Richmond City Council President William J. Pantele has gotten an early campaign fundraising boost from the real estate industry, including the developer of the proposed Echo Harbour project.

Pantele received $1,000 last fall from U.S. Property Development Co., a business spin-off of the Unification Church that is asking the city to rezone riverfront property for condominiums in Shockoe Bottom.

The donation was among almost $21,000 that Pantele received in the last half of 2007 for his 2nd District re-election campaign -- or a possible run for mayor in November. His campaign fund had a balance of $51,856 at the end of the year.

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder hasn't announced whether he will seek re-election for a second four-year term as the city's first popularly elected mayor in almost 60 years. The Wilder for Mayor campaign reported no contributions or expenses for the second half of last year, but he still has $131,769 in the bank from his successful 2004 mayoral bid. During the election cycle for that campaign, Wilder raised $440,380 and spent $308,611.

Developers, builders and real estate interest also contributed to 4th District Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano and 3rd District Councilman Chris A. Hilbert, who will face a re-election challenge from Battery Park civic activist Jonathan Davis.

"Having been a real estate lender, that's kind of a natural base for me," said Hilbert, a former banker who now works for the Virginia Housing Development Authority.

Hilbert raised $11,450 in the last six months of last year, compared with $1,360 by Davis, president of the Friends of Battery Park, who has not yet filed a declaration of candidacy. Hilbert said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a resident of the district until his inauguration, has tentatively agreed to host a fundraiser for him April 2.

No other incumbent City Council members reported campaign contributions from July 1 through Dec. 31.

Pantele, who focused on real estate contributions at a fundraiser in September, said that the donation from the owner of the Echo Harbour property won't influence his vote on the proposed rezoning, which Wilder has opposed publicly.

"I can tell you, and they'll tell you, that I have voted against people who have given me a lot of money," Pantele said Monday.

Pantele is a longtime family friend of George T. Ross, who is contract developer for the Echo Harbour project. But Pantele said he is torn between the $160 million development's economic benefits to the city and its potential harm to scenic views over the James River from Church Hill.

"I'm going to vote in accordance with what I think is right," he said without elaborating.

Pantele also received $100 from James W. Theobald, a Richmond zoning lawyer who represents the Echo Harbour project, and $1,000 from Jerry Cable, a restaurateur who formerly owned the property on Dock Street and still maintains an easement to reach his boat dock there.

Theobald said he's known Pantele since the council president was in law school and clerked at his firm, Hirschler Fleischer. He said he has not met with Pantele to discuss the Echo Harbour project, and he discounted the value of campaign contributions for winning political support.

"You get noticed when you don't contribute," Theobald said. "You get nothing when you do."

Graziano, who is chairwoman of the council's land use committee, collected almost $39,000 in contributions in the last six months of 2007 and has almost $58,000 in her campaign war chest.

"They like this council," she said of supporters in the business community. "They think it's a good working council and want to keep it together."
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or at mmartz@timesdispatch.com.