Saturday, October 09, 2010

Gilland, Guest, Huckaby Top Fundraisers Among Oconee County Candidates

Compere Form a No Show

Tammy Gilland raised and spent more than $13,000 in her unsuccessful attempt to unseat Margaret Hale in the July 20 Oconee County Republican primary, according to finance records filed by the Sept. 30 deadline in the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration office.

Hale raised and spent just less than $8,000.

Hale got 52 percent of the vote to Gilland’s 48 percent.

Mark Thomas raised just less than $6,500 in his successful race to become the Republican nominee for Post 2 on the Board of Education. Thomas spent all but $800 of the money he raised.

Mack Guest, the incumbent Post 2 BOE member, raised $6,800 and spent about $1,000 more than that in his unsuccessful attempt to be the Republican nominee.

Thomas got 71 percent of the vote to Guest’s 29 percent.

Carter Strickland, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for the BOE Post 2 position, spent a little more than $600, but he did not report raising any money.

In the race for the House District 113 seat in the Georgia General Assembly, Hank Huckaby raised more than $114,000 and spent just less than $64,000 in his successful campaign for the Republican nomination, according to records filed with the State Ethics Commission.

Kirk Shook raised nearly $16,000 and spent nearly all of it, and Tommy Malcom raised $9,000 and spent that amount. Both also were attempting to secure the Republican nomination to replace Bob Smith, who is retiring.

Huckaby is facing Democrat Suzy Compere on the Nov. 2 ballot. Compere reported in her June 30 filing that she had not raised or spent any money on her campaign.

The State Election Commissioner web site does not show a report for Compere for the Sept. 30 period, though the grace period for filing the report ended Thursday. Candidates filing before Oct. 14 will pay a $25 late fee, and candidates filing after that date will pay an additional $50 late fee.

Oconee lies entirely within the 113th District, which also includes parts of Clarke, Morgan and Oglethorpe counties.

Huckaby received 51 percent of the votes in the July 20 primary to 30 percent for Malcom and 19 percent for Shook.

The Sept. 30 filings are cumulative, covering the entire first half of this year.

Most of the money raised and spent had been reported in the June 30 statements for the candidates for the Oconee County offices as well as for the candidates for the 113th House seat.

Huckaby was the only candidate who really added significantly to his totals in the three months after that filing. He picked up an additional $19,000.

The 2010 races saw considerably more spending than in those same races two years earlier.

In 2008, Hale had raised $6,300 and spent most of that by the Sept. 30 filing deadline. Her opponent in the Republican primary, Esther Porter, had raised $3,600 and spent all of it by Sept. 30.

In 2008, Guest had raised $3,400 and spent $4,600 by the Sept. 30 filing period. His opponent, Ryan House, had raised and spent $1,850.

Smith ran unopposed for the 113th House seat in 2008 in both the primary and the general election.