Tierney Campaign Fund Raising On Track For 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 – With nearly a million dollars in his campaign war chest, Rep. John Tierney looks ready for any kind of reelection challenge. Now all he needs is a challenger.
Although the $996,266 Tierney has in the bank, according to his campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission, is not is not an exceptionally large amount for a member of Congress, it is unusual for a candidate in a district as safe as Tierney’s.
“One of the things that money does is to keep the opposition at bay,” said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit group that tracks money in politics. He noted that Tierney didn’t have any “serious” opposition in 2002 or 2004.
Politicians also build up huge campaign chests because “they never think they have enough, generally,” Noble said.
David King, the associate director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, agrees.
“It’s a beating of the chest in the political jungle,” King said of fundraising. He added that it might take as much as $2 million for a candidate to run a competitive campaign for congress.
So far no opponents have filed against Tierney in the 2006 race, though his spokeswoman was quick to dismiss the notion that he expected another easy reelection. “Congressman Tierney always anticipates a race each election and would in any circumstance work to ensure that he campaigns aggressively so as to connect with all potential voters,” said Katie Economou, a Tierney campaign spokeswoman.
As for the size of Tierney’s war chest? “With the high cost of campaigns, especially in expensive media markets, it is important to ensure that a campaign has adequate funds with which to get out the candidate’s message,” she said.
Candidates can also use the money can to support their party – not incidentally building their own influence. Tierney has given $25,000 so far this year to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats’ campaign vehicle. During the last two years, he donated a total of $100,006 to the committee.
Thus far for the 2006 election cycle, Tierney has raised $214,155 and spent about half of that on events and the day-to-day expenses of his campaign.
The majority of Tierney’s funds come from individual contributors, which is typical for congressional candidates on both sides of the aisle, according to Larry Noble. Individuals’ contributions are more numerous than contributions from political action committees, “and they should be,” Noble said.
Organized labor is the congressman’s biggest donor on the special interest side. Tierney has received $21,500 so far in this election cycle from political action committees of various unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Auto Workers, according to information compiled from FEC filings on politicalmoneyline.com and opensecrets.org.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) also has given the congressman financial support. Tierney has received $1,000 from Kerry’s political action committee.
