Sandy Stimpson continues to outpace incumbent Mayor Sam Jones in fundraising

MOBILE, Alabama ? Campaign records show mayoral candidate Sandy Stimpson continuing to outpace incumbent Mayor Sam Jones in fundraising.

Mobile County Probate court records show that Stimpson's campaign raised $86,755 in June, more than the $37,691 raised by Jones during the same month.

Stimpson's June was down from his May totals, when his campaign raised $229,617, bolstered by a $30,000 donation from South Alabamians for Good Government political action committee and $25,000 from businessman E. Grace Pilot. W. Davis Pilot contributed $12,500 to the PAC on June 1.

South Alabamians for Good Government is chaired locally by Realtor Richard H. Weavil. The PAC's treasurer is Michael C. Thompson, who also served as treasurer of the South Alabamians for Bob Riley PAC. Weavil was appointed by Riley to the Alabama State Port Authority's board of directors in 2010.

According to the Secretary of State's website, the PAC's aim is "to promote candidates who and legislation which support the principles of good government."

At the end of June, Stimpson had $177,848 remaining in his campaign fund after having spent $146,404. Notable among those expenses was $68,928.25 to Strateco LLC of Mobile for administrative and consultant fees.

Jones had $155,039 at the end of June, spending only $15,942 during the month. His largest expenditures were $3,750 to ABC Signs in Theodore and Angela Blum Realty in Mobile for administrative services.

What either candidate spent their money on is hard to determine because the state's disclosure forms don't require information beyond the name of the vendors and their business addresses.

Jones also got some PAC support in May and June, including $3,750 each from Pride PAC II and T-Town PAC II, both committees which claim to support fiscally conservative politicians for office. They are both chaired by Michael Echols, an accountant in Tuscaloosa.

MOBILE, Alabama ? The next competitive mayoral forum between incumbent Mayor Sam Jones and challenger Sandy Stimpson is Tuesday at the Alabama School of Math and Science.

The one-hour forum is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. It had to be moved from the Crescent Theatre in order to accommodate what is expected to be a large crowd.

Alabama School of Math and Science is located at the corner of Dauphin and Ann streets in midtown Mobile.

Alabama Citizens for the Environment, a PAC controlled by City Attorney Larry Wettermark and has supported Jones in the past, finished June with $109,815, according to disclosure forms. The PAC has raised $13,500 since the first of the year.

Steve Raby, Jones' political strategist, said that the mayor "continues to steadily raise money" and is raising enough to run the "type of campaign he plans to run."

Regarding the large contributions into Stimpson's campaign, Raby said: "It shows what a few wealthy families can do when they want to contribute to somebody."

Chad Tucker, a spokesman with the Stimpson campaign, noted that the challenger is raising money from a large number of individual donors, not just a few people.

"We are very excited about the contributions we received and have exceeded our goals," Tucker said. "Even though we have significant contributions, we have thousands of people giving to the campaign. It shows the excitement we are dealing with."

Jones and Stimpson will be joined in the mayoral race by Doris J.W. Brown. Campaign disclosure sheets show she had $175 at the end of June.

In individual council races, District 4 Councilman John Williams will have at least three challengers. Tim Burnett, Milton Morrow and Lebarron Wiley have all filed to unseat Williams, who is running for re-election.

Only Williams and Morrow have filed campaign disclosure reports. Williams is the only candidate to have raised money so far, with a $5,000 contribution from the Board of Realtors, giving his campaign $6,919.68.

In District 2, Levon Manzie, Florence McElroy and Greg Vaughan have all filed for the seat currently occupied by William Carroll. The incumbent officeholder has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election.

Carroll, like other hopefuls for city office, has until July 16 to file.

Manzie, a member of the Mobile County School Board, raised $9,410 during June, to bring his campaign's total to $12,017. There are no campaign finance records for the other candidates.

In District 5, Joel Daves is seeking an office currently held by long-time Councilman Reggie Copeland, who is also the council's president. Copeland is retiring at the end of his term.

Unopposed incumbents are Councilmembers C.J. Small (District 3), Bess Rich (District 6), and Gina Gregory (District 7).

The election is Aug. 27.

John Sharp, Press Register

Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2013/07/sandy_stimpson_continues_to_ou.html

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