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Patrick 'burning' less than rivals

E-mail|Link|Comments () April 15, 2010 04:05 PM

By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff

If there's a slim silver lining in the dark cloud of Governor Deval Patrick's anemic fundraising, it's this: His campaign is holding onto a bigger percentage of the money coming in than either of his two chief rivals.

After the first three months of the year, Patrick continued to lag badly in a critical respect -- cash on hand -- with less than $900,000, trailing Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, an independent, whose campaign had about $3.3 million in the bank, and Republican Charles D. Baker, who had more than $2 million.

But a review of fundraising reports shows that Cahill's fundraising has fallen off recently, and both of Patrick's major opponents have a higher "burn rate," meaning they are spending a larger percentage of their incoming cash.

Baker continued to raise funds at a torrid pace, taking in $1.35 million in the first quarter, but spent $972,000, or about 72 percent. Cahill raised $337,000 and spent $253,188, or more than 75 percent. Patrick raised $573,000, and spent $348,000, or roughly 61 percent.

Baker's campaign has the largest paid staff, most expensive stable of consultants, and has spent large sums on catering, printing, and postage in connection with his fundraising events.

The former health care executive's campaign has also been tardy in the bookkeeping department, late filing itemizations of its monthly campaign credit card expenses. This week, the campaign finally posted a breakdown of more than $62,000 in American Express charges over three months dating back to last December. One report was two months later than state regulations require. Another was a month late and filed after the Globe made inquiries of the campaign.