Cash flow gave Collins a final boost against Bell

12/14/2013
BY TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER
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    Collins

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    Businesses and individuals who supported Mayor Mike Bell collectively donated $147,423 to his campaign in the final three weeks of Mr. Bell’s re-election bid, but it wasn’t enough to offset the spending of his opponent, Mayor-elect D. Michael Collins, and a secretive Columbus committee representing labor unions, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Lucas County Board of Elections.

    Bell
    Bell

    Mr. Bell hauled in checks from business associations representing contractors, real estate agents, a refuse hauler, and beer and wine distributors. His two largest contributions, $10,000 each, came from individuals Malachi Mixon III of Hunting Valley, Ohio, and Robert Bachelder of Medina, Ohio.

    For the period starting Oct. 16, Mr. Bell reported total expenditures of $130,875. He ended with $27,980 in his war chest.

    Mr. Collins reported raising $40,231. His biggest contributors during the period were unions representing carpenters, Teamsters, plumbers and pipefitters, and heat and frost insulators. Mr. Collins spent $79,171 during the period, ending with $20,450 left over and an outstanding loan of $9,396.

    Mr. Collins beat Mr. Bell in the election with 56.4 percent of the vote to Mr. Bell’s 43.6 percent.

    Toledoans for Working Families, a Columbus-based labor committee with no named Toledoans, poured $157,549 into mostly negative television and postcard ads depicting Mr. Bell as a puppet of Republican John Kasich and more concerned with jobs in China than in Toledo.

    The group identified its main funding sources as the Ohio AFL-CIO and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees in Washington.

    Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419--724-6058 or an Twitter @TomFTroy.