MORNING NEWS: Shinagawa Leads Reed in Individual Donations, Reed Dominates in PAC Donations

Nate Shinagawa

ITHACA – Most of the money that recently came in for the campaign to elect Nate Shinagawa (D-Ithaca) is coming from private donors, while the majority of the money going toward the effort to re-elect republican Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) comes from special interests. That’s according to the third quarter candidate disclosure forms released earlier this week by the Federal Election Commission.

• VIEW SHINAGAWA 3RD QUARTER FEC DISCLOSURE FORM
• VIEW REED 3RD QUARTER FEC DISCLOSURE FORM

Tom Reed

According to a media release sent out by the Shinagawa campaign, the Democratic candidate for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, raised over $319,000 this quarter, with more than 80 percent ($259,000) of that money coming from individuals.

By comparison, Congressman Reed raised nearly $424,000 – about $105,000 more than Shinagawa. But unlike Shinagawa, the majority of his donations – a total of 57 percent ($242,000) – came by way of Political Action Committees ($53,000 in PAC funds came in for Shinagwa). About 40 percent ($171,000) of Reed’s donations also came by way of individual donations.

Shinagawa said the records show that Congressman Reed’s campaign is being controlled by special interest and that his votes follow the money, sometimes in his own personal interest. Shinagawa said Reed gets donations from the natural gas industry, the insurance and healthcare industry and the financial services industry.

During a media conference call on Wednesday, Shinagawa said that of the 18 emerging congressional races on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s watch list, his fundraising came in fourth highest. He said that bodes well for getting additional attention and funding during the final three week’s of the campaign.

“People aren’t watching this race because you know how it is in the southern tier, but I think this fundraising show that this is a race to watch,” Shinagawa said. “We blew way 14 other races, which is pretty substantial.”

Reed and Shinagawa are running in the newly created New York 23^rd Congressional District, which includes Chautauqua County and stretches across the Southern Tier all the way to Ithaca in Tompkins County.