Battle of the C's: Conley all in on Consalvo contribution crusade; criticizes Connolly

Dan Conley, who already has the largest campaign warchest in the race for mayor, said today he's appalled at the amount of money an education group wants to spend to get John Connolly elected and that he's now agreeing with Rob Consalvo's effort to stop campaign work by third-party groups.

In a statement, Conley accused Connolly of running "an opaque political shell game" and said:

It doesn't matter whether one agrees with what Stand for Children or any other special interest group advocates.  My own education reform agenda largely aligns with theirs.  But their advocacy dollars should be limited to issues, and not specific candidates, as I urged them when I sought their endorsement.

This is not the way we do elections in Massachusetts - we led the way with the People's Pledge between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren, between Ed Markey and Steve Lynch, and just now the candidates for Congress in the 5th district have agreed to do the same. I am announcing today that I am signing on to the previously circulated People's Pledge for the Boston mayoral election through the preliminary, and if my opponent will join me, I'll do the same in the general election. I call on John Connolly and all candidates to sign the pledge as well.

Conley did not say he would seek to return the money he's already collected from individual contributors outside Boston.

• Conley contributions just for 7/1-7/13
• All his contributions
• All mayoral candidates