New Orleans mayoral war chests fill up in final crescendo
by Frank Donze - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

As his early deluge of donations slowed to a trickle in the approach to Saturday's mayoral primary, John Georges has dug deeper into his own pocket, in the past week loaning his campaign another $700,000 to bring his personal stake in the contest to $3.4 million. Management consultant Troy Henry ranks a distant second in that category after ponying up $490,000 of his own money so far. The only other candidate to pump more cash into her campaign in the waning days of the primary season is former Civil Court Judge Nadine Ramsey, whose $25,000 injection at the end of last month boosted her investment in the race to $75,000. A review of finance reports filed with the state Ethics Administration reveals that (Mitch) Landrieu and Georges have picked up donations from corporate interests across the state. Though state campaign finance laws limit individual and corporate contributions in citywide races to $5,000, it's not uncommon for wealthy financiers to arrange several maximum contributions to candidates through relatives and companies they own or manage. While Landrieu also has raked in cash from a host of architects, engineers and lawyers who do business with the city, Georges has tapped local politicos. Landrieu's largest single benefactor may be California real-estate developer Judah Hertz, whose relatives and companies pumped $40,000 into his war chest.