Candidates for Amarillo City Council Place 4 | Photo by Noah Dawson
On Friday, April 28th, candidates for local office filed their final reports ahead of the May 6th election. We’ve already covered the reports for mayoral candidates, now we’re looking at candidates for Amarillo City Council, beginning with Place 4.
Former Amarillo Globe-News publisher Les Simpson raised the most amount of money during the period covered, which was March 28th through April 26th. Simpson reported $8,830 in contributions. The two largest contributions were from Richard Ware and Bart & Christy Boxwell, who each gave $1,000. Heath Hodge, Joe & Debby Luscombe, Michael & Morgan Merriman, Donald & Twanna Powell, and Stephen & Kimberly Brooks each gave $500. In addition to contributions, much of his campaign has been funded by funds loaned by Simpson to his campaign. When we reported on his last finance report, he had loaned his campaign $11,100. Simpson has since loaned his campaign a further $30,000. Simpson’s expenses totaled $45,949.06. Almost all of that went to NoBox Creative, which Simpson paid $245,842.76.
Claudette Smith had the second highest contribution total, reporting $4,898 in donations. Her largest donor remained Chesney’s Whiskey Saloon, which gave $1,500 to Smith’s campaign. Barret Carter gave $900, Mitesh & Viral Patel gave $501, while both Rory Schepisi and Paul & Mary Clay gave $500. Similar to Simpson, Smith’s campaign has been largely funded by loans she made to her campaign. Smith has so far loaned her campaign $8,500, with $3,500 of that total loaned during the reporting period covered by the latest finance report. Smith’s expenses totaled $9,491.79, with her largest expense going to Textedly in the amount of $1,442.
John Ingerson raised $520. His largest donor was Gary Mezel, who gave $500. Lou Howk gave $20. Ingerson reported $2,036.38 in expenses, which was paid to Creative Cannon.
Hobert “Gunny” Brown did not report any contributions. His sole campaign expense was $128 to Jason’s Deli for a meet and greet.