Ashley Rich has narrowed the money gap smartly in her contest with Mark Erwin for the Republican nomination for Mobile County district attorney, according to campaign financial disclosures.
The ledger
Rich reported contributions totaling $90,895 for the period. Erwin raised $70,290 over the same stretch — but Erwin, who entered the race well ahead of the assistant district attorney, began the period with a balance of almost $35,000.
The result is that with less than six weeks to go before the June 1 primary, Erwin still holds the advantage in the bank: an ending balance of $82,808.91 against Rich’s $61,306.15.
Both candidates have enough to contest the stretch run energetically. Neither has enough to coast.
Why Erwin got a head start
Erwin, a former chairman of the Mobile County Republican Party and a municipal judge in Saraland, announced his campaign last fall. Rich, who is also a member of the Mobile County Republican Executive Committee, waited — because her boss had not yet decided what he would do.
Longtime District Attorney John Tyson Jr., a veteran Democrat who has held the office since 1994 and who hired Rich in 1996, ultimately backed away from a re-election bid and accepted an appointment from Republican Gov. Bob Riley to head the governor’s task force on illegal bingo. Rich, who now heads the office’s murder team, entered the race after that.
Over the years, a series of controversial investigations and prosecutions with political implications appeared to sap Tyson’s political strength, both among his Democratic base and among the independents who had made him the only Mobile County Democrat holding a non-judicial countywide elective office. Three local circuit judges still hold their seats as Democrats.
Former U.S. Attorney Don Foster has qualified to run as a Democrat and will meet the Republican nominee in November. Foster served six years as the region’s top federal prosecutor during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
A boss who writes checks
Tyson, who remained a Democrat as of Wednesday, April 21, was among the larger contributors to his own assistant’s campaign. He and his wife, Beth, gave Rich $2,000.
Other contributions carried unusual wrinkles. Former City Councilwoman Bess Rich — no relation — and businessman Elliot Maisel gave to both campaigns. Former Mayor Mike Dow backed Erwin with $1,000, while Dow’s partner and brother-in-law Jim Busby gave Rich $500. The plaintiff’s firm Cunningham Bounds gave Erwin $2,500, an amount neatly offset by associate Greg Breedlove’s $2,500 donation to Rich.
In other words, a good deal of the Mobile establishment declined to choose.
Who gave what
Rich’s contributor list runs deep into the professional and civic classes: physicians, lawyers, seafood companies, boat builders, real estate interests and a long tail of $100 and $250 donors. Her single largest source was DA-PAC, which passed along $18,000 — nearly all of its receipts. The PAC’s own funders included Eiland and Ritchie ($5,000), SSI Group ($5,000), General Insulation, Graham Shrimp Co., Dobson Sheet Metal and Roofing, and several individual donors.
Erwin’s list is heavier on firms and PACs: Cunningham Bounds, Bancorpsouth Bank PAC, RSVPAC, Volkert & Associates, Sonny Callahan and Associates, Delaney Development, Pollman’s Bake Shop, and a run of $500 and $1,000 contributions from Mobile businesses and attorneys.
The stretch
The disclosures capture a race that has become genuinely competitive. Rich has the fundraising momentum and the prosecutorial résumé. Erwin has the party infrastructure, an earlier start and more money in the bank.
Both will spend most of it before June 1.