Judge's campaign has been financed by out-of-state contributors, including donations from his parents and attorneys who work with his mother.
Overall, Woods has raised $5,343 to Judge's $3,300 and has received more individual donations.
According to the reports, Woods received a total of 157 different donations, with 106 of those being less than $25 and 54 being less than $5.
Judge received a total of 14 different campaign donations, with only one of those being less than $100 — a 20-cent unitemized donation.
Of the 14 donations Judge received, only three donations were from Wisconsin — two donations from Judge himself, totaling $1,100, and a $200 donation from the Wisconsin PEOPLE Conference. The remaining 11 donations came from Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio.
Judge received no individual donations from Madison or Wisconsin other than his own.
"Most of these are just family members or close family friends that I have known throughout my life," Judge said. "They just felt that I had what it takes to be the next alderman of the 8th District."
Judge received two $250 donations from his parents, as well as three more $250 donations from other attorneys who work with Judge's mother at Chicago's Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw law firm.
The maximum donation anyone except for the candidate can make to a campaign is $250. Woods received one maximum donation, while Judge received six.
Woods said these large contributions are inconsistent with Judge's claims that he is running a grassroots campaign.
"If he wants to run a grassroots campaign, then really run a grassroots campaign," Woods said. "I believe that my campaign has been about the community I have served and the community that I will eventually serve in the 8th District."
Judge said his donations came from family and family friends since he did not want to take donations from university students.
"I made a very clear point to not accept donations from students, because I feel students have enough to pay for with tuition and books and things like that," Judge said.
Woods said she is proud of the efforts she made to meet members of District 8 and criticized Judge's lack of campaign contributions from the district, saying this means he was not trying to actively engage students in his campaign.
Woods also defended her student donations, saying students who donated to her campaign only contributed $5 or $10.
"You can't say you want to represent students and then say you don't want students to invest in you," Woods said. "And that still doesn't explain why he got no money from inside the state of Wisconsin."
Another point of contention in the District 8 finance reports are the lists of expenditures: Judge paid his campaign manager, Richard Dovere, $800 for campaign consulting. Woods did not use an official campaign manager and did not pay anyone to work on her campaign, according to her finance report.
"I'm even curious to know why he has to pay for people to work on his campaign," Woods said. "He can't even solicit volunteers for his campaign."
Judge defended paying Dovere, who is a UW student, saying Dovere gave up another job in order to help with the campaign.
"For a student who put in over 50 hours a week into this campaign, I think it was all but necessary to compensate him in some way," Judge said.
Both candidates will face off during the April 3 general election, which takes place during the UW's spring break. Judge and Woods have been urging students to vote absentee if they will be gone during the election.
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“According to the reports, Woods received a total of 157 different donations, with 106 of those being less than $25 and 54 being less than $5.”
106 + 54 = 160, not 157.
Quite a few keggers, huh?
"You can't say you want to represent students and then say you don't want students to invest in you," Woods said.
Why not?
Oh my god! Eli is pretty busted here. I love how the comments at 3:40 and 4:07 (Eli Lewien) do not address anything about campaign finance reports. Here we have one candidate who is has run a completely grassroots campaign, Lauren Woods. Running against Eli Judge and his mommy’s big-time Chicago lawyer buddies. I don’t know how the Lewienians will combat this…Hey when all else fails you can always attack Ashok and Austin.
WTF mate… is Judge running for congress or some shit? Who the hell pays $800 for a “campaign consultant” in a fucking city council race?! And what kind of “grassroots” campaign relies almost 100% on a handful of out-of-state big spenders? Way to fucking astroturf this race.
“‘According to the reports, Woods received a total of 157 different donations, with 106 of those being less than $25 and 54 being less than $5.’ 106 + 54 = 160, not 157. Quite a few keggers, huh?”
Those 54 that are less than $5 are part of the 106 that are less than $25. $5 is less than $25. Please tell me you don’t go to Madison.
With those “50 hours per week” Dovere put into Judge’s campaign he couldn’t advise Judge to fundraise in the STATE OF WISCONSIN….
ummmm…
I guess he needs to work 60 hours per week to come up with some useful ideas.
is this really newsworthy?
I don’t care who raised more money. Im still voting for Eli. I’ve seen him all over campus since he filed to run…where has Lauren been? I’ve only ever seen Laurens “people” and on another note…Im not voting for someone who is Austin King’s puppet despite how much money she raised and how she did it.
How irrelevent is this. What’s really important is this question: When is Hill gonna accept the fact that she’s been used merely to satisfy King Austin and Prince Ashok’s egos? That they’ve stroked her ego for their own ends. King Austin a champion of minority rights? Get real. He’s a champion of his own precious “legacy”. I feel kinda sorry for her, actually. But not sorry enough to vote for her.
I like how Lewien gets attacked for writing things while he’s sleeping. It amuses me.
Eli is completely on the defensive here. His average contribution is well north of $250 and Lauren’s is under $30. He didn’t even raise a single contribution from the state of Wisconsin. That’s soooo sad.
People have been looking for a difference betweeen the two candidates - here’s a big one!
Big difference, yes!
Woods fundraising plan: raise money off the back of students at underage drinking parties.
Her record of integrity continues…
Eli Judge has paid campaign staff?! That’s so ridiculous! And he claims to be running a grassroots campaign!
Vote Adam Lang for mayor!
“When is Hill gonna accept the fact that she’s been used merely to satisfy King Austin and Prince Ashok’s egos?”
Lauren Woods- former BSU president, intern to Senator Lena Taylor and Chicago resident, who is currently running for alderwoman of the 8th district
Lauryn Hill- former Fugees member and grammy award-winning singer/rapper/poet from New Jersey
Anyone who has worked with Miss Woods can tell you she is definitely her own woman. She wouldn’t do anything if it went against her own convictions. She came into this race at an economic disadvantage (she could only afford to donate $65 to her own campaign,) but has managed to raise significantly more money than Eli because she knows how to run a real grassroots campaign.
Wait, I voted for Lauryn Hill. I love her music. She’s not running? Shit, Judge was my second choice.
Whatever. This story doesn’t matter.
Judge wins in a few days, and King will have alot of crow to eat.
This looks so awful for the Judge campaign. Big money contributors, all from out of state, while Lauren has small donors from in Wisconsin and inside her district.
Eli Judge = big money, suburban Lauren Woods = small money, urban
We’ve always known this, so what’s the news exactly?
So what if Richard is getting paid? He’s putting forth the time and effort, and if Eli feels that he should be paid, then let him. This is Eli’s campaign, and if he feels he should reward someone for the services rendered, then let him- especially if Richard gave up his paid job.
Overall, he’s not being paid a lot. Even if he works 50 hours a week, the amount he was payed (800 dollars) is relatively small, especially in terms of dollars per hour. He’d make more if he worked Food Service, I wager.
Lauren’s campaign manager is Austin King. It would look especially bad if he was getting payed for his services.
Additionally, while there are all these numbers listed in the article about Woods’ campaign funds, Eli is the only candidate of the two that has made his finance report publically available at his website. Where’s Lauren’s, and how come I can’t read it?
It’s easy to say “oh, well, we got the money from these students,” but to show the actual paper trail is something entirely different.
Altogether, this appears to be last-minute mudslinging, which is typically a sign that a candidate is truly scared of their opponent and feels that their chances of winning have been greatly reduced.
Oh, and Eli has plenty of people volunteering on his campaign- I know them, I see them. I have yet to see a single volunteer for Lauren.
So who really has the campaign problems?
One thing all these posts by Austin and Ashok have failed to mention is WHY it’s bad that Eli has avoiding asking students for money and instead raised his campaign funds from out-of-state.
I don’t think Eli’s going to be in the pocket of his parents or of out-of-state family friends when he sits on the Madison City Council….and isn’t that the big criticism against accepting large campaign donations?
I’m reading all those posts about a grassroots campaign….isn’t a grassroots campaign defined by having widespread support from among the common people (i.e. students) in one’s district? If so, Eli’s campaign is far more grassroots than what Austin and Ashok have been able to organize.
I think Lauren’s had to ask so many students for money because Austin tells her they need to continually print and distribute all of those flyers that are pissing so many people off. If Eli decided against asking for money from students because he knew they wouldn’t want 18,000 flyers delivered to their front door during this campaign, I think that’s another reason to vote for him.
Eli you are so desperate! Hilarious.
Lauren’s campaign finance report is up at her website - she even put up Eli’s there so voters could compare!!! Brilliant move, Lauren.
Richard Dovere is being paid to work 50 hours per week, and couldn’t even raise any money or put out more than one piece of literature?! Wow, Eli, you should ask for your money back!
Matt Berg, stop posting shit.
And further, the pro-Woods shit on here, for the historical record, is so clearly written by the same person. It is too “campaign perfect” where it fits into the talking points Austin King drew up for the story. “Great move, Lauren!” “Eli is on the defensive” etc etc. Such bullshit. Austin, Berg, Ashok, I’m so glad you lost.
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