Flowers details primary runoff finances
Vivian Flowers received $14,076 in monetary contributions during campaigning for Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff election for mayor of Pine Bluff, according to financial reports Flowers indicated she filed with the Jefferson County Clerk on Friday.
The most recent deadline for filing the reports was Feb. 27. Flowers said the person she was using as a treasurer became ill, causing her to be late with the filing of the report.
Flowers, who is running against incumbent Shirley Washington, totaled $6,296.44 in expenditures. The difference, minus the $5,613.66 in red Flowers began with following the March 5 primary, left her $2,165.97 in the black.
Flowers received $6,250 in total itemized monetary contributions of more than $200. Of that total, $3,000 came from Angela Wilkins of Pine Bluff, $1,500 from Lauren Cooks of Little Rock and $1,000 from Chase Ritterelmeyer of Little Rock.
Other contributors included Jeffery Collins of Pine Bluff ($250), Shanda Anderson of Pine Bluff ($500), Demareo Bell of Little Rock ($500), Denise Fletcher of Little Rock ($200), Ann Clemer of Little Rock ($250), Harold Love of Nashville, Tenn. ($250), Nancy Beams of Washington, D.C. ($300), Joseph Emerson of Washington ($500), Fletcher West of Little Rock ($500), Tony Anderson of Louisville, Ky. ($250), Jamie Scott of North Little Rock ($250), and Nana-Aisha Atu Adamu of Pine Bluff ($250). Scott has contributed a cumulative total of $500 during Flowers’ campaign.
A campaign worker, Edward Breedlove, was paid $810.
Flowers spent $2,500 on printing campaign material from Apex (full business name and address were not listed) and $1,000 each to Tony Washington and on a reimbursement to John A. Flowers for a payment to Washington. Other expenditures included $108.61 to Best Buy in Little Rock, $120.44 to Sharks Fish & Chicken of Little Rock, $120.96 to Riq’s Boys Tacos of Pine Bluff, $204.96 to Walmart, $100 to the Corner Store Pine Bluff (for gas), $179.12
to Lowe’s Pine Bluff and $152.95 to the Black Caucus (for “ticket”).
Flowers indicated a total of minus-$5,613.66 following $27,468.58 in contributions and $33,082.24 in expenditures from Nov. 13, 2023, through Feb. 28 of this year.
Myron Jackson of Little Rock and Derek Koen of Morgan Hill, Calif., each donated $2,900 to the campaign before the March primary. Steven Jones of West Memphis, Kalven Trice of Little Rock, Darren Peters of Arlington, Va., Vivian Wright of Pine Bluff (twice), Leigh Gaddy Hyde of Little Rock, and William Rutledge, M.D., of Little Rock, each donated $1,000.
Other contributors included Justin R. Jordan of Houston (two donations of $250), James Richardson of Fort Smith ($500), Clarke Tucker of Little Rock ($250), Martha Flowers of Pine Bluff ($500), Perlesta Hollingsworth of Washington ($250), Colette Honorable of Washington ($500), Candace Person of Accokeck, Md. ($250), Rodney Shelton of Washington ($500), Isaac Fordjour of Silver Spring, Md. ($250), Michael Gray of Augusta, Ark. ($250), Lori Thomas of New Carrollton, Md. ($250), John Buckman of Little Rock ($250), Progressive Arkansas Women’s PAC of Little Rock ($500), Sharon C. Flowers of Pomona, Calif. ($500), Rose Shaw of Sherwood ($500), AR Prosperity PAC ($600), Mr. and Mrs. Jay Bradford of Little Rock ($500), Milton Nicks of Marion ($250), Earl and Ora Mays of Pine Bluff ($300), Byran McGee, M.D., of Little Rock ($400), Kecsa Smith of Jacksonville ($100), Don Vandiver of Little Rock ($250), Stacy Williams of Little Rock ($250), Scott ($250), Taren Robinson of Little Rock ($250), Greetha Wiggins of Houston ($300), Calvin Johnson of Pine Bluff ($200), and RT Arkansas PAC Fund ($500).
Among Flowers’ itemized campaign expenditures of more than $100 before the primary were $7,504.28 and $5,928 to The Design Group for radio advertisements, $3,798.38 and $2,720.42 to Apex Consulting Group of West Memphis for campaign materials, $2,450 to the Democratic Central Committee of Little Rock for filing fees, $1,238 to Ivory Bishop for a brunch catering deposit, $1,000 to Tony Washington for “Sunday Letdrops,” and four $1,000 payments to campaign manager Shanta Calhoun of Pine Bluff.
Other expenditures included $208.23 to the Democratic Central Committee for voter files, $224 to Indigo Blue Coffeehouse of Pine Bluff for catering, $120 to the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce for “ticket; community event,” $366.08 to Lowe’s Pine Bluff for metal sticks for signs and $101 to the store for a big sign post metal, $125 to the NAACP Pine Bluff branch for tickets for an event, $148.78 to Office Depot of Little Rock for a printer for mayoral campaign headquarters, $111.07 to Calhoun for campaign management, $650 to John A. Flowers for reimbursement for a text blast, $119.00 to Canva of Austin, Texas, for graphic design for a campaign, $525 to Timothy Flowers for campaign materials and T-shirts, $150 to Anthony Foots for a fundraiser, $226.80 to Sam Club of Little Rock for a Sunday Brunch fundraiser, $179 to the Trauluro Hotel for a fundraiser in Washington, $250 and $100 to Jillian Cheatam Events LLC of Pine Bluff for fundraiser supplies, and $588.21 to Delta Air Lines of Atlanta for a fundraiser.
The other two top candidates, Mayor Washington and Joni Alexander-Robinson, turned in their campaign contribution reports before the Feb. 27 deadline. At that time, Washington showed she had raised $26,409 while Alexander-Robinson, who came in third in the vote count, eliminating her from contention, reported that she had raised $35,670.