John Fairfield and his Friends

So many candidates for mayor this year are bending over backwards in order to get the half dozen or so votes it'll take to advance to the primary but it seems like Councilman Fairfield is the nearly as bad as Kathryn Shields as making the money that goes through his hand seem unseemly.

To wit, Fairfield got more than $5100 in campaign contributions last year from entities connected with Briarcliff who seem to represent the SuperTif silliness that's going on North of the River.

Previously, you might remember that Fairfield has already had a history in this campaign of calling on his friends at what might be considered inappropriate times. Let's not forget that after voting to restore the old plea agreement system in Municipal Court, Fairfield reportedly placed several quickly ensuing e-mails and asked how much defense attorneys were contributing to his mayoral campaign.

Records show that Fairfield sent his e-mail later that day or early Sept. 8 from his Northland law office. But it was inadvertently picked up in a string of e-mail responses that eventually were sent back Sept. 8 to Fairfield's City Council e-mail. Fairfield and his campaign staff said the private e-mail should not have been sent to his public council account.

The e-mails showed, and campaign disclosures confirmed, that deVries' firm on Sept. 8 gave $250 to Fairfield's mayoral campaign and another attorney in the firm donated $200.

Fairfield said a fundraiser for him Sept. 7 at a Northland restaurant had been planned for weeks and numerous attorneys were invited. He said the fundraiser "just happened" to fall on the night of the vote for defective-equipment pleas.

Anyway, as the Mayor's race gets closer, I just think it's important to see how hard the candidates rely on their friends and that some of them are working their e-mail accounts harder than a Nigerian aristocrat who wants to move funds out his country quickly.