Top Left: Candidates for City Council Place 1 | Bottom Left: Candidates for City Council Place 2 | Top Right: Candidates for City Council Place 3 | Bottom Right: Candidates for City Council Place 4 | Photos by Noah Dawson
Over the past few weeks, our team has been combing through the finance reports filed by candidates for local offices. We’ve already published our summaries of reports filed by candidates for the boards for Amarillo College, Amarillo ISD, and Canyon ISD, as well as the candidates for Mayor of Amarillo. Finally, we are taking a look at the candidates for Amarillo City Council.
Place 1
In the race to replace councilman-turned-mayoral candidate Cole Stanley in Place 1, the candidate with the highest contributions total is Dean Crump, who reported raising $37,275. Matt Griffith, who gave $2,500, was Crump’s largest contributor. Milton and Hilda Giron gave the second largest contribution, giving $1,500. Richard Ware, Dave Boad, Scot Bentley, Donald Powell, Mark Warrick, Jeb Harris, James Wester, and Britten Enterprises each gave $1,000. Crump spent a total of $2971.10, with his largest expenditure being $2,500 to Norfleet Strategies.
Josh Craft had the second-highest contribution total, reporting $23,620 in contributions. Lisa Cloninger, Jessica Brazile, and Kriss Cloninger were in a three-way tie for the highest contribution total, having each given $5,000. Christy Craft, Parker Cates, and Marco Longmire each gave $500, while Josh Craft gave his own campaign $4,995. Craft spent a total of $8,460.69, with his largest expense being $7,898.81 to No Box.
The candidate with the third highest amount of money to come in was Chip Hunt, who reported $5,775. Of that money, $4850 were loans from GET Chip Hunt Properties, while $925 were from contributions. Hunt’s largest contributors were Terry Jones and Marvin Jones, who gave a combined $500. Gene Reneau, K. Risely, Jones Dysart, and Mark Edwards each gave $100. Hunt spent $3,595.82, with the largest amount of that going to PPS Mail in the amount of $2,252.66.
Kelsey Richardson raised $5,502, with her largest contribution being $3,000 from The Vault Legacy. Doug Watterscheid gave $1,000, Susan and Michael Richardson gave $500, Bill Worthen gave $250, and Chris Reed gave $200. Richardson spent $5,151.39, with $5,103.61 of that going to Promotions Plus.
Margie Gonzales reported a single $250 contribution from Joe L. Gonzales. Gonzales spent $738.30, with her largest expense being $516.11 to Just Signs.
Sherie Wood did not report any contributions, though she did report a total of $1,000 in expenses. Wood’s largest expense was $800 to Michele Wilt for yard signs.
Ray White, who dropped out after the deadline to remove his name from the ballot, did not file a finance report.
Place 2
In the race to replace councilwoman-turned-mayoral candidate Freda Powell in Place 2, Don Tipps reported a total of $18,655 in monetary contributions, with Tipps giving his own campaign $1,000. Also giving Tipps $1,000 were Raymond Donaldson, Merrit Vaughn, Tanya Pakan, and Mike or Liz Hughes. The Amarillo Professional Firefighters Association gave Tipps a $1,750 in-kind contribution, with the description listed as being push cards and polling. Tipps spent $2,255.87, with the largest expense being $1,689.24 to C&B Marketing.
Misty Vigil reported $86.60 in both contributions and expenditures. Vigil did not itemize the source of the contribution but listed the expenditure as being to herself for hand out cards.
Gabriel McHenry-Hererra did not file a finance report.
Place 3
In the race to replace retiring incumbent Eddy Sauer, Tom Scherlen raised the largest amount of money, reporting $40,051 in contributions. (In fact, Scherlen raised the most of any council candidate. The only candidate to raise more for city office was mayoral candidate Cole Stanley, who reported $52,934 in contributions.) Scherlen’s largest contributor was Dealon LLC, which gave $25,000. Dipakkumar Patel gave the second-highest contribution, worth $2,500. Craig Gaultiere and the Amarillo Professional Firefighters Association PAC each gave $2,000. Scherlen spent a total of $31,496.43, with his largest expense being $25,000 to Steve Gosselin for commercials.
Katt Massey reported the second-highest monetary contribution total, having raised $28,478. Massey’s largest donor was the Amarillo Association of Realtors, who gave $4,000. Robin Gilliland, Shawn Morrison, Dean Morrison, Jill Zimmer, and Billy Krause each gave $1,000. Massey also reported $1,200 in in-kind contributions from Johnson & Associates. Massey also gave Johnson & Associates $13,812.87, which accounted for most of her $13,926.95 in expenses.
John Adair raised the least amount in the Place 3 race, reporting only $1,600, though he did not note the source of the contributions. Adair reported a total of $1,379.82 in expenses, with his largest expense being $300 to Christy Mitchell, who is his treasurer.
Place 4
Les Simpson reported $36,687.50 in contributions, the highest total in the race to replace retiring incumbent Howard Smith. Amarillo Association of Realtors PAC was Simpson’s largest contributor, having given $4,000. Jerry & Margaret Hodge and Alex & Cheryl Fairly each gave $2,500, while Bonnie Dugie, Shelby Chaloupka, Carl & Shyland Birdsong, Joe & Laura Street, Jim Allen, Brian & Julie Simms, and Jeb Harris each gave $1,000. Simpson also reported giving his campaign $11,100 in loans. Simpson spent $13,706.90 with No Box Creative, which accounted for most of his $15,616.98 in expenses.
Claudette Smith reported $7,205 in monetary contributions, with both Oscar Gamboa and Chesney’s Whisky Saloon each giving $2,500. Rick Looby Homes gave $2,000, while Marcus O’Neal gave $100. Smith reported giving her campaign a $5,000 loan. Smith also reported a total of $20,130 in in-kind contributions from Lucy Lopez, Rick Parsely, Nicki Palmeri, Alexander Deanda, Jaidyn Fisher, Elizabeth Grigg, MCF Management, and Jesse T. PFrimmer. Smith’s expenses totaled $9,136.47. Her largest expense, worth $4,500, was to Burkett Outdoor.
Hobert “Gunny” Brown raised $3,600, with his largest contribution being $2,500 from Teamsters 577. Brown gave his own campaign $400, Becky Wilson gave $200, and Mildred Darton and Matthew Watson each gave $150. Brown reported a total of $909.72 in expenses, with his largest expense being $483.31 to Dirt Cheap Signs.
John Ingerson reported $1,850 in contributions, with his largest contributor, Bo Williams, giving $500. Winston Curtis and Mandrip Skeie each gave $300, while Steve Rogers and Curtis Bull each gave $200. Ingerson’s largest expense, worth $1,345.60, was paid to Super Cheap Signs and accounted for most of his $1,589.31 in expenses.
Early voting is April 24th through May 2nd. Election Day is May 6th.