Mayor Mitchell’s Campaign Finance Facts [OPINION]

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, in my opinion, is running for re-election and his campaign finance report is Exhibit A among the evidence. 

Mayor Jon Mitchell is an honest man. He is a Harvard graduate and a former federal prosecutor. He is the mayor of New Bedford because he wants to be the mayor of New Bedford. Ivy League attorneys with experience as federal prosecutors are always in demand.

Jon Mitchell has never complained about the money he could be making if he wasn't the mayor of New Bedford. I believe he enjoys the challenge and the responsibility of the position. I know from people around him that he is capable of getting angry when things don't get done according to his standards. People only get angry if they care about a project. He wants to solve, or at least manage, the problems of his city and capitalize on the assets of one of the oldest and most historic cities in America.

The facts contained in the campaign finance report of Mayor Mitchell are revealing. First of all, he has paid for a storage facility in the city. The only reason a campaign needs storage space is for campaign signs and other related material. If he wasn't running for another term, he would just toss the signs instead of paying to store them safely for another run. It isn't much money to rent a storage locker, and it also shows that the mayor is fiscally conservative and wants to protect the assets of his campaign for another day.

Since being re-elected to another term as mayor, Jon Mitchell has raised roughly $30,000 for his campaign. As of the last filing, Mayor Mitchell has close to $185,000 in the bank and zero debt. The donors to his campaign are the people who understand the pulse of the area, and are going to be involved regardless of who wins the next election.

His donors include pizza entrepreneur and philanthropist Nelson Hockert-Lotz; attorney John Markey (son of a former mayor, brother of State Rep. Chris Markey and a person on most short lists as a future mayor, if he wants it); Billy Burns, who made the trains run on time in Sen. Montigny's, Scott Lang's, and Jon Mitchell's offices, and is now at Southcoast Health; and businessmen like Frank Tedesco and Ken Rezendes. Other donors include former Sen. William Q. "Biff" MacLean; former Cape Cod Senator Henri Rauschenbach; CEO David Slutz; former city councilor and businessman Victor Pinheiro; attorney Kurt Espinola; and attorney Robert Schilling.

Jon Mitchell has deep support, and it appears he is still interested in doing one of the most challenging jobs in American politics.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.