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.
