Janelle Irwin Taylor
St. Petersburg City Council candidates filed their last round of campaign finance reports Friday ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, providing a glimpse into last minute campaign activity.
District 5 candidate Deborah Figgs-Sanders posted the most aggressive spending during the final reporting period before the general election covering Aug. 10-22. She spent $5,445 on signs, advertising, mailers and a promotional video.
Figg-Sanders spent the most on mailers, paying $2,260 to C&D Printing and Packaging in St. Pete as well as postage expenses. She spent $1,620 on advertising in the Weekly Challenger as well as $880 to the locally based Good Guy Signs and $250 to Unique Agenda Consulting in St. Pete for a campaign video.
Figgs-Sanders also raised the most of the five candidates in the race, bringing in $2,165 for the latest campaign finance reporting period. She received notable contributions from Donna Welch, Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch’s wife, who donated $100 as well as $1,000 from the Laborers Local Union, $125 from the AFL-CIO West Central Labor Council and $250 from Howard Johnston, who is married to local activist and prominent Figgs-Sanders supporter Lucinda Johnston.
Beth Connor continued her aggressive spending in the race, dropping $4,439 during the latest reporting period. Most of that, $3,000, went to her campaign consultant, Blue Ticket Consulting. She paid another $1,390 to Jacksonville-based Street Smartz Consulting, a firm that specializes in campaign mailers.
As of Aug. 22, Connor had spent all of her campaign cash. Meanwhile, Figgs-Sanders still has about $13,000 left to spend. The top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s election will advance to the Nov. 5 general election. If Connor and Figgs-Sanders make that race, Connor will be at a disadvantage because of funding.
Connor raised a total of $23,415.
Trenia Cox, the third-highest fundraiser in the race, raised just $545 during the latest reporting period, bringing her primary total to $13,459. She spent $189, including $150 on sign distribution. Of her total earnings, Cox has spent $8,731. She has less than $5,000 cash on hand heading into the general, if she makes the top two on Tuesday.
Anne Hirsch, a candidate running under the support of the Uhuru movement that seeks reparations for African-Americans, raised more in the latest reporting period than she has in any other, bringing in more than $1,000.
Of that, several contributions came in from out-of-state donors. The Uhuru group has been tapping a national network of supporters. They managed to raise nearly $13,000 in a one-week period for another Uhuru candidate, Eritha “Akile” Cainion, who is running for another City Council seat.
Hirsch has spent almost all of her campaign earnings, $5,138 of $5,495. During the latest reporting period she spent $200 on staff, $204 on posters, $192 on door hangers, $100 on mass text messaging and $50 on boosted Facebook posts.
The fifth candidate in the race, perennial candidate Philip Garrett, hasn’t been raising funds.
The candidates are running for Steve Kornell’s District 5 seat. Kornell is leaving office due to term limits. His district covers parts of south St. Petersburg including Lakewood Estates, Greater Pinellas Point, the Skyway Marina District, Broadwater, the Pink Streets and some neighborhoods surrounding Lake Maggiore.
One comment
James Donelon
August 26, 2019 at 3:33 pm
Beth has spent all of her $, mostly with Blue ticket but Deborah has $13,000.00 going on to November and she’ll raise a boatload of money to add to that.
QUESTION ! Just what did Beth get for all her money to Blue Ticket??
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