Finance Reports Roll In — Campaign finance reports for all contributions collected in 2013 are due Wednesday and a few District 16 candidates have already filed.
House of Delegates candidate Marc Korman reported $120,611 in available funds for his campaign committee.
A member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, Korman got support from many party regulars, including some local politicians unlikely to face tough reelection races in the June primary.
Korman claims 450 unique donors, though he later downplayed the importance of his funding haul in an email to supporters:
I have been knocking on voters’ doors since June of last year. No voter has ever asked me how much money a candidate has. Voters ask about issues such as education, improving our transportation network including Metro, economic growth and success, and preserving our environment.
Jordan Cooper, also running for one of District 16′s three seats in the House of Delegates, reported a little more than $22,000 on hand.
Gareth Murray, the Potomac resident and former delegate representing Silver Spring, reported just less than $2,500 in available funds.
Look for more contribution numbers later this week.
Li Says There’s Room For A Republican In D-16 — Last week, we told you about Rose Maria Li, the Bethesda resident and science research consultant who has entered the House of Delegates race as a Republican.
Li says her focus on getting adequate school funding from the state and making the most out of people’s tax dollars is a message that resonates.
“Yes, I’m a Republican but more importantly, I’m a working parent who has lived and worked in our community for over 20 years. We have not been getting our fair share and it is starting to show big time,” Li said. “There seems to be a fair amount of cynicism about what can be accomplished in our government these days. We need to change this by focusing on solving problems, not voting the party line.”
Li has lived in Bethesda since 1992, has two kids in MCPS and worked for NIH before starting her own science management and research firm.
“I keep hearing how tired people are with what’s going on in our state,” Li said. “Our taxes and fees keep going up, yet we have not been getting our fair share of funds, especially for our schools.”
Bethesda political consultant Meyer Marks is also running as a Republican in the heavily Democratic district.
News and Notes — Korman on Tuesday also announced the hiring of Noah Wasserman as his campaign manager. Wasserman graduated from George Washington University last year and most recently served as operations director on New Jersey Rep. Rush Holt’s campaign for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat…District 1 County Councilmember Roger Berliner reported $52,368 on hand in his 2014 annual report. So far Berliner has no challenger…Councilmember and county executive hopeful Phil Andrews reported about $124,000 in cash on hand for his run at incumbent Isiah Leggett and former executive Doug Duncan.
