I have just begun looking into the details of the latest FEC filings but one thing stood out to me.

63% of the total amount raised by candidate Jon Powers comes from individual contributors. However only $24,915.04 of the $27,1936.08 raised is listed as non-itemized or represents donations made that were $200 or less. I would personally say anything that is $200 or less is pretty safe to consider a “small” donation in terms of political giving, reinforced as its status in the non-itemized category.

I am making note of it because the Powers campaign is often fond of citing its “grassroots” support. I crunched some numbers awhile ago under the title “Who is Funding the Powers Campaign” that looked into previous fundraising and found a great deal of money coming from out-of-district donors. The campaign responded to similar articles by touting its small donor base, a point of pride for local liberal bloggers and area supporters who have cited it as one of the campaigns strengths over rival Jack Davis and others. In Powers previous quarterly FEC filing the total raised by small donations represented 18% of the candidates total and so this small contributor base appears to have eroded in the latest filing.

In addition while this quarter 63% of Powers money came from all individual contributors this number is down from last quarter when the total was 78%.

There was a 15% increase in total revenue and did rise were contributions received from Political Action Committees. Last quarter only $7,200 of the campaigns fundraising came from PACS. This quarter that number rose to $95,700.

In addition, yesterday the campaign filed a Statement of Filing form to register two joint-fundraising or PAC committees. This form must be filled out by a primary campaign committee no later than 10 days after the new groups reach one of three thresholds, typically raising over $5,000 or making contributions or expenditures in connection with a federal election aggregating in excess of $1,000.

The two committees registered were IA Vets for Congress that will support Powers along with candidate Ashwin Madia who is running for Congress in Minnesota and John Boccieri who is running for Congress in Ohio’s 16th District. The second committee is the Rangel Victory Fund which supports several NY Democratic candidates including Eric Massa (NY-29) and Dan Maffei (NY-25th) in association with New York Congressman Charles Rangel.

Recently the Erie County Republican Chair urged Powers to return contributions from Rangel because of revelations that the Congressman may have received “sweetheart” real estate deals. It appears the Powers response is to be a recipient of more Rangel fundraising.

All of this, again, is interesting when considering the campaigns consistent use of the term “grassroots support” and its touting of small donors. As the last glimpse of campaign financing before the primary and election voters will make their decision without knowledge of where the candidates funding comes in the last stretch. This filing is an indication that the Powers campaign is becoming less reliant on individual and small donors and more reliant on PACS.

More information about Powers and all other candidates fundraising to come in the next few days/weeks.