FAYETTEVILLE -- Two of the four candidates in runoffs for spots on the City Council have raised about the same amount of money.
Sonia Gutierrez, running for Ward 1, and Ward 4 candidate Teresa Turk turned in pre-election campaign contribution and expenditure reports this week.
Early voting
Early voting for the general election runoff continues from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Washington County Clerk’s Office at the courthouse, 280 N. College Avenue.
In Benton County, voters can cast ballots early from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday at the County Clerk offices at 215 E. Central Ave., Suite 217, in Bentonville and 2111 W. Walnut St. in Rogers.
Source: Staff report
Gutierrez is running against Olivia Trimble for the open Ward 1 seat being vacated by Adella Gray, who didn't file for re-election. Turk is running against incumbent Ward 4 Alderman John La Tour, who has served since 2014.
As of 3 p.m. Friday, Trimble and La Tour hadn't turned in a report. Gutierrez filed hers Thursday. Turk filed her report Tuesday. The forms were due Tuesday.
All four candidates turned in a report for the general election, which was Nov. 6. Trimble at the time reported raising $3,490 and spending about $3,400. La Tour reported loaning his campaign $7,900, raising $1,500 and spending about $8,300.
Turk led the Ward 4 general election with 2,909 votes, compared to La Tour's 2,811 votes. Adam Fire Cat received 677 votes in that race.
Turk reported $2,281 in donations from Nov. 7 to Nov. 23. She received $6,080 between June 1 and Oct. 27, according to the report she filed for the general election. Her highest contribution for the runoff came from Garber Linnette, at $500. All other donations were lower than $250.
Turk spent $779 for the runoff. Nearly all of it went toward printing costs for cards and vinyl stickers, according to her report. Turk has loaned her campaign about $3,163.
Gutierrez received 2,303 votes to Trimble's 2,220 in the general election. A third candidate, Kris Paxton, got 1,132 votes.
Gutierrez reported a number of nonmonetary contributions from artists. She had $1,930 worth of art listed from 22 sources.
Contributing artists included Jason Jones, Hank Kaminsky, Keely Wake, Tonya Tubbs, Amber Perrodin, Chad Maupin and Steve Adair.
As far as monetary contributions, Gutierrez received $5,110 between Oct. 31 and Wednesday. Her cumulative total for her campaign is $8,835, according to her report. Her spending for the runoff, $4,321, outpaced the $2,305 Gutierrez spent during the general election.
The biggest contributor to Gutierrez's runoff campaign was Hannah Withers, who donated $1,780 in separate installments.
Gutierrez had $2,470 in the bank for her campaign as of Wednesday, according to the report.
Most of Gutierrez's expenditures went toward Facebook ads costing $339, and paying Octavio Lopez Gomez $1,000 for sign painting. She also spent more than $700 on signs and entertainment expenses.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission generally will only investigate a possible violation, such as not turning in a form on time, if a complaint is filed. The commission can issue fines or send a letter of reprimand if it finds a violation has occurred.
The runoff election for both wards is Tuesday.
NW News on 12/01/2018