Following the Money: Who is Behind Reynolds and Smith in Bethlehem's Mayoral Contest?

Bethlehem has two Mayoral candidates seeking the Democratic nomination - incumbent Mayor Willie Reynolds and Council member Grace Crampsie Smith. No Republican has declared, and it's unlikely that either candidate is seeking a write-in nomination from Republicans the way Ed Zucal is doing in Allentown. Both are staunch Democrats, and both made that clear during their debate. So who is backing these candidates? Both filed timely finance reports on Friday. 

Willie Reynolds (see report here) - For some reason, he now refers to himself more formally as J. William Reynolds. But I still like to refer to him as Willie, and not in a pejorative way. It's just how I know him. 

Willie reports a warchest of $123,379.80, including $29,905 raised between the beginning of the year and May 4.  He started the year with $93,384.80 as he obviously was preparing for his re-election. Thus, to give you a better understanding of his supporters, it's necessary to also examine his annual report for 2024. (see report here).

The small donations. - Looking at both reports combined, you can see that his smaller donations ($250 or less) amount to $11,740, about 10% of the total he raised from 1/1/24 to 5/4/25. Of these 71 smaller donations, 63 come from Bethlehem residents, which demonstrates that he has grass roots support. These donations, incidentally, include a $200 donation from Amy Cozze, who is now running for NorCo Exec. 

The PACs. - His donations from political action committees (PACs) amount to a whopping $26,300 over 2024 and the first four months of this year. The largest, by far, is the $15,500 Reynolds received from the Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors, which has also endorsed Reynolds with this reasoning:

As REALTORS®, it is important to recommend candidates who support private property rights and issues important to the real estate industry. There is a growing list of candidates in this election who are pushing for radical housing policies, like increasing the deed/real estate transfer tax, rent control, rent stabilization, and mandatory annual landlord training programs. Local elections have a huge impact on our industry, and we are excited to support candidates we believe will help infuse common sense into our local governments.

The reference to "common sense," incidentally, is a term that Trump administrators and acolytes regularly use. 

Reynold also received donations from KTMC, a teacher's PAC ($5,000); the Eric Evans PAC (Evans is employed by Reynolds - $500); the Lisa Boscola PAC (Her husband is employed by Reynolds - $500); former Mayor Bob Donchez ($2,500); and Moving Pa Forward ($500). 

The Big Spenders. - In 2024 and the first four months of this year, Willie accumulated $84,600 in donations from what I call the big spenders, i.e. those who give for than $250.

There's a tie for the biggest of these donations. Richard Masters, whose company manufactures picture frames and home decor, donated $5,000. He has been a reliable Democratic contributor. Matthew Bieber, a software consultant, also gave $5000. The remaining contributors of $1,000 or more are Randy Galliostto (owner of Alloy5 architectural firm - $4,500); Jack and Marian Spirk - $3,000 (Spirk is City Solicitor); Murat Guzal - $2,500 (Turkish businessman who is both a philanthropist and Democratic donor); Jim Broughal - $2,000 (Bethlehem lawyer specializing in municipal law); luxury apartment builder Plamenta Ayazou - $2,000 (Monocacy Builders); Diana Morganelli - $2,500 (Judge Morganelli's wife); King Spry - $1,500 (Bethlehem law firm); Borko Milosev - $1,000 (property manager); Kevin Kinross - $1,000 (Democratic strategist and business leader from Pittsburgh); Charles Marcon - $1,000  (construction); Placido Corpora - $1,000 (Bethlehem businessman); Steve Thompson - $1,000 (principal of minority owned Delane Consulting; and Ari Frazil - $1,000 (an engineer) . 

Reynolds also lent $45,000 to his campaign in 2024 but has since paid back $40,000. 

Grace Crampsie Smith (see report here) - Grace reports contributions of $43,350 over the first four months of this year. But she also reports a treasury of $73,945.29 because she started the year with $30.415.29. Like Willie, she started her campaign early. As a result, it is necessary to review her 2024 report (see it here) together with the pre-primary report she timely filed on Friday. 

The small donations. - Looking at both reports combined, you can see that $11,480 of 80 donations of $250 or less amount to about 17% of the total of $66,530 raised. Of these small donations, 50 come from Bethlehem residents. So like Willie, she has grass roots support. Just not as much. These small donations, incidentally, include $75 from Kelly Keegan and $150 from Greg Zebrowski, the Polish Prince. Both are Zrinski supporters. 

The PACs. - Grace relied heavily on PAC contributions. They make up $37,850 (56%) of the $67,160 she raised in 2024 and the first four months of this year. These are mostly from trade unions, with IUOE (Jim Reilly) donating a whopping $20,000 to her Mayoral quest. Other trade union contributions include IBEW ($11,000), Plumbers ($2,500), IUPAT ($2,500) and Laborers' Local ($1,000).

That's a lot of trade union support. This could be because she championed a responsible contractor ordinance for city-owned projects. This ultimately failed because city administrators argued it would increase costs for the city. My brother, an evil Republican who picks his nose and eats it, was highly critical of Grace's "silly argument" in a letter to the editor:

Just because the proposed ordinance doesn’t have the word “union” does not mean that it is not biased toward unions, which it clearly is. At a recent Bethlehem council hearing, over 30, mostly out-of-town union workers attended to support the ordinance.

The Big Spenders. -  Her biggest contributor is Rocco Damato, who gave her $5,000. A NYC transplant, he roasts nuts here in the Lehigh Valley, but not the human nuts. Other $1000-plus donors include commercial lawyer Donald Kaas ($2,000); former congressional candidate Ed O'Brien ($1,500); Frank Boyer, senior VP at Dugan and Marcom construction ($1,000); Kelly Ronalds of Hotel Bethlehem ($1,000); and consultant John Blankstein ($1,500). 

Blogger's Note: I spent most of the day yesterday preparing this story. But as I said in my post concerning the NorCo Exec candidates, I welcome your own analysis. You may see things I have totally missed and that the public needs to know. But I'd appreciate it if you could avoid just making the usual attacks and actually point out what you like or dislike in a campaign finance report.