By Betsy Scheinbart
Proving that fund-raising is not the key to winning an election, Allan Jennings defeated Anthony Andrews in the race for City Councilman Thomas White’s (D-Jamaica) seat.
Jennings raised less money than all of his competitors in the general election, including Andrews, who ran on the Liberal line after losing the Democratic primary to Jennings Sept. 25.
With 72 percent of the precincts reporting, Jennings had 69 percent of the vote over Andrews’ 18 percent, according to unofficial results. Jennings also defeated a Republican and several third-party candidates, all of whom originally petitioned to be on the ballot as Democrats in Council District 28, which covers Jamaica, Richmond Hill and Rochdale Village.
Jennings lost his treasurer, Frank Lin, in the World Trade Center disaster Sept. 11, which was not only an emotional blow. It also suspended the transfer of funds into and out of Jennings’ campaign account.
But even before Sept. 11, Lin has raised only about one third as much money as Andrews.
Jennings appointed a new treasurer two weeks ago and is working with the Campaign Finance Board to re-establish his records and regain access to his campaign funds.
It was a heated race between Andrews and Jennings, who were at odds over endorsements and financial issues following the Democratic primary.
Andrews was endorsed by the Queens County Democratic Party and virtually every elected Democrat in southeast Queens for the general election, but lost some of those supporters when he lost the primary.
Andrews raised nearly six times as much money as Jennings over the course of the entire election. In the most recent filings with the Campaign Finance Board Oct. 26, Andrews reported raising $64,570 and Jennings just $11,208, which is less than what all the other candidates raised.
According to unofficial preliminary results, Republican Rameshwar Jodha secured 8 percent of the vote after raising a total of $22,030 during the election.
Independence Party nominee Inderjit Singh got 2 percent of the vote and raised a total of $15,486.
Fusion Party contender Garth Marchant raised $31,258 and got 2 percent of the vote in the general election.
Working Families Party Candidate Patrick Jenkins, who did not run an active campaign after he was knocked off the Democratic line during the petitioning process, got 2 percent of the vote. His last campaign filing was on July 16, when he reported he had raised $21,848.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
