Must be nice to be a millionaire…
Philanthropist Chris Abele added $450,000 from his own pocket to his campaign for the Milwaukee County executive race, raising his self-funded total to $700,000, according to Abele’s campaign report filed Wednesday.
He also picked up more than $90,000 in outside donations, for a total of $542,986 added in January, the report says. Abele gave his campaign $250,000 earlier.
While Chris Abele was able to pump a hefty amount of his own money into his campaign, it’s worth noting that excluding the amount he gave to his own campaign, he still outraised each of his opponents. While Abele raised more than $90,000 in outside campaign donations, State Rep. Jeff Stone raised $51,035, former state Sen. Jim Sullivan raised $21,122, and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway raised $13,975, while community organizer Ieshuh Griffin reported no money raised or spent on her campaign.
I know almost nothing about him but every ad I’ve seen by him has been positive and markets the idea that he doesn’t care about petty political party standpoints and will do what he feels is best no matter where the idea comes from.
I don’t know how much of that is true, but that’s a message far more likely to resonate than the hyper-partisan drivel that dominates so many campaigns.
He needs a better editor. I know he’s trying to show he is diverse but the flyer I got yesterday had the hispanic guy next him nodding off. Probably not the message he was going for.
If it’s the same flier I got, that’s not a hispanic guy; it’s Sheldon Lubar.
Slight correction to your post, Zach. Being that Abele has not paid one red cent in income taxes, it is only correct to assume that the $450K is coming from Daddy’s pockets.
Or perhaps it’s coming from Abele’s bank account. He may not have taxable income, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have assets.
Sorry, I skipped a step. They may technically be “his” bank accounts, but rest assured that the money came from Dad.
A look at past tax returns would certainly answer that question, because I find it hard to believe he’s never made any money at all in his adult life.
You know, that would be an EXCELLENT question to ask him. Perhaps: “Chris, besides giving away your daddy’s money, what business experience do you have?”
I don’t know anything about Mr. Abele except what I see on his website and TV adds. He doesn’t seem to have much to say. $tyle without $ubstance!
Besides, I don’t think he has ever set foot in West Allis.
I’m terrified that if Jeff Stone makes it past the primaries he’s going to put an end to the unions on a county level. He said he’s a carbon copy of Scott Walker.
Chris Abele is the perfect example of why we need publicly financed elections. Big suprise if he wins the primary seeing as he can afford to follow me across the internet (thanks to awful googl ads), pay for tv time, and send everyone and their mother flyers when none of the other candidates have anything close to his level of financial resources.
The fact that the mainstream media has more or less ignored the co. exec race only makes it worse. The JS endorsed Abele while complaining about his lack of concrete policy proposals. If they actually had bothered to set a reporter aside for the race and demand som serious critical journalism, the candidates would have been forced to come up with policy proposals to avoid looking like idiots.