Fundraising Report Shows It Pays to Be Incumbent

Officeholders Wallop Challengers in Contribution Contests

By Michael Laris

Sunday, September 23, 2007

For a view into the benefits of incumbency, take a look at Eugene A. Delgaudio, a Loudoun County supervisor and anti-gay activist who is one of the region's political fundraising champions.

Delgaudio (R-Sterling) has raised $187,222 this election cycle, according to the latest campaign spending report. He won his job in the aging eastern Loudoun suburbs by receiving 1,884 votes in 2003. So he's brought in roughly $100 per vote.

By contrast, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) has raised about $10 for each of the 98,419 votes he took in 2003.

Delgaudio says he's not satisfied.

"I'm kind of embarrassed," Delgaudio said yesterday from a campaign stop. "I'm disappointed that I have not raised my full budget yet. I'm disappointed in myself for not working hard enough to raise more money for my reelection."

Across the region, incumbents generally have the financial upper hand for the Nov. 6 election, according to figures released today by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project that cover the period ending Aug. 31.

In supervisor races in Prince William County, for instance, incumbents have netted $521,000 in total contributions, while challengers have raised $165,000, according to an analysis by the Richmond-based group.

Fairfax's incumbent supervisors have raised $1.8 million, compared with their challengers' $662,000. In Loudoun, challengers are generally closer, raising $501,000, compared with $675,000 for those in office, according to the group.

Jeanne West, an accountant who has lived in Sterling for 34 years and runs a sheet metal business, is Delgaudio's Democratic opponent in Loudoun. She has raised $23,930, about an eighth of Delgaudio's total, but she argues that money is not going to be the decider.

"I know he has far more money than I do, but he pays everybody to do stuff for him," West said yesterday as she headed out to campaign. "This old-fashioned knocking on doors and talking to voters, this one-on-one contact with voters, is free. It's incredibly important . . . and I have a really good core of volunteers who are also doing it."

Delgaudio, who attends countless public events, often donning a fluorescent orange cap, said he, too, is working hard going door to door.

"I have a very big budget and a lot of people working for me. I do also pay my staff. I am guilty of paying staff," Delgaudio said. "If my opponent wishes to spend less and lose, I will graciously accept that."

Delgaudio has been a leading advocate and reliable vote for spurring home-building in Loudoun, where growth issues often shape political campaigns. The real estate and construction industries contributed more than $81,000 in donations of more than $100 to his campaign so far, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, more than any other Loudoun supervisor.

"They are getting my reelection, that's it. All I promise is my reelection," he said.

Delgaudio is an effective fundraiser in his professional life as well. He heads a lobbying group called Public Advocate of the United States that has spent millions of dollars on a nationwide campaign that has frequently vilified gay people as pedophiles and criminals.

A typical fundraising letter from the early 1990s read: "As homosexuals die off due to AIDS, the remaining AIDS carriers prey on children to replenish the 'Homosexual Community.' . . . I absolutely must find $73,575 before the end of next month to pay for printing, telephones, research, and postage."

A later letter warned of "a world where the police allow homosexual adults to rape young boys in the streets."

The top overall fundraiser on the supervisor or chairman level in Loudoun, Prince William and Fairfax is Connolly, a longtime political figure leading Virginia's most populous county, according an analysis of itemized contributions compiled by the group.

Connolly, who was the Providence District supervisor for nine years before winning the chairman's seat in 2003, raised $979,535 in contributions this election cycle, according to the public access project. Republican Gary H. Baise, a former Justice Department lawyer running his first campaign for office, has raised $229,134, the figures show.

Loudoun Supervisor Mick Staton Jr. (R-Sugarland Run) also ranked near the top in fundraising among candidates in the three counties. He took part in an expensive and unsuccessful bid for a state senate seat that required him to reach beyond his district.

"The people of Sterling will decide who the supervisor is based on who's at their door," Delgaudio said. "That has nothing to do with money."

Still, he has his eye on new fundraising heights.

"Someday, I hope to beat Gerry Connolly. I don't think it will be in this election cycle," he said. "Maybe next time."

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