In Local Elections, New Candidates Lead at Fundraising

By Desiree Parker Saturday, July 23, 2011

Midyear campaign finance reports are in for local elections, and so far in York County and James City County candidates challenging incumbents are doing a better job raising funds.

In James City County, three seats are up for election in the fall and so far, four contenders have announced their intention to run. Incumbents generally have cash on hand from before 2011, based on data from the Virginia Public Access Project, but challengers are working harder to raise funds to date.

The race is on to fill York County’s board seats, too, and so far, the challengers aiming to unseat incumbents are also leading on fundraising efforts.

For more details on local campaign funding, visit the VPAP website.

James City County

Berkeley incumbent Mary Jones has $2,174 on hand, most of which is cash left from before 2011.

For 2011 she’s declared a $110 in-kind contribution from a Ferraris on the Vine dinner. Her top two donors during her 2007 campaign were the James City County Republican Committee with $6,500 and the Home Builders Association of Virginia-Peninsula with $1,000.

Her contender, Democrat Carlton Stockton, has already raised $4,620 this year. The funds have come in relatively small amounts; his two highest donors have been Suzanne Matthews and Raymond Wile, who both gave $500.

Roberts candidate Jack Fraley, running as a Republican for a seat to be vacated by Bruce Goodson, has raised $3,000 so far. His two cash contributions listed on VPAP of $250 each come from Thomas Christian Henderson and James Zinn; Fraley gave $2,000 to his campaign.

VPAP lists a fund balance of $6,467 for Jim Kennedy, Stonehouse incumbent. In 2011, he hasn’t yet raised any funds, but from after the last election, his top donors were The county Republican Party with $8,000, the Home Builders Association of Virginia with $3,000 (as an in-kind donation) and Thomas Christian Henderson with $1,000.

Jamestown Supervisor John McGlennon announced recently that he intends to run against Fraley for the Roberts District seat. So far, VPAP indicates McGlennon has raised $800. Of that, $300 is from Deborah Kratter (a former planning commissioner), $200 is from Elise Emanuel and $200 from Guy Fowler.

According to VPAP, McGlennon raised just over $500 for his re-election campaign in 2009, $300 of which came from TK Oriental Arts.

York County

For the August Republican primary, York County District 4 incumbent George Hrichak has $700 on hand and has received $100 in 2011 (data on the source isn’t available yet). His biggest donor during the last election was the state Association of Realtors, which gave $1,000.

His challenger Republican Jim Haas has raised $8,696 this year, $4,096 of which is from James Haas and $1,000 of which is from Ronald Dukes.

In the District 1 primary race, incumbent Walt Zaremba has raised $916 in 2011, $706 of which he loaned to his campaign. Sheila Myers was his top donor with $110.

His challenger Republican Mitchel Thomas has raised $1,238 this year, $638 of which is from his own pocket. His only other donor is Canavos Holdings with $500.

Democrat Tony Joseph has also declared his candidacy for District 1, but he hasn’t yet raised any funds.

Also duking it out for the Republican nomination for District 2 in August will be Gerald Frank Barger and incumbent Sheila Noll. Noll has $1,440 on hand, $525 of which is from 2011. She loaned $500 of that to her campaign.

Barger has raised $580 this year. Of that, Barger offered $380 and the rest is from Joe and Mimma’s.

District 3 incumbent Don Wiggins has $557 on hand. His two donors this year have been Sheila Myers with $250 and Harvey Woodruff with $200.

Republican District 3 challenger Bob D'Eramo has pulled in $3,500 this year, all of which he loaned to his campaign.

District 5 incumbent Tom Shepperd so far has no challengers. He has raised $1,150 this year, $500 of which has come from his own pocket, $500 from James O’Connell, and $150 from Betty Foster.