Campaign finance reports were due Tuesday. LL’s spent the last couple of days poring over them to give City Desk readers the inside dirt not found in certain daily newspapers. It’s grueling work, so LL will be sussing out the various races piecemeal today and tomorrow. First up, Ward 8:

  • Marion Barry: Unsurprisingly, the mayor-for-life has been raking it in with a shovel—-a snow shovel. On the contributions side, the donor list is a veritable who’s-who of the city power elite. LL feels the best course of action is just to start listing names (unless noted, all donations are the $500 max):

    Former/Current Public Officials: Former Ward 3 Councilmember Jim Nathanson, Former Ward 7 Councilmember H.R. Crawford (plus a max donation from his Crawford-Edgewood Management Co.), Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss (plus max donations from wife Katherine and the Law Offices of Paul Strauss), Law Offices of (former at-large councilmember) Harold Brazil ($350), former Ward 1 Councilmember Frank Smith, former Ward 7 Councilmember Kevin Chavous, Acting UDC President Stanley Jackson ($200), former Democratic State Committee chair A. Scott Bolden (plus $500 from his law firm, Reed Smith), Sports and Entertainment Commission vice chair Bill Hall (plus wife Melissa), Taxicab Commission chair Leon Swain ($200), and—-wait for it—-former Mayor Anthony A. Williams

    Biz Types: Developers John Akridge, Jair Lynch, Herb Miller, and PN Hoffman, Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (plus their top lobbyist, Andrew J. Kline), Sam Wang Produce (which is hoping to redevelop the Florida Avenue Marker in Ward 5), lobbyists David Wilmot and Max Brown, Tina Ang (lobbyist John Ray‘s right-hand woman; their firm, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, also kicked in), and Paramount Title & Escrow, the outfit run by Fenty money man Ben Soto, plus various lawyers and construction interests galore

    The Soccer Lobby: D.C. United, MacFarlane Partners spokesperson Julie Chase, United prez Kevin Payne, and MacFarlane lobbyist Craig Engle

    Charter School Advocates: Public Charter School Board chair Tom Nida, Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS) Executive Director Robert Cane ($100), FOCUS Deputy Director Ariana Quinones-Miranda ($200), Building Hope prez Joe Bruno ($400), Building Hope VP Kathleen Padian ($100)

    Others: Mega health insurer CareFirst’s political action committee (why this is important), MedStar EVP Michael Rogers, former Barry chiefs of staff E. Faye Williams ($100) and Keith Andrew Perry ($100), and get this: Alice Rivlin, the former control board chair who spent years trying to undo Barry’s fiscal mismanagement. The current Brookings Institution fellow gave $500.

    As far as the expenditures go, two in particular stand out: $5,000 to Barry’s son, Christopher Barry, to serve as a consultant; and $4,000 given to this year’s Martin Luther King Day Parade in Anacostia for “advertising.”

    One thing’s for sure: Barry will have the best-advised campaign in Ward 8. For a campaign just announced a couple of weeks ago, he’s got a lot of well-paid folks around to help him out. Hakim Sutton, who was involved in failed campaigns to elect Kathy Patterson council chair and Michael A. Brown Ward 4 councilmember, alone has received nearly $21,000 since late March. In all, 10 different folks have been listed as “consultants,” hauling a total of $40,000. Also notable: a $2,400 phone bill and a $10,000 printing bill.

    The Totals: In: $108,545; Out: $74,922.51; Cash on Hand: $33,622.49; Debts: $0

  • Darrell Gaston: Young Garfield Heights activist Gaston hasn’t exactly set his neighborhood afire just yet. Of the $941 he’s raised, $433 has come from Ward 8. All of that, incidentally, is listed as coming from the same address Gaston gives as his own. Besides $3 and $5 cash donations, Gaston himself has pumped $300 into the race. All of Gaston’s expenditures to date have been on campaign materials.

    The Totals: In: $941; Out: $795; Cash on Hand: $146; Debts: $0

  • Sandra “S.S.” Seegars: The longtime Congress Heights rabble-rouser seems to have benefited from Barry’s support of a single-beer-sales ban: She’s piled up more than 20 big checks from liquor stores and groceries throughout the ward. Only one $200 check doesn’t come from a beer-dealing business or Seegars herself (she pumped in $2,000). She’s spent a pittance so far on printing and advertising, giving her the biggest challenger war chest in Ward 8.

    The Totals: In: $7,500; Out: $629.57; Cash on Hand: $6,870.43; Debts: $0

  • Yavocka Young: Young, executive director of Main Streets Anacostia, raised LL’s hopes that her run might attract the support of forward-looking development types. That doesn’t seem to have happened yet. Young’s garnered mostly small neighborhood donations, most of which have been spent on trips to Staples and Kinkos.

    The Totals: In: $1,563; Out: $984; Cash on Hand: $579; Debts: $0

  • Did Not Report: Ahmad Braxton-Jones, Howard Brown, Chanda McMahan, Cardell Shelton, Charles E. Wilson