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GREENSBORO — Last year’s campaign finance reports finally have been turned in to the state and local boards of election.

Here’s a roundup of where money exchanged hands during the 2009 Greensboro City Council election:

The NC Realtors PAC, a statewide political action committee that gives to all types of candidates, gave money to nearly all the winning candidates from Greensboro:

* $1,500 to Councilman Robbie Perkins.   

* $500 to Councilman Danny Thompson; Councilman Jim Kee; Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small; Sandra Anderson Groat, who made an unsuccessful bid to keep her at-large seat; and Yvonne Johnson, who lost her mayoral seat.   

* $250 to Councilman Zack Matheny, Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw and Councilwoman Trudy Wade.

The PAC didn’t give money to winning mayoral candidate Bill Knight or leading at-large candidate Nancy Vaughan — although it did donate to her husband, state Sen. Don Vaughan.

The George C. Simkins Jr. Memorial PAC, the longtime African American committee in Greensboro, collects donations from candidates it endorses to pay for a letter to black voters.

Here’s who gave the committee donations:

* $750 from Perkins.   

*l $500 from Johnson, Kee, Nancy Vaughan and Marikay Abuzuaiter.

The PAC didn’t get donations from other folks it endorsed: Matheny, Wade, Joel Landau or Luther Falls Jr.

But what about real-people financial support, you might ask?

Not every City Council candidates solicits donations from the public. For instance, Bellamy-Small has been successful for years without actively raising money.

For those who do, the amount of donations from individuals could be a sign of general popularity among real folks — or at least voters with money to spare.

Here are the elected council members, ranked by who had the most financial support from regular folks this election cycle, as opposed to PAC contributions or loans.

It’s interesting to note that Thompson easily took an at-large seat, although he was far behind Vaughan and Perkins in the donations race:

* Knight: $28,794.   

* Vaughan: $24,099.01.   

* Matheny: $23,210.   

* Perkins: $19,330.   

* Wade: $18,122.   

* Kee: $7,795.   

* Rakestraw: $7,505.   

* Thompson: $3,334.99. 
 

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com