A.G. Gancarski
Turns out a lot of people in Jacksonville are willing to open their wallets wide to get Angela Corey out of the 4th Circuit State Attorney office.
In her first month of fundraising, Republican primary opponent Melissa Nelson had a game-changer month: $233,213. Combined with money raised by the First Coast Values political committee, Nelson has $341,000 raised and $289,000 on hand … the latter number within spitting distance of the money Corey has raised in her entire campaign.
Conversely, Corey has just $205,000 at her disposal. A number not helped by the fact that Corey brought in a paltry $16,366, and spent $10,607 in May.
A month that should have seen Corey calling in the cavalry instead saw her operation in functional disarray, with a large spend, on “consulting” for one of the shoddiest campaigns in recent memory. $3,000 to Alexander Pantinakis, who unwisely did not invoice mileage for his Tallahassee trip. And Almost $4,000 to Reliant Florida, for more “consulting.”
As the Corey campaign wrestles with burn rate, the challenger is rising above the smoke, as many of Jacksonville’s most reliable donors came out for Nelson.
Gary Chartrand, Ashton Hudson, former Jags’ owner Wayne Weaver, Hank Coxe, former Jags’ coach Tom Coughlin, Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford, Joan Haskell, and a host of others ponied up.
Even Curtis Lee, local government whistleblower and bete noire of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund, donated $25.
Though many of the donors listed maxed out, they will be able to give to their heart’s content to Nelson’s “First Coast Values“ PAC (mentioned above), which raised $108,000 its first month, and so far has spent $50,103.
The PAC has released a second ad for Nelson, another positive piece called “Standing Up for What Is Right,” in which the candidate talks of the lessons she learned from her father, then saying that “today I teach my own children the same lessons; when you see something wrong, stand up for what’s right.”
After that, a voice over that burnishes Nelson’s credentials as a change agent: “Politicians and insiders want the status quo, Melissa Nelson is fighting for something better.”
Corey, meanwhile, is still looking for a new campaign manager, from what we hear.
Meanwhile, write-in candidate Kenny Leigh, surprisingly given the seriousness of his campaign, raised no money in May. And Wes White raised $1,775 in May, as his campaign runs check to check.
