Rundle is reaping riches. Boog is bogarting bucks.

And they’re doing it at breakneck pace.

Campaign finance reports filed Monday in the Lawrence City Commission race showed the three candidates backed by the smart-growth Progressive Lawrence Campaign are outraising the four candidates identified informally with the city’s business interests, by a margin of $27,933 to $19,210.

After the Feb. 25 primary whittles the field to six candidates, the top three vote-getters in the April 1 general election will take seats on the commission.

“It’s really not that unexpected at this point,” said Ken McRae, one of the four business candidates, of the money gap. “There are four so-called ‘business candidates’ chasing three votes. I think a lot of people are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what happens in the primary.”

Incumbent Commissioner Mike Rundle raised $12,122 between Jan. 1 and Feb. 13. That’s more than the $11,965 Mayor Sue Hack raised during her entire campaign as 2001’s leading vote-getter.

Dennis “Boog” Highberger, another Progressive Lawrence candidate, stands second in the money race with $10,218. No other candidate raised more than $6,700 during the reporting period.

“We didn’t have to try very hard,” Highberger said of the fund-raising efforts. “We sent out a fund-raising letter to a lot of people, and people responded. My guess is we’re articulating a message a lot of people want to hear. People are ready for a change.”

Rundle, Highberger and David Schauner, the third Progressive Lawrence candidate, favor a living wage ordinance and have criticized city leadership as being too permissive with developers. The four “business” candidates — McRae, Greg DiVilbiss, Lee Gerhard and Lynn Goodell — are opposed to the living wage proposal and take varying positions on other issues.

Goodell, who ranked third with $6,675, said the money disparity could decide the election.

¢ David Schauner¢ Dennis Highberger¢ Greg DiVilbiss¢ Ken McRae¢ Lee Gerhard¢ Lynn Goodell¢ Mike Rundle¢ Zach Bassin

“You try to reach as many people as you can,” Goodell said of campaign advertising. “I’m guessing, with that kind of money, they can reach a lot of people.”

Monday’s figures were a far cry from Rundle’s first race in 1987, when he won election to the commission on a budget of less than $1,500.

“That was a fluke,” Rundle said. “A lot of people were upset about the proposal for a downtown mall, and they were looking for candidates to support.”

Nowadays, he said, “If you don’t raise the money, you’ve certainly got a heck of a lot more work to do going door-to-door. Money is the most effective way to get your message out there.”

McRae finished seventh in fund-raising with $2,190.

“What I haven’t raised in money, I’ve spent in time knocking on 700, 800 doors and talking to people,” McRae said. “I’ve been doing it the old-fashioned way — shoe leather.”