There is even greater disparity between the contribution totals of the top twenty council members, sixteen of whom voted to extend term limits and are running for a third term ($2.9M to $600K). The average raised for a top twenty incumbent is $146,867. The average for the nearest challenger is $31,184. That's a margin of almost five to one.
And Bloomberg has out raised Thompson by a margin of almost ten to one ($36.6M to $3.8M). The Campaign Finance Board says on their site that their "program amplifies the impact of New Yorkers’ small contributions by matching them with public funds, reducing the possibility and the perception of corruption associated with large contributions and unlimited campaign spending."
Matching contributions with public funds does not cut it. No amount of reform and regulation will ever make it a fair fight in New York City. This is why the people voted twice for term limits, and why a new ironclad, intractable term limit law must be enacted.
Here is a breakdown of the top twenty council members by their contribution total, as well as the contribution total of their nearest primary challenger:
| Incumbent | Contributions | Challenger | Contributions |
| Garodnick (D) | $471,269 | Ashok Chandra | $24,861 |
| Lappin (D) | 320,971 | Stephen Kaufman | 110 |
| *Vacca (D) | 293,495 | None | 0 |
| *Arroyo | 206,088 | None | 0 |
| *Felder (D) | 185,660 | None | 0 |
| *Comrie (D,WF) | 163,315 | Clyde Vanel | 28,330 |
| Gentile | 157,392 | Robert Capano | 11,900 |
| *Quinn (D) | 148,216 | Yetta Kurland | 78,660 |
| *Sears (D) | 128,493 | David Dromm | 103,958 |
| *Koppell (D) | 115,388 | Tony Cassino | 101,440 |
| *Vallone Jr (D) | 99,730 | Lynne Serpe | 9,414 |
| *Dickens (D) | 97,505 | Landon Dais | 7,235 |
| *Gonzalez (D) | 87,231 | Robinson Iglesis | 6,264 |
| *Fidler (D) | 78,602 | Ayo Johnson | 8,632 |
| Mitchell (D) | 72,435 | Deborah Rose | 27,567 |
| *Jackson (D) | 67,092 | Miguel Lantigua | 18,976 |
| *White (D) | 66,915 | Lynn Nunes | 32,041 |
| *Reyna (D) | 63,389 | Maritza Davila | 80,430 |
| *Sanders Jr. (D) | 58,800 | Michael Duncan | 32422 |
| *Stewart (D) | 55,345 | Jumaane Williams | 51,448 |
* indicates a candidate who voted to extend term limits
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