A little late, but still…

The State of Things:

We begin today in Massachusetts, where legislative campaign finance reports have finally come in!

In a special edition of Tardy Tuesday Takedown, we dedicate the top news to this information. More in-depth reports may be written time-permitting. Below is data for Democrats and Republicans ahead of the primary in Springfield races and other notable legislative races in Massachusetts. All numbers are through August 22.

Of course the 1^st Hampden & Hampshire Senate District has grabbed the most attention. The brouhaha has mostly been over Eric Lesser’s $302,000 haul, of which, his opponents decry, only about $50,000 is from within the district. Lesser spent $250,000 of which critics charges included a design firm in Connecticut, although much of that was merely pass-through to a Massachusetts printer.

Tim Allen raised $61,000 of which $34,000 was in self-loans. He also had $5600 leftover from 2013. Allen spent $66,400. James “Chip” Harrington raised $38,200, including $5600 in loans and rolled over $2,700 from his town campaign account. He spent $41,000. Thomas Lachiusa raised $3700 of which $1700 was loans. Lachiusa spent $3200. Finally Aaron Saunders raised $32,000 rolling over less than $250 from his town account and lending himself $5000. He spent $32,000 so far.

On the Republican side, Debra Boronski raised $57,000 of which $26,000 was in loans and $900 was raised in 2013. She spent another $5000 on behalf of her own campaign separately. She spent $47,400 through the campaign. The Marlborough Republican City Committee, which had a role in the 4^th Hampden special earlier this year, spent $7400 on Boronski’s behalf, mostly for canvassers including several on staff through Boronski’s own campaign.

In the 2^nd Hampden & Hampshire Senate District, Democrat Christopher Hopewell $13,600 and spent about $13,300. Patrick Leahy raised $27,000 including about $2000 in a loan to himself. He spent $24,000 through this reporting period. Leahy also benefited from SEIU 1199’s spending campaign postcards, although this was part of a larger buy for several legislative candidates.

Republican Don Humason raised $21,000 on top of $37,000 leftover from last year. Humason’s campaign spent $22,600 and charged another $4200 to campaign credit cards.

Elsewhere, we have posted a couple of Facebook updates on the two legislative races in Springfield. You can find the 9^th Hampden’s post here and the 10^th Hampden’s post here. Neither race has a Republican on the ballot, which means the primary will effectively decide the election.

Out in Westfield’s 4^th Hampden, which has no primary, Democratic Rep. John Velis raised $9700 from April 22 through August 22 along with $775 leftover after retiring debts from the special election in April. He has spent in that time $8700 since April. Velis still owes himself $2500 in campaign loans. His once and again opponent Republican Dan Allie raised $4000 and had $300 leftover from the special election. Allie spent $2800 since April, but as they did in the special the Marlborough Republican City Committee spent on Allie’s behalf since April. Spending, which largely went to consultant Andrew Surprise, totaled about $4500.

Some notable legislative races are in the 16^th Worcester and the 12^th Suffolk. Daniel Donahue, who won the Worcester-based district in a special election and profiled here last summer, faces one of his primary rivals Joshua Perro in the primary. Donahue rolled over $7600 from last year and raised $37,800 through August 22. He spent $24,500. Perro raised an eye-popping $122,000 after rolling over less than $700 from last year. He spent $97,700 overwhelmingly on staff and consultants. Perro owes himself $28,000 and gave himself almost $50,000.

Daniel Cullinane who won his race at the same time as Donahue faces two opponents in the primary. One opponent, Ruthella Logan-Cruz raised almost nothing. Corey Allen, another opponent, raised $10,100 and spent $8200, although about $4500 of his fund appear to be his own. Cullinane rolled over a paltry $1200 from 2013, but raised $69,500 and has spent $57,700.

Carole Fiola, who was sworn in with Cullinane and Donahue does not face a primary opponent, but has a general election opponent. The other reps sworn in with John Velis in April do not appear to face any real opposition in the primary or general elections.

…And the World:

ISIS claims to have beheaded journalist Steven Sotloff, whom they were holding and had threatened to kill if the US did not stop airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.

Russian President Vladimir Putin purportedly claimed he could take Kiev in two weeks. The comments came as Ukrainian separatists lower their demands and President Barack Obama goes to Europe to reassure the nervous new members of NATO.

Israel has been criticized for its latest and large appropriation of land in the West Bank. Secretary of State John Kerry is returning to the region in hopes of discussing restarting peace talks, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemingly wanted to revive, but a Haaretz editorial is skeptical to say the least.

The Feds:

Some great stuff on Labor Day from The New York Times below in Twitter Chatter. But here’s a great editorial in the meantime.

Politico Magazine looks at the havoc judicial elections are wreaking on the country’s courts.

Amazing development out of Alaska. Democrats and an Independent gubernatorial candidate will form a fusion ticket in the hope of unseating Governor Sean Parnell. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Byron Mallot will drop down to be Independent Bill Walker’s running mate. In a 3 way Parnell was likely to win, but in a one-on-one against Walker, Parnell’s victory looks iffy.

Mitch McConnell’s reelection campaign was rocked over the Labor Day weekend by the resignation of Jesse Benton, his campaign manager. Benton’s last job, running Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, put him close to a federal investigation of bribery in the Iowa Republican Presidential caucus. McConnell’s Democratic opponent Alison Grimes has been hammering the longtime Republican senator about what he knew and when. The impact remains uncertain. (h/t to DailyKos Elections for Alaska & Kentucky links)

The State of Things (cont’d):

Read up on the Gubernatorial candidates on Masslive. Don Berwick, Martha Coakley and Steve Grossman all. Also we profile Coakley’s bid.

The Fourth Estatements:

Katharine Weymouth, the The Washington Post’s publisher and the last member of the Graham family member running the now Jeff Bezos-owned outlet, will leave the paper in October.

City Slickers:

All Things Considered‘s Audie Cornish will attend the opening of NEPR’s new headquarters in downtown Springfield.

 In an executive session, the Springfield City Council received a legal update tonight on the biomass plant permit, which a Boston court reinstated last month. No decision has been made about filing an appeal, although the Council must decide whether or not to do so by September 15.

Twitter Chatter: 

The combination of an insane election season and Massachusetts’ regular September primary leaves us with insufficient attention paid to Labor Day. Luckily, one of the few labor beat reporters put in a full day ahead of the holiday, which honors the work of organized labor to improve workplace conditions. Today we award the tweet prize to New York Times Labor Reporter Steven Greenhouse for a Labor Day weekend’s worth of work on some of the biggest issues facing working people with a trilogy of articles. Well done, sir!

My Labor Day Trilogy: Fast-Food Strikes: http://t.co/ihKyqH8lI0 MORE WAGE THEFT http://t.co/BtooeqcYkN MORE TEMP JOBS http://t.co/nC4vPZqbGd

— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) September 2, 2014