Campaign financial filings shed light on Aug. 7 races

Campaign finance filings turned in at the Metro election commission Thursday shed considerable light on how various Metro Council candidates got where they are and offer a glimpse of where candidates may

Email | Print By Drew Ruble

07-31-2003 12:00 AM — Campaign finance filings turned in at the Metro election commission Thursday shed considerable light on how various Metro Council candidates got where they are and offer a glimpse of where candidates may be going from here.

All candidates were required to turn in a full account of their campaign fund raising and spending activity to the election commission by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, or to postmark the information by today’s date.

Although the information available at the election commission as of 4 p.m. this afternoon was not complete, it did reveal some important facts. They are that:

*At-large candidate Roy Dale has raised and spent a ton of money.

*Mayor Bill Purcell is going to have a great head start on campaign funds if he decides to run for the US Senate in 2006.

*Board members past and present at Harding Academy private school in Belle Meade have opened their checkbooks wide in the hopes of getting a school booster elected in District 23.

*The Service Employees Union, the Nashville Business Coalition, Gaylord Entertainment Co., and local teachers, policemen and firefighters will have tremendous influence on the outcome of Council races as a result of their heavy spending.

Among the at large candidates, Roy Dale raised a stunning $125,240 ($25,000 in a self loan) and has $1,160 cash on hand heading in to the August 7 election. Key contributors to Dale’s campaign included the Business Coalition ($2,500) and local attorney Tom White ($1,000).

Jack Johnson raised $34,428 ($20,000 in personal loans and over $9,000 in personal contributions) and has $2,822 cash on hand.

Buck Dozier raised $42,128 and has $5,620 cash on hand. Key contributors included Gaylord ($1,000), the Business Coalition ($2,500) and developer David Crabtree ($1,000).

Charlie French raised $10,896 ($784 on hand) with help from a $4,500 rollover from last year’s special election at large campaign.

Trey Rochford raised $67,277 and has the most money still left to campaign with ($24,078). Key contributors to his campaign included Beth Harwell, David Ingram, George Waller, Lee Beaman, the Business Coalition, Gaylord, Ted Welch and Tom Cigarran.

Diane Neighbors raised $89,963 and has $9,207 cash on hand. Her list of contributors reads like a who’s who of influential Nashvillians. They include Ronnie Steine, the law firms of Stokes Bartholomew, Waller Lansden and Neal & Harwell, Gaylord ($1,000), the Business Coalition ($2,500), John Hobbs, Jane Eskind, Ted Welch, Joe Barker, Doug Henry, Bert Mathews, Byron Trauger, Katy Varney Goetz, Bill Farmer and Mike Shmerling.

District 23 candidate Chris Whitson, a former legal representative for Harding Academy and a parent there, received the maximum individual contribution, $1,000, from two current Academy board members (Tarp Jones and Brain Reames). Whitson also received $500 from board president Bill DeLoache, $250 from board member Dan Barge and $500 from former board member Tom Corcoran. Other contributors to Whitson’s campaign included Gaylord, the Business Coalition, Predators owner Craig Leipold, David K. Wilson and Nelson Andrews. In all, Whitson raised $45,695 for his race ($10,000 from a personal loan) and has $7,824 cash on hand.

Whitson is running against incumbent councilman Bob Bogen. Harding Academy is currently in a legal tussle with the neighborhood it rests in and with Metro Government over the school's plan to tear down eight homes it owns in the Belle Meade Links neighborhood to make way for athletic fields for its students.

Mayor Bill Purcell has raised $356,420 toward his reelection. He has $286,484 on hand. With only token opposition, it appears Purcell will have a healthy campaign chest to start his next political campaign.

Highlights of disclosure forms from other candidates who had filed by 4 p.m. today include:

*District 10 incumbent Betty Balthrop raised $12,977 in her campaign. Her opponent, Rip Ryman, raised $19,670. District 10 is perhaps the closest race in the field.

*District 11 incumbent Feller Brown raised $20,376, more than half of which came in the form of a personal loan. Brown is supported by the teachers association, the firefighters, the police and the homebuilders in his contentious race against ex-NFL football player Greg Gaines.

*Mayoral candidate Kenneth Eaton has spent $25,028 of his own money on his challenge to Mayor Bill Purcell.

*Incumbent District 5 candidate Lawrence Hall raised $10,520.

*District 3 candidate Chester Hughes raised $12,367.

*District 15 incumbent J.B. Loring, who represents the Opryland area, fetched $2,500 from Gaylord.

*District 24 candidate Joel Sullivan raised $31,454 in his challenge against incumbent John Summers, largely in contributions from Montgomery Bell Academy supporters.

*At large candidate Larry Schmittou raised no money.

*District 31 candidate Parker Toler raised $12,245.

*District 35 candidate Charlie Tygard raised $24,520.

*District 14 candidate Harold White raised $14,552.