Commission candidates report spending
Commissioner Wendy Davis leads the field of six in campaign contributions and expenses.
The six candidates vying for three seats on the Rome City Commission have spent thousands of dollars on the contest — although one has raised significantly more than the others.
Early voting starts Monday for the Nov. 7 election. City residents will be able to cast three votes each in the Ward 2 race. The three candidates with the highest totals will take the seats in January.
Campaign finance reports were due at the city clerk’s office last week for the period between July 1 and Sept. 30. The next deadline is Nov. 1.
Wendy Davis reported adding another $10,430 in donations to her campaign account balance of $14,446. She spent just under $6,374 this period, which — after subtracting nearly $9,600 of previously reported expenses — left her with about $8,900 cash on hand.
Small donations of $100 or less accounted for $4,470 of this period’s total and just over $2,900 came from larger donors outside the county in places including Atlanta, Dalton, Marietta, Dublin and Rockmart.
Davis also listed 14 local donors making contributions of $100 or more, including Dr. Buford Harbin; Ouida Dickey; Terrell Shaw; Berry College professor Christina Bucher; attorneys Kenneth Fuller and Robert Davis; and Charles Graves.
More than half of Davis’ itemized expenses were fees to local consultants Ruth Demeter and Vincent Olsziewski. Spending on printing, office supplies, fundraising expenses, data collection, graphic design and signs also appears on the report.
Randy Quick reported taking in $8,550 and spending $2,412, leaving a balance of $6,138 in his campaign account.
His expenses went toward signs, T-shirts and bumper stickers. Listed contributions included a $5,000 loan from himself and $400 in small contributions of $100 or less.
Larger donations, which must be itemized, came from Rome Radio Partners CEO Howard and Merry Toole; Delos Yancey of State Mutual Insurance; Linda Walraven; William Burke; Dr. Paul Ferguson; Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson; and state Rep. Christian Coomer, R-Cartersville.
Monica Sheppard closed out September with just under $2,056 in her account after spending about $1,689 on a website, signs, T-shirts, magnets and the qualifying fee.
She added $2,445 in small contributions to her $300 remaining from the previous reporting period and another $1,000 from larger donors. Listed contributors are Berry College professor Michael Bailey; Scott Bentley; Allison Hunter; Joe Cook of Coosa River Basin Initiative; and Devon Smith of the Davies Homeless Shelter.
Jamie Doss reported just under $96 in his campaign fund after spending about $1,006 of his $1,102 in donations on
signs and the qualifying fee.
In addition to $400 in small donations, local attorney William O’Dell contributed $250; another $200 came from Dr. Toby Morgan; and Doss paid the $252 qualifying fee out of pocket.
Sue Lee declared a zero balance in her campaign fund after spending a total of $636 on printing, postage, signs, stakes and the $252 qualifying fee.
She reported taking in $100 in small donations and putting in $536 as a loan from herself.
Bill Kerestes was the sole Rome City Commission candidate to file an affidavit declaring his intention not to accept or spend more than $2,500 in the race.
The Georgia General Assembly approved affidavits as a substitute for campaign finance reports in response to complaints from city officials statewide that their elections rarely involve large sums of money.
Rome City Clerk Joe Smith said he’s told all commission and school board candidates who filed affidavits to keep records anyway. If they exceed the cap, a full accounting is required.