by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
It comes as little surprise that Gate Petroleum executive John Peyton is the leader in mayoral campaign contributions at the end of the 2002 reporting period. With three months left to raise money and campaign before the April 15 primary — and one huge “if” floating around in the form of Sheriff Nat Glover — all the candidates have said they’ll shift gears in their efforts to garner votes and contributions.
After the third quarter last year, Peyton stood just a few dollars shy of the $850,000 mark. In late November, he broke the $1 million mark, raised a little more money and finished the quarter with another $197,547, giving him $1,043,297 to date. An officially undeclared candidate, Peyton has led the financial race since almost day one. Mike Hightower, his finance committee co-chair, said there is a definitive time line established for when Peyton will declare himself a candidate and begin to expound on the issues. When that does happen, the Peyton camp will be ready financially.
“When John Peyton announces his intentions, Team Peyton will have the money to go all the way, from the first day of qualifying to the last hour the votes are counted,” said Hightower. “Wire to wire, we’re in it to win.”
In addition to raising more money and meeting a self-imposed goal, Hightower is just as pleased that the campaign hasn’t spent much money.
“We have not only raised the most money, we have conserved what we’ve raised,” he said. “As we now get ready for the public phase of the campaign where we will spend funds on advertising and our grassroots effort, we have what it takes to run a winning campaign.”
However, Peyton didn’t raise the most money during the fourth quarter. That honor went to Mike Weinstein, who totaled about $225,000 during the quarter. Weinstein, the former Jacksonville Economic Development Commission executive director, set a goal of raising between $800,000 and $1 million by the primary. Based on fourth quarter contributions, he’s right on target.
“We hit the $225,000 mark which gives us well over $600,000 to date,” said campaign spokesperson Susie Wiles. “We always said $800,000 to $1 million was the price to pay, so we’re real pleased.”
Weinstein entered the fourth quarter with $437,746, well behind Peyton. However, Wiles said the nearly quarter-million dollars is great considering the situation.
“It’s a tough political environment right now,” said Wiles. “There are lots of candidates and we just got over the governor’s election. It [the fourth quarter earnings] makes Mike feel good.”
Like many of the other candidates, the stretch run to the primary will be dominated by personal appearances and getting his message to the public. Weinstein plans to hold his campaign kickoff rally Thursday night at the Fairgrounds. Wiles said Weinstein will unveil some of his ideas and plans regarding the future of Jacksonville should he win the election.
“He will not give a political speech,” said Wiles. “It will be a policy speech and his vision for the community. He will spend the rest of his time at events, forums and making appearances. He’ll do about three or four a week leading up to the election. He’ll talk all about that on the 16th and I do not want to steal his thunder.
“Let’s put it this way, it’s a fairly novel way to get out and about in the community. This campaign really is about grassroots and the neighborhoods.”
Although the year is only 10 days old, Wiles said the Weinstein camp has had a great year so far. Many uncollected fourth quarter contributions are coming in.
“We expect this quarter to be even better than the fourth quarter. We are well on our way to having the best quarter yet,” said Wiles.
City Council member Matt Carlucci is the latest candidate to enter the race and ended the third quarter — after only seven weeks of fund raising — with $219,039. Carlucci added another $153,100 during the fourth quarter to finish the year with $372,140. Like Weinstein, Carlucci expects the first quarter of this year to be his most productive yet and has several major fund raisers planned over the next few weeks.
“I said when I announced this campaign that we needed to shift the focus from war chests and campaign consultants to issues that concern the community,” said Carlucci. “To me, this fund raising success only represents the support I know is out there and helps me to better communicate my vision for the city’s future.”
City Council member Ginger Sound entered the quarter with almost $275,000 in the coffers and finished the year at just over $300,000. Campaign manager Cynthia Brust said Soud is pleased with the effort so far.
“We feel great,” said Brust. “We continue to move forward. We had a plan and we are moving along with that plan.”
Brust said raising money will remain on the agenda, but with the primary just over three months away, name and face recognition, as well as message conveyance, moves to the forefront.
“We are getting geared up. We are getting ready to open our headquarters and we have a great organization,” said Brust. “We will focus on the message, our volunteers and organizational structure.”
Brust said there is no firm date set for starting a media-related campaign complete with radio, TV and newspaper ads.
“We have some ideas, but the problem with starting the advertising too early is you could peak out,” said Brust.
Former mayor Tommy Hazouri declined to say how much he raised during the last quarter mainly because he said raising money isn’t at the top of his list.
“I set a goal of things to do and I’m doing them,” said Hazouri, who entered the quarter with $52,096. “I’m doing my campaign and I’m not running a race to raise a ton of money. That’s just my approach. I’m not in the race to raise an astronomical amount of money.”
Hazouri believes the fact he’s a former mayor is worth a certain intangible amount and it’s something none of the other candidates can claim. For that reason, Hazouri is able to concentrate on conveying his ideas rather than lobbying for contributions.
“I haven’t even formed a finance committee yet. Everything I’ve raised I’ve done myself,” said Hazouri. “I’ll make a lot of personal appearances, run the campaign, try to get in the runoff and ultimately end up with victory.
“We’ll turn up the volume a little bit in January. It will be a different scenario the next couple of months, then get a little louder. This campaign is certainly different from most of the others. The bottom line is, I haven’t spent a dime.”