The Dallas Morning News this morning published its voter guide, which includes plenty of interesting information about the municipal races. Want to see Councilman Philip Kingston excoriate the mayor’s tenure? Here you are. Want to see how masterful Laura Miller is at sidestepping questions about the performance of the mayor, city manager, and police chief? Right here. Curious about the differences between Giovanni Valderas, Chad West, and Sylvana Alonzo, who are running to replace term-limited Scott Griggs in District 1? Here’s Valderas, here’s West, here’s Alonzo.
A cursory read-through shows that the Morning News did a good job of tailoring questions for each of the districts. The guide gives the candidates the opportunity to explain themselves about their varying priorities. Also interesting—it’s a sneak peek of next week’s first campaign finance report in the mayor’s race. Developer Mike Ablon is leading the self-reporting pack with about $600,000. Albert Black, Regina Montoya, and Miguel Solis all report bringing in about $400,000 or more. Griggs, Eric Johnson, and Lynn McBee are making us wait until April 5. It’s the first of two filings remaining in the race. This one counts for the total amount they raised as of March 25.
We got our first view at the fundraising numbers for early announcers back in January. Black had raised almost $300,000 and was leading the pack. McBee was right behind with $257,925. Next week should be interesting. Here are all the mayoral responses in the voter’s guide.
1. Mike Ablon: Reported $600,000, with top donors being Tom Hicks, Herb Weitzman, and Lisa and Ed Ewing.
2. Regina Montoya: Reported about $450,000, didn’t answer the top donors question. “My campaign finance reports, listing all donors, are available at the City of Dallas Elections website.”
3. Albert Black: Reported about $400,000, with top donors being Sen. Royce West, Anthony Farmer, and David Godsey.
4. Miguel Solis: Reported nearly $400,000, and said this about top donors: “We have had more than three individual donors donate the maximum contribution amount but some of our first included Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Cecilia and Garrett Boone and Melanie and Tim Byrne.”
5. Jason Villalba: Reported about $50,000, with top donors being Hon. John Carona, Colleen Barrett, Leland Burke, Chart and Jimmy Wescott, Jack Pratt, Erle Nye, “and many other esteemed citizens of Dallas.”
6. Alyson Kennedy: Reported less than $500. Top donors question got this response: “Many working people who support my campaign contributed $5 to $20. We campaign door to door in working-class neighborhoods in Dallas and throughout the surrounding region and find widespread anger about the conditions that face working people – stagnant wages, high costs of living – especially medical care and police brutality. They express disgust with the dead end politics of the Democratic and Republican party politicians and want to discuss the way forward.”
7. Scott Griggs: Reported “sufficient funds to execute a winning campaign,” which is a terrific non-answer. Top donors are Sylvia Demarest, Don Williams, and Joseph Glogowski.
8. Lynn McBee: “Please refer to my campaign filings.” And “I am grateful to have support from donors across all of Dallas.”
9. Eric Johnson: “The campaign will file a campaign finance report covering the period from the date I entered the race for Dallas Mayor, January 23, 2019, to March 25, 2019. Because that period has not ended, we do not have a final tally for that period. Once the report is complete, we will be happy to provide it to the Editorial Board.” As for top donors, “There are several individuals who have contributed the maximum to my mayoral campaign, and they are listed on the campaign finance report covering the period from the date I entered the race for Dallas Mayor, January 23, 2019, to March 25, 2019.”
