Jacob Ogles
In the last two weeks of his campaign for House District 81, Greg Folley made a near-$104,000 advertising blast, which stepped up his campaign’s already substantial spending by more than 20% as the clock winds down before Tuesday’s Aug. 20 Primary.
That means the Marco Island City Council member’s state House campaign spent more than $588,000, as of Aug. 15.
By comparison, Republican opponent Yvette Benarroch’s campaign spent just over $168,000. That includes $7,800 in the Aug. 3 to Aug. 15 period.
Both Republican candidates vying to succeed state Rep. Bob Rommel in the Naples-Marco Island district control political committees that have also increased spending.
Friends of Yvette Benarroch spent a total of more than $17,000 to benefit the Moms For Liberty chapter chair, nearly $14,000 of that in the last two weeks before Aug. 15.
Meanwhile, Friends of Greg Folley burned through $63,000 in the last fundraising period.
The Folley friends ultimately spent upward of $438,000 on his behalf, bringing the total pro-Folley spending to nearly $1.3 million. The bulk of that came from the retired Caterpillar executive’s own pockets. He provided candidate loans valued at nearly $446,000 to his campaign and $210,000 in loans to the committee. That includes $130,000 in new personal funding pumped into the race in the last couple of weeks.
Benarroch also has some skin in the game, with a $77,000 candidate loan backing her campaign. In the last reporting period, she also saw an infusion of more than $20,000 in last-minute donations to her campaign. Much of that came from HCA, a hospital chain previously run by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Naples Republican who has endorsed her campaign.
Folley’s late spending primarily went to Front Line Strategies for a round of campaign shirts and calls, printing and advertising expenses, and a round of text messages. His Friends committee spent $50,000 on media with the Tallahassee-based firm, while his campaign spent about $65,000 with the firm. Nebraska-based Fox Bryant also spent about $39,000 on canvassing.
Benarroch’s last round of spending was fueled chiefly by funded Ross Consulting services. Her Friends organization sent $10,000 to The Committee For Justice, Transportation and Business, controlled by David Ramba, while another $5,000 went to the Latino Alliance, controlled by Alex Alvarado.
