Anne Geggis
A Republican challenger’s campaign to unseat Democratic Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss from his seat representing District 2 seems to have gone dark.
Jeffrey Skene has not spent anything since the period that ended July 15 and hasn’t raised any money since the reporting period that ended Sept. 9. Both candidates are looking to represent the district that covers West Palm Beach, Haverhill, Atlantis and parts of Boynton Beach.
Meanwhile, Weiss’ campaign has barely touched the six-figure kitty for his re-election to a second term. He holds $171,000, after raising $212,587 and spending $41,566 for this election cycle.
Skene, in contrast, has raised a total of $13,595 and spent $12,840. That leaves him with $755 in campaign funds.
While Skene hasn’t raised any money since Sept. 9, Weiss, the Vice Mayor of the Commission, has added $10,550 to his campaign. Most of it, $4,550, came from people who want to add something to the land, whether they are in real estate, home building or landscape architecture.
Donations of $1,000 came from Joseph O’Donnell, a Boca Raton homebuilder; Kenneth Tuma, a Palm Beach Gardens landscape architect; Lynx at Lake Worth, a Coconut Creek real estate business; and JMorton Planning and Landscape, a Palm Beach Gardens landscape architecture company.
Agriculture interests gave the next-largest portion of Weiss’ donations, accounting for $4,000 of his collections between Sept. 10 and Oct. 7.
From that sector, Weiss received $1,000 checks from U.S. Sugar Corp., in Clewiston, and its subsidiary, a shortline railroad; Southern Gardens Citrus Holdings, based in Clewiston; and Red Barn Feed and Supply, a Loxahatchee animal feed store.
As for spending, Weiss has not disbursed any significant funds since the reporting period that ended May 31. Since June 1, his total spending has barely cracked $9,000. As far as outreach to voters, he’s paid a total of about $1,000 for advertising and another $1,000 for sponsorship at an event.
Weiss, on his website, introduces himself to constituents, highlighting his current and previous community service. After a career in sales and marketing for several Fortune 500 companies, he and his wife of 30 years found West Palm Beach after sailing around the world and deciding to drop anchor here, his website says.
Weiss, according to his website, serves on the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency Governing Board, the Water Resources Task Force, the Palm Beach County Cultural Council Board of Directors, and the 15th Judicial Circuit Juvenile Justice Advisory Board. He also serves on the Water and Environmental Sustainability Policy Taskforce for the Florida Association of Counties and the Resiliency Taskforce of the National Association of Counties.
Before his election to the Commission in 2018, he served on the West Palm Beach Planning Board. He founded Speak Up for Kids of Palm Beach County, which advocates for children involved in the dependency court system. He also served as the president of the West Palm Beach Police Foundation, according to his campaign website.
He and his wife, Rebecca, also foster kittens for the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League.
The campaigns faced a deadline last week to report all campaign finance activity through Oct. 7.
