Kelly HayesSt. Petersburg City Council member Darden Rice dominated fundraising in the city’s mayoral race, but her political committee may be the subject of criticism after accepting donations that exceed limits imposed by a local ordinance she championed.
Rice’s associated PAC, “Friends of Darden Rice,“ received $29,375 in the month of January, including a $5,000 donation from realtor Joann Nestor and another from Lema Construction.
Nestor also donated the same amount in late 2019, as did Lema Construction.
In total, Nestor and Lema Construction have each donated $10,000 to Rice’s associated political committee. Real estate executive Peter Leach donated $5,000 in early 2019 and then another $2,500 last month, brining his total contributions to $7,500.
Per the landmark 2010 Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court ruling, political committees can accept unlimited amounts from donors. But, the city does restrict how the funds can be used. A St. Pete ordinance Rice championed, among other provisions, caps individual contributions from outside spending committees at $5,000 for candidate-related expenditures.
Section 10.61 of the city ordinance states, “The following shall not be designated as eligible for use for covered candidate-related expenditures: Any portion of a contribution to an outside-spending group that exceeds the aggregate of $5,000 per person per calendar year.” That means the city cannot restrict how much a contributor donates to a city candidate’s political committee, which is independent the campaign, only how much of it is spent on campaign-related activity.
Further, the limits only apply per calendar year. So since the contributions occurred in separate years, all of the donated funds in excess of $5,000 can be used to promote Rice’s candidacy.
But while the committee may be abiding by the local ordinance, it raises questions about Rice’s fundraising because she championed campaign finance reform as a way to get big money out of local politics.
Even if she hasn’t technically broken the very rules she fought to implement, records show the spirit of the ordinance may be violated.
It should also be noted that Lema Construction, which frequently does business with the city, also donated $1,000 to Rice’s campaign. Its president, Jonathan Stanton, contributed $5,000 to her committee in 2019 and another of his businesses, Florida Amex Corp., donated $5,000 last year.
In all, Rice raised $97,599 in the first month of her mayoral campaign, while challenger Ken Welch brought in about $57,000.
Rice reported 160 campaign donors, including about 30 businesses, according to her campaign report. Just under 50 single donations were worth $1,000. These include several from local investment firms and businesses like Sher Investments Inc., Foursher Partnership, Capitol Alliance Group Inc., Feldman Equities and Blue Sky Communities.
Rice’s campaign spent $12,589 in its opening month, including $6,300 on polling, $2,200 on postal envelopes, $2,000 on a website and another $2,000 on credit card processing fees.
Her political committee spent $6,738 in January, which included $6,300 on polling services.
To date, Rice has raised more than $320,000 between her campaign and political committee — putting her in the lead for funding, with Welch, a former Pinellas County Commissioner, trailing behind.
Welch’s campaign nearly mirrored that of Rice’s by bringing in $28,600, including $100 in self-funding. However, his campaign only spent $1,170, primarily on credit card processing fees.
Of the 125 donors to Welch’s campaign, four were businesses, and the remaining were individuals. The businesses included the Green Mill Group, Green Savoree Racing Promotions, which has also donated to Rice, RSA Consulting Group and ASG Consulting Group.
Notable individual contributors to Welch’s campaign include fellow Pinellas County Commissioners Janet Long, Charlie Justice, Karen Seel and Rene Flowers. St. Petersburg City Council member Lisa Wheeler-Bowman also donated to Welch’s campaign,
The campaign received 11 $1,000 donations.
Welch’s political committee, Pelican PAC, brought in $28,600 in January, and spent $1,000.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist‘s political committee donated $5,000 to Welch’s PAC.
Rice maintains an overall cash on hand lead with $269,670 available between her campaign funds and political committee, while Welch follows with $108,580 in his campaign and committee accounts.
Rice’s funding advantage comes largely thanks to time. Rice started fundraising more than two years ago while Welch didn’t launch his political committee until late 2019, giving him just over a year of fundraising on the books.
Rice’s former colleague and former state Rep. Wengay Newton, who is also running, has not yet filed a January finance report. The deadline to file was Wednesday. Newton’s December finance report showed he raised just $500.
St. Pete College student and mayoral candidate Michael Ingram raised $50 in the most recent period, and spent $3. Since the start of his campaign, he has raised $1,611 and has spent $1,022.
Candidate Marcile Powers filed to run on Feb. 1, so she has yet to have a campaign finance report. Vincent Nowicki filed to run on Jan. 27, making his January report limited. He reported no contributions in the four days, but did spend $30 on bank fees, putting his campaign already in the red.
The slew of candidates are running to succeed current Mayor Rick Kriseman who is leaving office because of term limits. The municipal primary election is Aug. 24. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to the General Election Nov. 2.
