Analysis - Erin Joyce and Charles Kokoros Political Contributions 2023

This is an analysis of Mayor Charles Kokoros and Candidate Erin Joyce’s campaign contributions for 2023, with an extra review comparing both candidates to Mayor Sullivan’s 2015 numbers.

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After conducting my analysis of Mayor Kokoros’ 2022 political contributions compared to Mayor Sullivan’s 2015 political contributions a reader asked me to compare the current Mayoral candidates for the 2023 election. Too quickly follow up in response I decided to conduct a partial review. Comparing Braintree vs. Non-Resident, and Men vs. Women was a relatively easy comparison, I did that, and then to only conduct a partial review of industry contributions.

Initially let’s remind ourselves of the numbers for Mayor Sullivan’s 2015 political contributions.

Erin Joyce’s Year-to-date 2023 Political Contributions

Erin Joyce’s campaign contributions by men and woman represent a change from Mayor Sullivan contributions, 62% of the contributors were women for Erin Joyce compared to 15% for Mayor Sullivan. While 46% of dollars given by contributors were women for Erin Joyce, compared to 13% of dollars given were from women for Mayor Sullivan.

For Braintree residents vs. Non-residents of Braintree political contributions for Erin Joyce in 2023 77% of contributors were Braintree residents compared to Mayor Sullivan 36%. And for dollars given, 69% of dollars given were from Braintree residents for Candidate Erin Joyce compared to 29% for Braintree residents for Mayor Sullivan.

Comparing Erin Joyce and Charles Kokoros Political Contributions

While Erin Joyce’s political contributions were in majority at 62% of contributors who were women, in comparison, for Mayor Kokoros’ 2023 political contributions in the same year was 56% men for contributors for 2023 year-to-date. And for dollars given, 50% of men represented the percentage of dollars given for Erin Joyce’s year-to-date 2023 political contributions. Whereas Charles Kokoros was 53% dollars given for men in 2023. I’ve updated the results for Mayor Kokoros, the previous numbers were for 2022, and these are for 2023.

For Braintree residents vs. nonresidents for Braintree for the contributions for Candidate Erin Joyce and Mayor Charles Kokoros. Erin Joyce had Braintree residents represent 77% of contributors, whereas for Charles Kokoros the number was 76% of contributors for the 2023 year-to-date numbers. However, Erin Joyce’s percentage of dollars given was 69% Braintree residents, compared to 58% Braintree residents for dollar given as a percentage for the Charles Kokoros 2023 campaign.

All the locations of contributors and dollars given percentage looked extremely healthy to me compared to Mayor Sullivan’s numbers in 2015, where Mayor Sullivan had majorities for non-residents of Braintree at 64% and 71% for contributors and dollars given.

Lastly, just for fun to see how Braintree compares to the big city, I ran the numbers for Boston for Mayor Michelle Wu for year-to-date campaign contributions. The dollar numbers are bigger, however 31% of residents were contributors and represented the percentage of dollars given, while 69% of contributors were non-residents and the percentage of dollars given. So, Braintree beat Boston on local political contributions speech from residents!

Here are a few more examples of Mayors and Candidates.

Industry Numbers

The industry numbers haven’t been compiled yet for Mayor Kokoros or Candidate Joyce. Instead, I did some partial research and reviewed Candidate Erin Joyce and Mayor Charles Kokoros contributors who gave $1,000. Those top paying folks usually must give their title and company, or role in life, so it’s a lot easier to determine industry. Of those $1,000 2023 political contributions for Erin Joyce’s and Charles Kokoros’ campaigns, both campaigns were the same at 30% of the large contributions coming from the construction and real estate industry. Yes, that’s still remarkably similar to Mayor Sullivan’s 2015 numbers overall!

If you’d like to conduct a more detailed analysis, you are welcome to review the data hosted on the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Fascinating to see who and which businesses are supporting what candidates. www.ocpf.us

Braintree School Building Assessment

Why am I doing this? It comes from a frustration with the state of Braintree School infrastructure. We’ve had a series of disasters in recent years. Roofs falling off, boilers at the high school not working, other issues, and culminating in the failure to open the High School in 2021.

Braintree is no different from many other Massachusetts towns, we haven’t maintained our infrastructure. At the state level, we see the lack of funding in the MBTA, how many of us have had their commute lengthened by a failure to maintain track and infrastructure on the Redline?

Two years ago, Braintree had a disastrous town budget where the school budget barely rose, and as a result it set us up for not settling the contract with the teachers’ union for 2022 and most of 2023.

Don’t get me wrong, the situation with the schools is moving forward. The Override passed by 75% and we’ve built the new South Middle School and fixed several school roofs.

Today everyone wants to invest in schools, and the 2023 Mayoral campaign has made the topic a key factor, what Mayor Kokoros has done, and what Candidate Erin Joyce will do differently.

It’s just that there’s a critical question, when the doors close, the ballots counted and the result called, is there really the political will to solve Braintree’s problems with school infrastructure and maintenance at a pace that keeps Braintree’s head above water?

How do political contributions impact the decisions about school buildings? It’s tough to tell what influence donors have, but transparency I believe will help keep voters informed.

The changing nature of political contributions is fascinating to watch, we have some good news. More contributions from Braintree residents overall, and a more equal distribution from women vs. men.

Interesting to see this development, when you consider studies that show “that individuals who are older, male, longtime residents, voters in local elections, and homeowners are significantly more likely to participate in these [town] meetings.” Who Participates in Local Government? Evidence from Meeting Minutes, Katherine Levine Einstein, Maxwell Palmer, and David M. Glick, American Political Science Association.

Yet not much appears on the surface to have changed with the political contributions as a proportion of the overall $ pie of construction and real estate industries. Their participation in the political process makes sense, they are most involved with government in permits etc. But have that industry’s influence swayed what political decisions have and will be made?

Yet maybe we are hampered by minority political opinions, this research suggests it is “surveyed 115 mayors of cities over 75,000 (a response rate of 25%). 63 Among other topics, we asked mayors whether they believed housing development was more influenced by “majority public opinion” or a “small group with strong views”; 60% of mayors selected “small group with strong views,” Local Elections and Representation in the United States, Warshaw, Christopher, ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, 11 May 2019, Vol. 22, Issue 1, pages 461 – 479

If anything, these studies of the 3 Braintree political leaders show us, the real estate, construction, and construction labor unions have an important amount of political speech when it comes to contributions.

If we do invest, we aren’t doing anything previous generations did differently, if they could pay for a new set of schools in the 1890s to the 1960s why cannot we in 2023?

In Braintree there appears to be two camps. Stop development and don’t encourage any parents to bring any children to the town, vs. maintain school infrastructure and be set for the future, if it requires development to raise revenue so be it. We have disharmony over the solutions in the two camps.

To me the irony might be that we have a call for low taxes and development, but then a sizable minority of people don’t want development that increases high density housing.

In addition to complaints about the impact of the housing on the town because of increased traffic. Many people in opposition stated the development would bring more children to the town, and to them increasing spending on schools was something to be avoided.

While I support any citizen’s right to express their legal opinion.

How can anyone attack parents bringing kids to Braintree for a good education?

Today we might be arguing for the lowering of spending on children’s education, tomorrow we’ll be arguing for the lowering of spending on senior citizens pensions.

Be careful what you ask for when it comes to lower taxes, you may see no revenue for schools, and no revenue for pensions too!

I’m for a Braintree school building assessment, and a plan for maintenance over the coming years, how do we get there?

We can increase the influence of ordinary citizens to encourage the building of a Braintree school building assessment, beyond certain industries and a small group of people. Political speech is fine, we just need more of it, you are an ordinary citizen, think about taking out your check book to influence the discussion and voicing your desire for strong schools.

Lessons From the Political Contribution Analysis for 2023

One, from the analysis we can see Braintree citizens are passionate about the town, we are beating out major cities like Boston on local contributions. Doesn’t that statistic put things in perspective, all the passion, from both sides, is really putting neighbor against neighbor when I suspect we all want the same thing, a better Braintree. Keep your head up, we are doing well as a town political contribution wise and remember we all must live together after the election too.

Two, real estate and construction give to every Braintree Mayoral candidate at the same rate. Duh! We shouldn’t be surprised.

And three, we are nearing gender parity on contributions.

And lastly, a call to both Mayoral candidates, council, and school board, please put a Braintree School Assessment together, we don’t have to spend the money immediately, but at least we’ll have a plan.

Best of luck with the election and enjoy this fine New England Fall weather!

Read this article, and want to help? You can, email both campaigns and urge them to develop a Braintree School Building Assessment.

Kokorosformayor@gmail.com

info@erinjoyceforbraintree.com