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Big Bucks In Race For District 5 Commission Seat
August 13, 2012
Republican candidates for the District 5 seat on the Escambia County Commission received more than $200,000 into their campaigns….including one candidate that loaned his campaign more than the job pays in a year’s time.
Sam Archer, who outspent other candidates by a 2 to 1 margin, loaned his campaign $86,500, according to elections documents. The commission job pays about $73,500 per year. Archer has sent repaid about $6,400 to himself and his wife. Those loan repayments to Archer’s wife were the subject of a State Attorney Office review and a complaint filed with the Florida Elections Commission. The State Attorney’s Office found no criminal wrongdoing by Archer. Read more…
The second biggest campaign war chest in the District 5 commission race belonged to Steven Barry. He had $55,121.00 to spend, including $14,500 in money and in-kind services from his own pocket.
Sam Archer
- Monetary contributions: $100,595.00
- In-kind contributions: $167.52
- Expenditures: $91,503.17
Archer loaned his own campaign $86,500, repaying about $6,397. He recorded about 90 total contributions. His largest expenses were billboards for $58,393 and $17,409 for signs.
Glenn Austin
- Monetary contributions: $4,152.68
- In-kind contributions: $0
- Expenditures: $3,392.87
Austin loaned his campaign $868. His largest expenses were $1,729 for signs and $1,313 for flyers, handouts and postage.
Steven Barry
- Monetary contributions: $55,121.00
- In-kind contributions: $3,565.06
- Expenditures: $53,081.73
Barry contributed about $14,500 in money and in-kind items to his own campaign, making no loans to himself.
He had over 300 contributors. His largest expenses were $15,717 for signs and $15,712 for printing, postage and magnets.
Pat Burkett
- Monetary contributions: $5,902.29
- In-kind contributions: $1,770.58
- Expenditures: $530.00
Burkett loaned $5,152 to her campaign and contributed about $2,080 in money and in-kind items. She listed 25 total contributions. Her largest expenditure was for billboards for about $3,710.
Jim Taylor
- Monetary contributions: $24,360
- In-kind contributions: $1,490
- Expenditures: $23,246.45
Taylor loaned $4,100 to his own campaign and recorded about 125 individual contributions.
His largest expenditure was $18,496 to marketing company Open Market Research, Inc. for advertising services that included signs, phone calls, website, direct mail and more. He also spent $1,321 for gasoline for campaign related travel in the district.
Incumbent Kevin White raised about $9,625 for his re-election before later dropping out of the race. White refunded his campaign contributions.
Comments
19 Responses to “Big Bucks In Race For District 5 Commission Seat”
Glad its over clean the signs up tired of all the litter
These candidates that are already in a business and now wanting to run OUR BUSINESS makes us look stupid if we vote for them. People in office that can retire and will draw their retirement and then we the taxpayers pay them some more to keep them in office so they can draw that salary also makes the voters look the other way when they vote. Double-dippiing is crazy when it is the taxpapyer money paying for it. VOTERS THINK ABOUT THAT.
THANK YOU ! My entire complaint is public record……I think Mr. Archer has grossly underestimated this mesenger! Let’s see he has involved his wife seven times with loan repayments that she didn’t make,according to him …now its her fault because she didn’t pay his property taxes….Really! WOW!
It is important to run stories about finance because they can give you an idea about how a candidate will conduct themselves in office. This issue was brought up to Sam over a month ago and today he is saying that this is the first he has heard of it. This is a lie. If he is so willing to lie about something that is so easy to verify, how can we hope to trust him on things that are not so easy to prove.
There is no doubt what so ever that Sam is lying about this.
Today he has been on the radio talking about how he has tried to avoid mudslinging in this campaign, yet he handed out flyers that showed an arrest record for one of the other candidates. Isn’t that mudslinging?
Are we so used to being lied to that we don’t even consider it a character flaw anymore? We have indisputable facts sitting right in front of us. Are we are going to just sit here and shoot the messenger?
I feel that Mr Archers expenditures should be considered an indicater (indicator), of his committment to the position and it’s responsibilities.
Oh yeah, i believe you will still have Mr. Mitchell to consider later.
>>>I do NOT understand why this article was published the day before the primary
We always run a campaign finance story on commission candidates (did it last time too) and races like Century mayor.
The due date for finance reports covering the period closest to the election were due last Friday 8/10. It will not possible to publish finance report information until it was turned in to the elections supervisor.
(Yes, we could have ran it earlier, but Saturday our political story was about the State Attorney’s Office inquiry into Mr. Archer’s campaign finances.)
>>>I do NOT understand why this article was published the day before the primary
We always run a campaign finance story on commission candidates (did it last time too) and races like Century mayor.
The due date for finance reports covering the period closest to the election was last Friday 8/10. It was not possible to publish finance report information until it was turned in to the elections supervisor by each candidate.
(Yes, we could have ran it Saturday, but that day our political story was about the State Attorney’s Office inquiry into Mr. Archer’s campaign finances.)
I do NOT understand why this article was published the day before the primary when it seems to have the intent of causing NEGATIVE feelings toward Sam Archer. I have already voted for Sam so it doesn’t effect my vote!
we will see what gets done…
can anyone remember the last time highway 99 south was paved?
by all means if you do let me know,
or if you know of a county resource to look it up,
please let me know
To concerned citizen:
I Googled Escambia County election and found the following election website where you can put in the candidate’s name, and then see all the contributions, contributors, and their addresses. You can also see expenses if you’re interested in that. If the link doesn’t work, the I believe the main website is escambiavotes.com.
http://www.voterfocus.com/ws/wscand/cand_srch.php?c=escambia
Ol’ Sammy boy must REALLY be counting winning and collecting his portion of the BP money the county gets Jan.1(thats what this election is all about folks) Sam Archer will do NOTHING for this District. This county is a walking political joke.
@ Madison Holland
typical Escambia County Crap. Archer and Powell both investigated, Powell arrested. Archer would be 1/5th of the commission if elected. Just what do you think he can do to help the north end of the county. I’ve heard promises forever, and look at the situation the county is in……..
>>Could you brake down how much each candidate raised that came from district 5. If i am not mistaken alot of money came from people that dont even live or work in district 5.
Pretty much every candidate that raises for a district seat in the county raises money from outside their district. It’s commonplace. Sometimes it’s a group/person with a vested interest in the race (like a Pensacola construction company donating to a District commission candidate), sometimes it’s just because the candidate is personal friends/relatives with someone in Navarre or someplace.
But no, I can’t break it down in a story. It would take literally days and day of research to come close to getting it right. You can, however, get pretty good ideas for yourself at EscambiaVotes.com at the link here:
http://www.voterfocus.com/ws/wscand/candidate_pr.php?c=escambia
the obvious grass roots candidate with the best message is Glenn Austin
but I might be a little biased. I know him to be a man of integrity with no strings attached. He is what you see today, tomorrow and any other time. just saying….
Some have an interest in This County , And I think it is “OBVIOUS” who is
“COUNTING” on KICK-BACKS, and CONSOLIDATION !!!!
OBVIOUS !!!
I am curious why any of this matters? Presidential candidates spend millions on their races for a job that pays 400k and no-one freaks out over that. Why in a small town level do we care what candidates spend and how much of it is their own money?
I want to see who is actually going to do something for district 5 and not just make false promises like in the past. I can bet that most voters already have their mind made up. I do. See ya at the polls! Go Powell and Archer!
William,
Could you brake down how much each candidate raised that came from district 5. If i am not mistaken alot of money came from people that dont even live or work in district 5.
That’s a lot of personal money to win a campaign. Hope he can make it up with bribes.