Ethan Ris '05 has more money on hand than his opponent, incumbent David Segal, in the Ward 1 City Council race.
Ris, a Democrat who announced his run for the council last October, raised about $12,000 last quarter. The majority of that money came from outside Rhode Island, with only $290 from within the state, according to filings with the Rhode Island Board of Elections. Ris had $12,749 on hand at the end of 2005, versus Segal's $10,605.
Segal, a member of the Green Party, has strongly criticized Ris for taking large sums from out-of-state lobbyists, whom Ris described as family friends. He went on to call the sources of Ris' funding "just weird."
Many of Ris' donors identified themselves as Washington D.C.-based lobbyists, according to the campaign finance filings. Both Ris and Segal hail from the D.C. metropolitan area.
Ris said his campaign is a grassroots effort, a notion Segal rejects. "A grassroots campaign doesn't take donations from corporates" who "do not know anything about Providence," he said.
"I don't understand how he's intending to justify it," he added.
Ris defended the donations, saying the lobbyists who contributed to his campaign are family friends.
"I've known most of them my whole life, and they're giving me the money because they want something for me," he said. "They're my friends and family. I'm not going to turn away" their money.
Ris also defended the grassroots nature of his campaign.
"Is it great to have most of the money come from out of state? Probably not. But as a voter ... I would rather my elected official be financed by people who have nothing to do with Providence politics, rather than, for example, unions, city council members or businesses," Ris said.
Segal said his own major fundraising effort came last spring, when he raised about $14,000 - $9,340 was from individuals, and $2,775 of that came from out of state. In the last quarter of 2005, Segal raised $425, $400 of which was from out of state.
Segal said he has not yet decided whether he will seek re-election and will make his decision within the next few weeks.
"Once I decide precisely what I'm doing, if it calls for it, I will start raising more money," Segal said. "I potentially might need a little bit more."
But Segal, who said he ran his first campaign for the City Council in 2002 on a budget of $7,000, said he does not expect to need much additional funding.
This time around, Segal said that his own campaign funds would be primarily used for printing literature and the occasional wine-and-cheese affair. "But the meat and potatoes of the campaign is printing literature," he added.
Ris said he planned to use his finances similarly.
Debate over Ris' strong fundraising has spurred conten-tion between the candidates. A column penned by five Segal supporters in Monday's Herald questioned the character of Ris' financial backers, a charge Ris countered two days later with a letter of his own to The Herald.
Both candidates said they are counting on issues, not personalities, to drive their campaigns.
Segal cited child poverty, affordable housing and segregation in Providence as his most important issues, while Ris identified education and transportation as his two "pet issues."
Ward 1 includes Fox Point and part of College Hill - including Brown's campus.
