The latest campaign-finance reports for the Madison City Council race are in, and District 5 candidate Jason Stephany has pulled ahead of his opponent Robbie Webber in the race to gain last-minute support. Since the last pre-primary reports published, Stephany has raised $1419 more than his opponent.

Many of Stephany’s recent contributions have come from developers and real-estate owners. Steve Brown of Steve Brown Properties, Terrance Wall of Terrance Wall Properties, and Susan Shapiro of the Nitty Gritty have donated a total of $700 but are only a few of the developers and business owners who have donated to Stephany’s campaign.

With such large last-minute contributions coming from developers, Robbie Webber’s campaign staff is raising questions about Stephany’s loyalty to students and their rights as tenants.

“He seems to be flip-flopping his stance on inclusionary zoning,” Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, who is campaign manager to Robbie Webber, said. “I have never seen this much money roll in from developers so late in a race. How will this affect his position?”

Stephany, who is a full-time student and an active Democrat on a campus- and statewide level, said that developers are contributing to his campaign not because they expect something in return but because they know that he will listen to their issues and concerns.

“My stances and developer’s stances on certain issues are usually very different,” Stephany said. “But whether they agree with my opinions or not, they know that I am always willing to sit down and listen to them and try to reach a consensus.”

While Webber openly supports mandatory inclusionary zoning, Stephany is unsure of which form of inclusionay zoning would be best.

“A lot of discussion needs to occur on whether or not it should be mandatory or voluntary,” Stephany said. “We need to bring developers, council members, students and every other group to the table to discuss and decide which type will be the most beneficial for everyone.”

Although the majority of his recent contributions have come from landlords and developers, Stephany’s earlier contributions were mainly from students and community members. Either way, Stephany says that his decisions as a council member would never be influenced by campaign contributions.

Powell said while Stephany has raised more money than Webber, only 5 percent of his total contributions come from District 5, and 25 percent of Webber’s contributions have come from within the district.