Despite a major boost last week from a South Side businessman, Ald. Timothy Evans has raised just $223,000 in donations and has borrowed heavily to finance his third party mayoral campaign against Democratic nominee Richard M. Daley, campaign finance reports filed Monday show.
While Daley has amassed at least $5.6 million in donations since last November, Evans and his supporters have had to borrow $157,000 to keep the campaign financially afloat, according to the reports.
One of the campaign funds for Edward R. Vrdolyak, the Republican challenger, reported raising about $42,000 in contributions, including a $10,000 loan to his campaign, but Vrdolyak`s chief mayoral committee did not file a report.
While Evans has said he hoped to raise about $1 million for the general election campaign, his campaign committee`s report shows he has had difficulty competing for campaign dollars against the Daley campaign.
The pre-election reports filed by the candidates on Monday cover different periods ending on March 5. In addition, each of the candidates is required to file supplemental reports whenever they receive donations of $500 or more.
Daley filed a supplemental report on Monday showing he received $127,450 in contributions, a daily total that is more than the $122,000 that Evans reported raising during a two-month period in his pre-election report.
Since March 5, the Evans campaign has raised an additional $101,000, which includes $30,000 from John Johnson, the South Side publishing magnate who made the donation last week.
Evans` major benefactor has been Harold Baron, the late Mayor Harold Washington`s chief policy adviser who is the director of issues for the Evans campaign. Baron took out an $80,000 bank loan earlier this month and donated $10,000 to the campaign in January.
A firm run by David Reed, Evans` chief fundraiser, also has loaned the campaign $27,000, and the campaign obtained a $50,000 loan in February from the American National Bank in Chicago.
Deborah Scott, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said she did not know how much the campaign had raised thus far toward the $1 million campaign goal. Evans has a fundraiser set for Thursday.
Daley press spokesman Marj Halperin said the Daley campaign had hoped to raise $3.5 million for the primary and $1.5 million for the April 4 general election, a goal the campaign easily reached.
Daley`s report shows he raised $2.1 million between Jan. 30 and March 5, andhis campaign fund has filed supplemental reports listing another $730,000 in donations of $500 or more since March 7. His campaign had earlier reported raising $2.6 million since November.
Daley spent the bulk of the $2.6 million in the first two months of his campaign, according to his most recent report. It showed that of the $2.6 million he had raised, the campaign had $512,768 left on Jan. 30.
Vrdolyak`s campaign finances remain more of a mystery. Campaign press aides refused to even discuss how much the candidate actually has raised with both of his political committees.
The former 10th Ward alderman formed a mayoral committee, called Vrdolyak `89, several weeks ago. Vrdolyak`s campaign treasurer, Gino Naughton, said that committee did not file any report because it had not raised any funds prior to March 5.
So far, Vrdolyak`s top donor is Paul V. Finamore, the founder of a wig company, who has donated $5,000.
