A clarification has been attached to this article.

In the four-way Democratic race to replace former state Rep. Marie St. Fleur, Fifth Suffolk District candidate Carlos Henriquez has poured over $5,700 of his own money into his campaign this year, state finance records show. He raised $2,000 from 54 individual donors through the end of August, his campaign says.

Fellow Democratic candidate Barry Lawton has raised nearly four times that figure, raking in over $8,000 in individual donations from 58 donors. Lawton, an East Boston high school teacher, has served as an aide on Beacon Hill and unsuccessfully ran for the Fifth Suffolk seat in 1999 and 1988.

Henriquez, a former City Hall aide, spent $9,670, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Most of the expenditures were spent on campaign signs, buttons, office supplies and phone banking. He paid $500 each to Andrew Kenneally and Tomas Gonzalez, both former candidates for City Council At-Large who had signed on as campaign consultants.

Incomplete information on OCPF's website showed just 12 donors to Henriquez's campaign. Henriquez provided a complete list of donors to the Reporter on Thursday, as well as finance reports showing an additional $2,650 raised since the start of September.

Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral also donated $100 to his campaign last week.

Henriquez has run for office before: He twice attempted to unseat District 7 Councillor Chuck Turner, who beat Henriquez soundly each time.

His biggest donor in the Fifth Suffolk race so far is Patrick Lee of Milton, who gave $500.
Henriquez said fundraising for the campaign picked up in September, adding that with a recession and other campaigns higher on the ballot, raising funds has been difficult.

Althea Garrison, who served for a term as a Republican in the 1990s, and perennial candidate Roy Owens, are also running for the seat.

Lawton received donations from the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts ($500), Boston Teachers Union ($500), local political consultant Joyce Ferriabough ($250), IBEW Local Union 2222 ($250), and local attorney Charles Tevnan ($100), among others. Overall, 62 percent of donations came from Boston, but Lawton’s donor list also included individuals from Stoneham, Cambridge, Milton, Brookline and Wellesley.

Lawton has spent $7,567, mostly on office supplies and campaign materials. He paid the Victory Group, a Beacon Hill consulting group, $250.

He has an ending balance of $509 in his campaign account, according to OCPF filings.
Campaign finance filings from Garrison and Owens were not available at press time. Candidates had a deadline of Sept. 7 to file finance records with OCPF.

The Fifth Suffolk primary, which due to the lack of a Republican candidate will decide the winner of the Nov. 2 general election, is slated for Sept. 14. St. Fleur stepped down earlier this year, taking a job with the Menino administration in June.

Incumbent Chang-Diaz out-raises challenger
State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz nearly raised ten times more cash than challenger Hassan Williams, according to campaign finance records.

The majority of donations to her campaign came from Boston. Donations also flowed from Newton, Brookline and out of state. She raised $75,200 through August, according to OCPF.

Chang-Diaz, running for a second term, spent $29,500 on consultants and $20,100 on printing costs. Overall, she spent $64,182 through the end of August.

She received donations from the 1199 SEIU union’s political action committee ($500), City Councillor At-Large Felix Arroyo ($100), philanthropist and activist Barbara Lee ($500), Latina activist Giovanna Negretti ($30), businessman Clayton Turnbull ($500), and Ellen Zane, president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center ($150).

Williams, a Roxbury attorney, loaned his campaign nearly $12,000 and raised the rest, bringing his donations total to $19,481. Most of the donations came from Boston residents.

He spent $19,100, most of it on campaign staffers, fliers, signs and stickers, and t-shirts.

He also donated $200 to Gov. Deval Patrick’s campaign, which returned $100 of it as an excess contribution because of a limit on donations at the state Senate campaign committee level.

The Second Suffolk District includes Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Back Bay, the South End, Beacon Hill and Chinatown.

The primary is on Sept. 14. There are no Republicans running.

The finance records are available at mass.gov/ocpf.

CNN’s King to host gubernatorial debate
Dorchester’s John King is hosting a live televised debate among the candidates for governor on Sept. 21. The hour-long debate has been put together by a consortium of local media outlets and CNN. The other outlets include the Boston Globe, WCVB-TV, WHDH-TV, New England Cable news, WGBH-TV and radio, and WBUR 90.9 FM.

The CNN chief national correspondent and anchor of “John King, USA” was raised in Dorchester.
The candidates for governor include incumbent Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, Republican candidate Charlie Baker, state treasurer and Independent candidate Timothy Cahill and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein.

The election is Nov. 2.

Pressley takes top slot on arts panel
City Councillor At-Large Ayanna Pressley is taking the helm of the City Council’s Arts, Film, Humanities and Tourism Committee, replacing former District 6 Councillor John Tobin. Tobin left last month for a government relations job at Northeastern University. Pressley, an Ashmont resident, had been a member of the committee and is chair of the Committee on Women and Healthy Communities. She was elected to the council in 2009.

CLARIFICATION: Because of incomplete information on the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, the original report said Henriquez had 12 donors contributing to his campaign. The number is in fact 54 through the end of August, according to the campaign.