Finance Report Summary: Amarillo Mayoral Candidates 8 Day Report

Amarillo mayoral candidates speak at The Amarillo Pioneer Candidate Forum | Photo by Noah Dawson

On Friday, April 28th, the second round of finance reports in the upcoming May 6th election was due. These reports covered the period from March 28th to April 26th and are the final reports due ahead of the election. Here is our summary of the reports filed by candidates for Mayor of Amarillo.

As was the case for the reports filed earlier this month, City Councilman Cole Stanley raised the most money, reporting $68,154.01 in monetary contributions. His largest contribution came from the Alex Fairly-owned DealOn LLC, which gave the campaign $40,000 during the reporting period. Fairly’s second-largest donor was the Big Texan RV Ranch, which gave $10,000. Kush Nathu and Jayanti Nathu each gave Stanley $2,001, just barely edging out Stanley’s fifth largest contribution, which was $2,000 from Emmett Rice. In addition to these monetary contributions, Stanley received an in-kind contribution from the Amarillo Professional Firefighters Association worth $1,750. According to his finance report, this was in the form of text messaging, email messaging, and voter data.

While Stanley did not report any expenses on his previous report, he has now reported the largest amount of expenses, having spent more than twice as much as Powell, even when combining both of her reports from this month. In total, Stanley reported $105,492.12 during the reporting period. Stanley’s largest expenditure was to Creative Cannon, which provided a variety of services, including buttons, signs, billboards, banners, radio ads, television ads, bumper stickers, push cards, mailers, and newspaper ads. In total, Stanley paid $77,319.24 to Creative Cannon. After his expenses, Stanley reported having $54,219 left in his war chest.

Fellow City Councilmember Freda Powell reported the second-highest monetary contribution total, having raised $21,732.37 during the reporting period. Powell’s largest contribution was from Teamsters D.R.I.V.E. Fund, which gave $3,500. Powell’s second largest contribution came from Janice Hodges, who gave $1,200. Rounding out Powell’s top donors were Sharon and Steve Dalrymple, Laura Street, Janie and Ed Bradley, and Richard Ware, who each gave $1,000. The other two members of Amarillo City Council, Eddy Sauer and Howard Smith, each gave $500 to Powell’s campaign. Powell also reported $2,006.13 in in-kind contributions. These came from Betty and Roy Bara, Jamie Beckham, and Teresa and Charles Kenedy. Each of these in-kind contributions was described as an “event fundraiser” on Powell’s finance report.

Powell also had the second-highest expense total, having spent $31,961.57. Powell’s largest expense was to MCMC, which was listed as being for “professional fees, printing, and media.” This expense was reported to cost $18,077.75. After expenses, Powell reported having $18,790.83 in her war chest.

Entrepreneur Tonya C. Winston came in third place in terms of monetary contributions, having raised $5,755.56. Betty S. Mitchell Winston was Winston’s biggest donor, having given $2,098.56. Rounding out Winston’s top five donors were Douglas D. Shaki Swain Jr., who gave $1,500, Curtis Barlow Sr., who gave $777, Melva Perkins, who gave $475, and Rose Gooden, who gave $300.

Winston’s expenses totaled $5,484.74. Most of these expenses were split across Office Depot and Office Max, with the largest set of expenses going to Office Max, where she spent $2695.42 on flyers and pamphlets. After expenses, Winston reported having $270.92 in contributions left.

Professional truck driver Sam Burnett reported $748.16 in contributions, with his largest donor being Donna Clopton, who gave $200. Burnett reported a single expense, which was $811.88 to ABC Signs for yard signs.

Retired manager Don Collins did not report any contributions, though he did report spending $1,430.18 out of his own pocket. Collins’ largest expense was to Text Guru, who he spent $550.44 with.

Life/consciousness coach Jeffrey McGunegle declared modified reporting, meaning he does not expect to raise or spend $1,010 during the election.

Be on the lookout for our summaries of the finance reports for other local races over the coming days. Early Voting ends Tuesday, May 2nd. Election Day is Saturday, May 6th.