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From leaders to rank-and-file, Dems pitch in for Lentz

Whether it’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, freshman state Representative Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) or recently-defeated judicial candidate Nancy Rhoads Koons, Democrats from the top of the party hierarchy to the bottom are giving money to Bryan Lentz.

Lentz, the second-term state Representative from Delaware County, is running to replace Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7), in a conservative-leaning district that will be tough for the party to hold. But even with Lentz likely to be outspent by presumptive GOP nominee Pat Meehan, and even as some party fundraisers worry about stretching Democratic money thin in a tough election year, the wide swath of support for Lentz underscores the all-hands-on-deck mentality that many party insiders are taking to his candidacy.

Lentz raised almost $295,000 in the last three months of 2009, finishing the year with about $460,000 in cash on hand, according to campaign finance data. Meehan raised about $580,000 during the same period, and had $694,000 on hand. Lentz continued to rely more on small donations, with about three times as much money coming from donors giving less than $200. Many who contributed more than that still gave far less than the legal maximum, giving Lentz a wide base of financial support to which he can return as the campaign drags on.

But more striking than anything is the near-universal support for Lentz among Democrats, further confirming that party insiders consider him the presumptive nominee. One of his primary opponents had less than $3,000 at the end of the year, and campaign finance data for the other had yet to be published late Sunday night.

At the top echelons of the party, Lentz received donations from political action committees controlled by Pelosi; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer; House Majority Whip James Clyburn; and Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who chairs the party’s House campaign committee. Back home, he got money from PACs controlled by Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-8) and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D-13). For some of the PACs, it was not the first time giving to Lentz.

The financial support extends down the ladder, and includes contributions from PACs controlled by state House Speaker Keith McCall; state Representative James Roebuck (D-Philadelphia); and state Representative Barbara McIlvaine Smith (D-Chester). Joe Torsella’s defunct Senate campaign kicked in $1,000.

And on an individual level, Lentz took in cash from, among others, former state Senator Connie Williams; state Democratic Party executive director Mary Isenhour; Upper Darby Democratic Party chair Ed Bradley; political consultants Larry Ceisler and David Dunphy; former congressional candidates Dan Wofford and Bob Roggio; and Richard Schiffrin, one of the party’s big-money men who was a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.

Likely in anticipation of a grueling general election fight, Lentz has spent money only sparingly. Despite running a campaign for a longer period than Meehan, he has spent $38,000 less, sending out about $55,000 total expenses. Besides payroll costs for a campaign manager, political director and finance director, along with rent on a tiny Swarthmore office, he had spent almost nothing by the end of 2009.

February 1, 2010 at 8:30 am

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Bryan Lentz, E. Teresa Touey, Gail Conner, PA-7, Pat Meehan

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