Engineering firm Burns & McDonnell made it rain late last year for Sly James’ re-election

Piles of money are still rolling in for Kansas City Mayor Sly James, who is running or re-election in 2015 without any official opposition.

His re-election committee, Sly James for Mayor, last week filed a campaign finance report for the last quarter of 2013. It shows he pulled in $147,957 worth of cash contributions from October 1 to December 31. That brings his total war chest up to a whopping $578,710 raised for his unopposed 2015 re-election bid.

His contributors are by and large the usual suspects who participate in some way with city government: corporate lawyers, developers, architects and construction firms.

Engineering firms have been good for James’ election kitty, with one specific firm standing out above the rest.

Burns & McDonnell and its employees contributed $41,650 to James’ haul in the last quarter of 2013, nearly a third of his total fundraising for those three months.

On November 6, 263 employees from Burns & McDonnell made contributions to Sly James for Mayor. Of the 266 employees overall who made contributions to James, only 30 (or 11 percent) of them listed Kansas City, Missouri, residential addresses. Most live in Johnson County or Lee’s Summit. The firm has about 2,500 local workers.

The company itself cut a $400 check to James’ campaign on that day, followed by a $3,100 contribution on December 30.

Burns & McDonnell frequently does business with Kansas City, Missouri. On May 28, 2013, the firm announced that it had extended its contract with the city for its federally mandated sewer overhaul. The $20 million contract over five years was the company’s largest for its water division.

No one else has filed to run against James. The election for the Kansas City municipal primary is February 24, 2015.