FAYETTEVILLE -- The amount spent on the race to represent residents on the west side of town exceeds other City Council contests, and only two of the three candidates raised or spent anything.
Nearly $15,000 combined has been spent on the campaigns for Ward 4 candidates Teresa Turk and incumbent John La Tour. Adam Fire Cat, also running for the position, has neither raised nor spent any money.
The candidates
The following candidates are running for Fayetteville City Council:
Ward 1
• Kris Paxton
• Olivia Trimble
• Sonia Gutierrez
Ward 2
• Raymond Burks
• Martin Bemberg
• Mark Kinion*
Ward 3
• Lucas Regnier
• Sloan Scroggin
Ward 4
• Adam Fire Cat
• Teresa Turk
• John La Tour*
*denotes incumbent
Source: Staff report
The next closest contest expenditure is Ward 3, whose two candidates have combined to spend nearly $8,600. The three candidates vying for the Ward 1 position have spent about $7,100. Just more than $780 has been spent in the Ward 2 race, almost entirely by one of the three candidates.
All told, City Council candidates have spent more than $31,450 and raised about $20,730. Loans, usually from the candidates themselves, cover most of the gap.
The figures come from the candidates' pre-election campaign contribution and expenditure reports, which were due Tuesday. Only Fire Cat and Ward 2 candidate Martin Bemberg didn't turn in a form because neither raised or spent at least $500, which is the threshold requiring reporting.
The reports cover campaign activity through Saturday. A final report of all campaign activity is due Dec. 31 for every candidate, regardless of whether they raised or spent any money.
So far, the candidate who has raised the most money is Turk. She has raised $6,080, according to her report. Of that, $5,250 came in contributions larger than $50. The rest, $830, came from smaller contributions.
Candidates must report any donation larger than $50. Turk's largest single donation was $2,700 coming from Nancy Harris. Other individual contributions were $500 or fewer. Turk also loaned her campaign about $3,060.
Her opponent, La Tour, reported about $7,900 in loans coming from himself and Data Forms Inc. He has raised $1,500 from three sources: ARPAC, Fayetteville Future Committee, and Justin Lidholm.
La Tour has spent nearly $8,300 on his campaign, while Turk reported about $6,670 in campaign spending. The majority of Turk's spending went to printing costs. La Tour has mostly spent money on advertising and use of vehicles.
Lucas Regnier and Sloan Scroggin are competing for the Ward 3 seat being vacated by Council Member Justin Tennant. Regnier reported raising $1,700 and spending just more than $3,600, with a $4,000 loan to himself. Scroggin raised about $1,350 and spent nearly $4,970, giving himself a $3,800 loan.
Sonia Gutierrez has raised the most money in the Ward 1 race with $3,725. Olivia Trimble is close behind at $3,490. Kris Paxton reported $1,425 in contributions. All three are vying to replace Council Member Adella Gray, who didn't file for re-election.
Trimble has spent the most in that race at just more than $3,400. Gutierrez has spent about $2,300 so far. Paxton spent just more than $1,380.
Nearly all of the money spent in the Ward 2 race has come from Raymond Burks' campaign, at about $710. Incumbent Mark Kinion reported $725 in contributions but spent just under $7 on bank fees. Burks reported raising $736.
Municipal elections are nonpartisan. The election is Tuesday.
NW News on 10/31/2018