Money keeps Council candidates going

Mayoral candidate Mike Martinez reported last week that he had loaned his campaign an additional $25,000, bringing to $50,000 the total he has put into the race. Of course, contender Steve Adler has reported giving his own campaign $296,000. There is no sign that the other major contender, Sheryl Cole, has made any loans to her campaign, nor any indication that the other five candidates in this race have put cash into their campaigns, either. The Austin Board of Realtors Political Action Committee has spent nearly $9,500 advocating the election of District 4 candidate Greg Casar and more than $12,000 promoting Adler, according to records filed with the Austin City Clerk’s office. The ABoR PAC reported that it paid those amounts to Austin political consultant Mark Littlefield for mail pieces on behalf of those candidates, but not in coordination with those candidates. The PAC also reported last week that it had contributed $350 each to the campaigns of Casar, Ann Kitchen (District 5), Chris Riley (District 9), John Sheppard (District 2), Ora Houston (District 1) and Robert Thomas (District 10). Adler does not accept money from political action committees. They also spent nearly $11,000 with Baselice & Associates for polling. According to campaign treasurer Emily Chenevert, the group has more than $313,000 in its campaign fund. The Austin Board of Realtors is a contributor to the Austin Monitor‘s parent organization, the Capital of Texas Media Foundation.