Creating The Illusion Of Support

The moonbatosphere reallllly hates Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart.  After all, he has made substantial steps toward addressing the problems caused by illegal aliens at the local level.  According to the far Left, making sure lawbreakers don't get away with it makes Stewart a "bully."

Perhaps more seriously, he has held the line on taxes and government spending, something that his predecessor, Repubmocrat Sean Connaughton, couldn't manage to do in good times, posturing as a tax reducer when, in good times, average home values were increasing.  Connaughton reduced tax rates, but of course, increase assessments meant that the average homeowner's tax bill increased by more than 60% during Connaughton's tenure, enough to support his profligate spending spree.  Then, of course, Connaughton got out of Dodge before he had to make the tough choices made by his successor.

The far Left is running Dr. Babur Lateef, a local opthalmologist, against Stewart in this cycle, and at least one far-Left website is crowing that "Babur Lateef Nearly Matches Corey Stewart in 1Q11 Fundraising."

Wow.  This sounds serious.

Until you look at the real numbers.  Lateef reports total contributions of $146,894 during the reporting period.

But of this number, $10,000 comes from ... Babur Lateef, M.D.

Of course, that's OK: a candidate should put his own money where his mouth is.

Then there are three contributions totaling $10,533 from Advanced Opthalmology, Inc., in Woodbridge, Virginia.  And who is the principal in the eeeevil corporation?  Well, it appears to be ... Babur Lateef, M.D.!

So that's a total of $20,533, or nearly 14% of the total, from Dr. Lateef himself.

Then there are the out-of-state donations, totaling a whopping $60,850.  To be fair, some appear to be from family members (other "Lateefs"), but many are not from people who are readily identifiable as members of Dr. Lateef's family, i.e., those with the same surname.  Nevertheless, fully 41.42% of Dr. Lateef's donations are from individuals residing in West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Georgia, and Texas.  At least one donation even came from California!

I suppose Chairman Corey Stewart should be flattered that the far Left's enmity for him extends so far.

Then there are the other donations from outside of Prince William County.  Donations from other places in Virginia total $44,850, or 30.53% of Dr. Lateef's donations.

In total, then, of the $146,894 in donations reported by Dr. Lateef, more than 70% come from outside of the County, and more than 40%, from out of state.  And let us not forget the nearly 15% that come from the candidate himself.

In toto, then, excluding money from the candidate himself, from out of state, and out of the County, Dr. Lateef has raised only $21,161, or less than 15%, from County residents or businesses within the County.  Many of the last appear to be from other medical professionals, medical suppliers, and even one of Dr. Lateef's employees (if Lateef were a Republican, no doubt the far Left would be screaming about how this individual was browbeaten into contributing, or some other nonsensical charge).

With these numbers, my guess is that many, perhaps most, of the "Friends of Babur Lateef" couldn't identify Prince William County on a map.  And to borrow a phrase from the moonbatosphere, one has to wonder whether the fact that most of Lateef's donations come from out of the County will prove to be "a disservice to Prince William County's more than 400,000 residents."