by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
If initial reports are any indication, all of the mayoral candidates will post solid, but not spectacular, third quarter finance reports. The quarter ended Sept. 30 and candidates have until Oct. 10 to file their reports with the Supervisor of Elections Office.
While no one who spoke for the candidates would go into detail as to how much was raised last quarter, they all conveyed that the quarter was a success, especially considering the economy is still questionable and a state primary was held Sept. 10.
Susie Wiles, spokesperson for Mike Weinstein, said Weinstein did not set a specific monetary goal for the quarter, but still managed to add to the coffers.
“We have a goal for the entire campaign,” said Wiles. “I’m sure our numbers are no different than the others. The third quarter is the toughest by far because you have so many competing races. You have the mayor’s race, the legislative races and the governor’s race. There’s a finite amount of money in the community. With this number of candidates in the race, it’s difficult.
“We’re certainly on target for the race, but we didn’t have a target for the quarter.”
She also said City Council member Matt Carlucci, who entered the race several weeks ago, probably fared better than the other four who have been in for much longer.
“The third and fourth quarters are the toughest except for the new candidates,” said Wiles. “If Nat [Glover] gets in, he’ll have a good first quarter.”
Weinstein, who set an overall goal of $800,000 to $1 million, had $368,850 going into the quarter.
Carlucci is the newest candidate to enter the race and his camp says he did well, especially considering they have only been raising money for a little over a month.
“We did very well,” said Cheryl Grymes, Carlucci’s campaign manager. “We set a goal and we exceeded our goal. The fact that we did it in six weeks is significant.”
Cynthia Brust, campaign manager for Council member Ginger Soud, said her candidate’s final numbers haven’t been tabulated, but she’s happy with how the fund raising went last quarter.
“We had a fund raiser last night [Monday] and we do not have the numbers from that yet,” said Brust. “But we feel good about where we are. We did set a goal and we exceeded that goal. We were under in our expenses and we exceeded our goal, so we are real pleased. It was a good quarter.”
Soud had $213,600 going into the third quarter.
Former mayor Tommy Hazouri — the only Democrat in the race to date — will file his second campaign finance report and he’s happy with his fund raising especially considering he hasn’t formed a finance committee and he hasn’t held a formal fund raiser yet. He says he doesn’t want his staff, or himself, to suffer from burnout.
“It was successful and we are just waiting for the state elections to go by and we’ll turn up the volume after that,” said Hazouri, who was elected mayor in 1987 and lost to Ed Austin in 1991.
A veteran of the Jacksonville political scene, Hazouri said he expects most candidates to lay low until after the Nov. 5 general election. And, once the holidays pass, Hazouri says the political atmosphere in Jacksonville will change dramatically.
“It will get very interesting after the governor’s race is over,” he said. “Everyone will shift into high gear, especially me as a Democrat. We are doing some serious campaigning now, but nothing like what you’ll see after the state elections are by us.”
During his first quarter, Hazouri reported $148,260 in campaign contributions.
The leader going into the quarter was Gate Petroleum executive John Peyton with $728,427. Campaign spokesperson Mike Hightower said raising money was an important objective last quarter, but gaining official endorsements was also a priority.
“I don’t have the final tab and to be honest with you, I haven’t talked to the candidate,” Hightower said Tuesday just before leaving for San Francisco on the Chamber’s Leadership trip. “Our goal was to get to $800,000 and we’re also working on endorsements.”
Hightower said the shift from fund raising to garnering intangible support was possible thanks to the success of the campaign thus far.
“That’s the reason we went so hard the first two quarters, because the summer months are tough,” said Hightower. “If people come through with their commitments, we’ll make our goal.”