Both the Democratic contenders for mayor of Pittsburgh are benefitting from third-party groups buying ads and paying for canvassers, a source of support unbound by restrictive campaign donation limits, new records show.
Incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor have each benefited from more than $600,000 in spending from independent groups supporting their candidacies.
And in line with a national political trend, some of the money flowing through those groups can’t be traced to any individual donor, diminishing the public’s understanding of who is trying to influence the vote.
Independent political action committees, or PACs, can accept donations of unlimited size, unlike candidates’ campaigns, which can only accept $3,500 from an individual or $5,000 from a committee per city ordinance. The independent groups are forbidden from coordinating their message or operations with the candidates.
Who are ‘Good Leadership’ and ‘Accountable Justice’?
A PAC independently boosting O’Connor’s candidacy called Common Sense Change reported committing more than $750,000 on pro-O’Connor efforts so far. It disclosed receiving $150,000 from a Washington, D.C.-based PAC in April. That PAC, called Democracy Wins, received almost all its funding from a Delaware-registered nonprofit — which is not required by law to disclose any of its donors.
Democracy Wins has little online presence other than a website focused on a 2024 Colorado congressional election. A PAC representative did not return a request for comment.
Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based strategist who heads up the Common Sense Change PAC that supports O’Connor, said the Democracy Wins PAC supports “mainstream progressive candidates” and that he knows “nothing about” where the group’s money comes from.
Mikus said the group’s donation does not constitute “dark money” because “we’re still disclosing all of our donors.”
“I’m assuming Democracy Wins, because it’s a PAC, will be disclosing their donors and everything will be open for the public to see,” Mikus said.
Democracy Wins can fulfill that requirement, though, by listing donations from the nonprofit, Good Leadership Action, Inc., which reveals little about the money’s true source.
“I think the biggest thing is that both sides follow the law, and that’s what we’re doing,” Mikus said.
In a statement Monday, Gainey accused O’Connor’s supporters of “hiding the source of hundreds of thousands of dollars from voters.”
O’Connor said Monday that dark money in politics is bad for Pittsburgh.
“It has made campaigns nastier and more personal, and it’s part of why voters are so frustrated with the political process,” O’Connor said in a statement. “ … We don’t coordinate with any outside groups, and I believe all campaigns and committees, no matter who they support, should be transparent about where their money is coming from. That includes both Common Sense Change and the Working Families Party.”
Gainey’s campaign has also benefited from outside spending, with the progressive-minded Working Families Party PAC spending about $600,000 to promote his re-election effort this year.
Working Families Party received a $1 million contribution from a nonprofit called Accountable Justice Action Fund in February, almost half of the money it has disclosed so far this year. That group is another nonprofit with no obligation to disclose its donors, though it does have a website that spells out its goals.
The nonprofit “supports criminal justice reform, with a focus on reforming prosecution and equipping local and national groups to increase accountability in prosecutorial elections,” according to its website.
Accountable Justice Action Fund did not respond to a request for comment. Working Families Party official Ari Kamen did not answer questions about Accountable Justice Action Fund and its funding sources, but said: “The Working Families Party has been organizing in Pennsylvania for over a decade alongside our union and community partners.”
Records show that Accountable Justice Action Fund has received some funding in the past from a foundation associated with billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Working Families Party is active in numerous states, and an official with the PAC said the nonprofit’s donation was not earmarked for any particular race.
More than $2 million into candidates’ accounts
New disclosures show that the fundraising contest between Gainey and O’Connor has continued much as it started: With O’Connor opening up a significant lead, fueled in part by the construction and real estate industries.
O’Connor has raised just over $1.5 million since launching his campaign in December, and Gainey has raised about $500,000 since O’Connor entered the race.
With affordable housing construction a major topic on the campaign trail, donors associated with companies in the construction, development and real estate industries made up about a quarter of all the money donated in this race, a PublicSource analysis found.
Those industries appear to be mostly putting their weight behind O’Connor.
O’Connor has received at least $387,000 from the industries to date, or 26% of his total campaign fundraising. Gainey has received about $46,000 from the sector, about 9% of his intake.
Read PublicSource’s March report on why the industry is lining up behind O’Connor.
In the Republican primary for mayor, which is contested for the first time since 2001, there is far less financial action, comparatively — a reflection of the Democratic primary’s usually pivotal role in determining the mayor, owing to the city’s large Democratic registered voter majority.
One Republican candidate, Tony Moreno, reported raising $4,000 last month. The other Thomas West, does not have any disclosure forms available on the county website.
Charlie Wolfson is PublicSource’s local government reporter. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
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