In addition to the $134,258 she collected from New Yorkers — a bit more than $1 out of every $10 she raised during the first six months of this year — another $117,416 came from donors with California addresses, and $87,963 from contributors living in Illinois.

New Yorkers love Rhode Island Democrat Gina Raimondo. And Californians. And Chicagoans.

The evidence? In the space of a single month — June 2017 — the governor raised $53,900 from individuals with New York addresses.

Going back a bit further: more than $134,000 of the $1.1 million Raimondo has raised since the year began came from individuals — as opposed to political action committees — who identify New York as their home, including some big names in real-estate development, investment, lobbying and political circles. Tisch. Peterson. Former Republican U.S. senator-turned-lobbyist Alfonse D'Amato. (More on that later.)

Rhode Islanders contributed more than any other geographic group — a total of $440,557 between Jan. 1 and June 30 to Raimondo's anticipated bid for reelection, according to her most recent filings with the state Board of Elections. She banked another $23,025 from Rhode Island-based PACs, such as the RI Laborers PAC and the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.

In addition to the $134,258 she collected from New Yorkers — a bit more than $1 out of every $10 she raised during the first six months of this year — another $117,416 came from donors with California addresses, and $87,963 from contributors living in Illinois.

By way of comparison, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, the 2014 GOP nominee for governor who is expected to seek a 2018 rematch, raised a total of $135,836 from all sources during the same six-month period.

The numbers prove once again that Raimondo, the former state treasurer who built a national reputation by overhauling the state's troubled pension system before capturing the governor's office, is a prodigious fundraiser with a Rolodex that extends far beyond Rhode Island.

But that begs the question: Why, with rare exceptions, has Raimondo been unwilling to identify the hosts of the out-of-state fundraising activities that helped her amass all of these dollars?

(A recent exception: Raimondo acknowledged to a WPRO radio reporter that Democratic fundraiser and former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, who is the daughter of Hugh Hefner, hosted a May fundraiser for her in Chicago.)

At 11:21 a.m. on June 8, her press secretary David Ortiz issued this statement: “Governor Raimondo is traveling today to New York City for meetings with supporters and to attend fundraising events. She will return to Rhode Island tomorrow."

When asked who was hosting these fundraising events, Raimondo referred questions to her campaign finance director Kate Ramstad who told The Providence Journal: “We will release names and dates of all contributions — including any in-kind contributions — when we release our quarterly filing on July 31st.’’

The quarterly report made no mention, however, of any "in-kind contributions," such as food and beverages, that would identify her hosts. Asked again who hosted the New York fundraisers, Ramstad emailed: "All legally required information about our campaign’s fundraising and expenses are detailed in our quarterly filings."

Some of the names on Raimondo's donor list have more obvious Rhode Island connections than others, including Joseph Azrack ($500) of New York City and Little Compton, the principal owner of the Azrack & Co. real-estate investment firm and chairman of the commission overseeing efforts to redevelop former Route 195 land; and Nicholas Pell ($1,000), grandson of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell and chief investment officer at Gramercy Property Trust.

Other well-known donors include Jonathan Tisch ($1,000), co-chairman of the board of Loews Corporation and chairman and CEO of its Loews Hotels subsidiary; Andrew Tisch ($1,000), co-chairman of the Board at Loews Corporation; and Alfonse D'Amato ($1,000), the former chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

D'Amato surfaced as the founder and managing director of the New York based Park Strategies, which in recent years has counted General Dynamics among its top-name lobbying clients.

Also among Raimondo's first-quarter contributors is Peter G. Peterson, a one-time U.S. Commerce secretary and CEO of prominent companies including Lehman Brothers before founding the private equity firm Blackstone Group, which he grew "into a global leader in alternative investments,'' according to his online biography.

He and his son, Michael A. Peterson, the CEO of Peterson Management, gave $1,000 each to Raimondo's campaign account and another $1,000 each to her "GINA PAC."

Asked about her appeal to outsiders, Azrack, in a phone interview, said Raimondo's work "as treasurer in reforming the retirement system really brought her to the attention of people in, broadly speaking, the financial and business community. ... That was quite obviously an extremely difficult thing to do ... and it's made a big difference in Rhode Island's fiscal condition."

Noting her skill at articulating what she wants to accomplish, he said: "Those types of things impress people in an environment where there are not a lot of people in public life that both have progressive ideas [about] economic development and education and are able to do something about it.''

"When I talk to people, that's what I hear,'' he said.

As of June 30, Raimondo had $2,667,562.99 in her campaign account and another $34,062.36 in her "GINA PAC" from which she donates to groups, such as the NAACP.

None of the Republicans weighing a potential challenge to her came anywhere close.

AG's office attracting hopefuls

Provocateur Edward "Ted" Siedle, who lives in Ocean Ridge, Florida, wants the Rhode Island political world to know he is considering running for attorney general in 2018, and moving to Rhode Island.

The one-time U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer, Forbes.com contributor and frequent Raimondo critic called Political Scene last week to seek advice publishing a letter-to-the-editor in the newspaper.

His letter said, in part: "Rhode Island needs an Attorney General who is willing to investigate the largest financial crime in the history of the state: a reckless gamble of over $1 billion in state pension assets to further the political fortunes of the then-Treasurer, now Governor, and her Wall Street backers. In its first five years, this roll-of-the-dice has already resulted in approximately $500 million in hedge fund losses alone."

Others, closer to home, who have been mentioned as potential candidates for the job currently held by term-limited Peter Kilmartin include former U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha, state Rep. Robert Craven, D-North Kingstown; and state Senators Donna Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket; Stephen Archambault, D-Smithfield; and Paul Jabour, D-Providence.

Short takes

— Former R.I. Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch's $4,000-a-month stint as paid political attack dog for the state party is over. While he remains an unpaid senior adviser, lawyer Lynch says he opted out after two months when it became clear he could not be available, on short notice, while arguing cases in court.

"I just couldn't commit the time,'' he told Political Scene.

— The Raimondo administration has hired a new $140,920-a-year executive director of human resources/personnel administrator, Kyle Adamonis.

Adamonis is a former vice president of people and culture at Liberty Construction Services, and before that vice president of human resources at Taco Inc. Acting personnel director Melanie Marcaccio returns to her prior role as deputy personnel administrator ($141,280.80). It remains unclear what new role Deborah Dawson — still listed on the state's website as the state's $136,160-a-year director of human resources, will play.

— George Mason — the husband of District Court Chief Judge Jeanne LaFazia, who has bounced from one Senate job to another since his stint as a chief of staff to a long-gone Senate majority leader — is returning to the courts.

Mason's last day as the Senate's $124,967-a-year senior policy analyst was Friday. This week, he returns to the Workers' Compensation Court (which he left in 2009) as deputy administrator of the Medical Advisory Board.

According to courts spokesman Craig Berke, this is "a new position ... created to serve as the court’s liaison to the [Chief Judge Robert F. Arrigan Rehabilitation Center] with a goal of expanding its services to southern Rhode Island.'' His new salary: $102,600.