David J. Not Bankrolled By Developers

City Council challenger and outspoke rent control opponent David J. Sullivan has little if any support from city real estate owners, according to candidate financial declaration forms filed yesterday.

Incumbent Councilor David E. Sullivan has claimed that local landlords are behind David J. in an effort to remove David E. and his pro-rent control views from the Council. But forms submitted yesterday at the Election Commission showed that David J. raised $1445 for his campaign--well under the average.

Of this sum, $885 was from donors who gave more than $50 apiece--and several of these were family members. Candidates are not required to list the names of those who gave less than $50.

David E. Sullivan, the incumbent, raised $14,380.17. He spent $8611.70 of that sum on campaign publicity. Sullivan's donors include directors of neighborhood organizations such as Gladys P. Gifford, head of the Harvard Square Defense Fund.

Harvard Professor of Law Duncan M. Kennedy gave him $300.

Financial forms were due yesterday and aside from revealing that landlords are not bankrolling David J. Sullivan they showed that the wealthiest candidate was freshman Councilor William H. Walsh and that Mayor Walter J. Sullivan had the only financial support from Harvard administrators.

Walsh, the top fundraiser in the field, raised $43,000, including "in-kind" contributions. His financial declaration was not available for close scrutiny because a campaign representative submitted it at 4:59 p.m., just as the Election Commission closed.

The only Councilor to win Harvard administrators' contributions, Mayor Sullivan raised $34,930.16 and spent $14,786. Associate Vice President for State and Community Affairs Jacqueline O'Neill, gave $200 to Sullivan with her husband, Thomas P. O'Neill III. Another donor was Robert H. Scott, Harvard's new financial vice president.

The disclosure forms also showed that Councilor Thomas M. Danehy raised $9622.18 and spent $8337.36 in a campaign that many observers say is a desperate attempt to hold on to his traditional territory, which has suffered from high housing costs and gentrification. Unlike many candidates said to be threatened, Danehy has not made personal loans to his own campaign.

Former Councilor Daniel Clinton, seen as a competitor for Danehy's constituents, raised only $2733.58--much of it from family members--in his effort to return to the Council.

Councilor Sheila T. Russell, another traditional candidate whose territory overlaps with Danehy's in North Cambridge, raised $11,327.86. Of that, she reported that $9553 came from contributors who gave less than $50 and whose names consequently were not listed.

Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci raised $10,594.72 and spent $8581.06. Prominent among his list of contributions is $100 from Louis F. DiGiovanni, owner of the Trinity Realty Corporation, which is developing much of Southwest Harvard Square this year. Vellucci gave $860 to his own campaign and received $750 from his nephew, State Rep. Peter Vellucci.