Patrick Mara is many things: Ward 1’s representative on the State Board of Education, former co-owner of Meridian Pint, Republican candidate for an At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, and a really great eBay seller. Wait, what?

Yep. Included in both a Post and City Paper profile of Mara today is the fact that he’s in part sustained himself by selling political memorabilia on eBay. What type of memorabilia? Old newspapers (a 2001 copy of the Washington Times’ announcing Michael Jordan’s return to basketball), autographed images of athletes and politicians (Olaf Kolzig, President Gerald Ford), coins (a 1974 Eisenhower dollar), and other political mementos (a 2004 Christmas card from President George W. Bush).

“I’m fortunate to have a hobby that grew to be a small source of revenue for my family,” Mara wrote in an email. “I have an MBA from Babson College in entrepreneurship. One of things we learned was to be open to opportunity. Thousands of people have been lucky enough to see a hobby grow into an empire. The digital age has empowered and opened doors for many people.”

Beyond being a quirky hobby, Mara’s eBay habits offers some insights into the man beyond the candidate: he’s gotten 1,125 feedback ratings as both a buyer and a seller, not one of them negative.

That’s probably more than he can say for the campaign itself: his opponents have criticized him for having supported Mitt Romney’s presidential bid and lobbied congressional offices for everything from Goldman Sachs to Exxon Mobil. (He denies ever having directly lobbied for the oil giant.) In his defense, he says that his opponents are grasping at straws, given that he’s gotten endorsements from both the Post and the Current.

Should Mara win, he’d be the first Republican on the council since Carol Schwartz, who he defeated in a 2008 primary before losing to former councilmember Michael Brown.