Janelle Irwin Taylor
Fundraising numbers are in for the month of December in Tampa City Council races. With more than $6,000 rolling in around the Holidays, District 6 candidate Jackie Toledo grew her commanding fundraising lead over challengers Guido Maniscalco and AC company owner Thomas Clark Castellano.
Toledo has raised more than $87,000. Castellano trails her with $26,340. Maniscalco is at the back of the pack with just $22,289.
Toledo’s December numbers look impressive compared to her opponents’ – Castellano didn’t raise a dime and Maniscalco only brought in $150 – but she was far less productive than the prior month when she and her team raised more than $13,000.
Toledo, an engineer, drew in maximum $1,000 contributions from the Kimmins Contracting Corporation, MRI Associates of Palm Harbor and La Liga Latina Legal. John Morgan’s Morgan and Morgan law firm kicked in $500 as did attorney Donald Buckler. Todd Hall, CEO of the Staffing Resource Group and Auto Search One auto sales each donated $250.
Toledo spent just over $3,000 in December. Toledo paid Dossie Marrone $1,000 for “campaign services.” She spent another $1,500 on campaign staff and office rent. Her campaign seems to be energy efficient – they spent just $57.00 on an electric bill from TECO.
Maniscalco brought in two contributions in December – $100 from former Hillsborough County Commission candidate Mark Nash and $50 from Tampa resident Russell Patterson.
He spent nearly $5,000 though – about half that was for campaign signs. Maniscalco paid $1,000 for campaign consulting and $600 for online contributions. He paid another $750 for advertising to Extensive Enterprises, the company that owns this blog.
Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez and Hillsborough County School Board member April Griffin have endorsed Maniscalco, a watch shop owner. Incumbent city council member Lisa Montelione, a Democrat, has endorsed Toledo, the only Republican in the race.
The three candidates are running to replace Charlie Miranda who is term limited out of his seat. Monday, he filed to run for the District 2 countywide seat currently held by Mary Mulhern who is also term-limited out of office.
