Jeremy Ring nets $44K in 1st month of CFO bid

Former State Sen. Jeremy Ring brought in nearly $44,000 during his first full month campaigning to be Florida’s next Chief Financial Officer.

CFO and other executive candidates can accept up to $3,000 per contributor during their campaigns, and the Broward County Democrat brought in nine such checks.

Max donors include three companies tied to Fort Lauderdale businessman Jeff Roschman, each of which chipped in $3,000. Alachua author and Temple of the Universe founder Mickey Singer also gave $3,000, as did Jeff Keith, an Indiana resident who is an executive at venture capital group Sterling Partners.

Ring also added $2,000 of his own money to the campaign account.

In all, the former Yahoo! executive brought in 63 contributions totaling $43,997. About half of his donors chipped in $100 or less.

Expenses for the month totaled just over $8,000, including $4,165 in accounting fees paid to Jack Dresner, $2,000 paid to D.C.-based MDW communications for a website, and $1,500 to Nashville-based Counterpoint Messaging for advertising.

At the end of the June, Ring’s campaign had just shy of $36,000 on hand.

So far, Ring is the only candidate to have filed for the position, which alongside the Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture makes up Florida’s Cabinet.

Republican Jeff Atwater held the position from 2011 until last month, when he stepped down to take a job as CFO of Florida Atlantic University.

Gov. Rick Scott appointed fellow Republican and then-State Rep. Jimmy Patronis to the position at the end of June, but Patronis has not yet indicated whether he will run for the position outright in 2018.

Other potential candidates for the job on the Republican side include Sen. Tom Lee and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.