Councilman Reid's Campaign Finance

I spent a bit of time looking through the wonderful campaign finance data on the Virginia Public Access Project this morning. It's an motherload of information about candidates, campaigns and who is playing where in Virginia Politics. After all, in a Citizens United world, money talks - literally. So it will be very interesting to see which money is talking to which candidates.

You can take a look at Kelly Burk and Ken Reid's major donors online, through VPAP. Kelly's donors are a mix of Leesburg businesses, residents and Loudoun community leaders. Both Kelly and Ken get donations from a typical mixture of attorneys and local technology consultants as well.

Other than attorneys and technologists, however, most of Councilman Reid's other donors have a common thread running through them: They're people in the real estate development business. In fact, of the thirty donations over $100 that Councilman Reid has received, no fewer than 10 of them came from people who make their money on real estate and development. That group includes Mr. Reid's single largest donation, $3,500 from a property manager in Reston. In fact, a third of Mr. Reid's campaign warchest comes from folks with a vested interest in real estate development. That's more than three-times as much as the next-largest industry that has helped him: Technology.

Anyone from any industry is welcome to participate in Virginia's elections. And everyone has the right, and privilege, to support whomever they choose in the manner they choose, as long as it doesn't break the law. But we, as voters, have a co-equal right to evaluate candidates, at least in part, on the types of donations they get, and from where. Loudoun County has a long history of development money playing a role in our elections. I believe that Leesburg will do well to look at candidates financed by such money with a jaundiced eye, because it is hard to tell a friend who financed your campaign "no" when they ask to clear cut a farm for the next strip mall.