Tito Jackson’s banking big bucks
By Jessica Fargen / Pols & Politics
Sunday, February 6, 2011 – Updated 1 day ago
Tito Jackson has raised nearly $50,000 in his bid for former city councilor Chuck Turner’s seat, far outdoing his five rivals, according to campaign finance records.
Jackson, a Grove Hall resident who was political director for Gov. Deval Patrick’s re-election campaign, has raised $50,271 since mid-December, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. In 2011, he raised $30,691, according to records as of Jan. 31.
Cornell Mills, 36, the son of former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, has raised $1,855, records show.
Danielle Williams, Roy Owens, Natalie Carithers and Althea Garrison have not filed paperwork indicating they raised any campaign cash. The election for the District 7 seat is Feb. 15.
Turner, 70, was sentenced last month to three years in prison after a conviction on federal bribery charges. In December, he was ousted from the council.
Candidates said they have been working tirelessly in the district, where voters are concerned about jobs and violence.
“I have been hitting the streets. I’ve been knocking on doors,” said Jackson, 35, who ran for city council last year.
“I’m running a very door-to-door campaign. I’m talking to voters every day,” said Mills, 36, a former civilian homicide investigator who owns a real estate firm.
“Door knocking and talking to voters — that’s been going wonderful,” said Williams, 56, a Roxbury political activist who held her first fund-raiser Friday.
Carithers, 56, said she’s raised about $4,000, but her campaign has been stymied by weather and the death of her father on Thursday. Owens, a perennial candidate, and Garrison, a former state representative, could not be reached.