Brookhaven mayoral candidate John Ernst has raised nearly $56,000 for his war chest, while fellow mayoral candidate Dale Boone lags far behind at around $3,900, according to campaign finance reports.
Ernst’s contributors include many attorneys, Democratic Party-connected activists and local leaders, including Brookhaven City Councilmen Joe Gebbia and John Park. Gebbia also contributed to Boone’s campaign.
Other Ernst contributors include Clarkston Mayor Edward Terry, former Brookhaven City Councilman Jim Eyre, former Georgia Secretary of State David Pothyress, and the campaign committees of current District 80 state Rep. Taylor Bennett and former state Rep. Mike Jacobs.
Boone had a handful of donors, including some restaurant ownership groups. His campaign also reports more than $5,000 in debt.
Ernst has raised roughly $14 for every $1 Boone has raised. Ernst is heavily outspending his opponent as well, with almost $23,000 already paid or donated to various consultants, researchers and events. Boone has spent less than $625, with his mayoral filing fee as the biggest expenditure.
Personal financial disclosures also show big differences between Ernst, an attorney, and Boone, a professional competitive eater. Boone reports no significant real estate ownership or fiduciary positions.
Ernst is owner at his Chamblee law practice and owns his Silver Lake Drive home. He is a partner in three rental-property companies based on Finistere Court. Via his 401K, he is also an investor in Gogo, Netflix, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Wells Fargo and Google.
Incumbent Mayor Rebecca Chase Williams raised around $14,000 before deciding to leave the race, records show. She spent or refunded the entire amount.
In Brookhaven’s District 1 City Council race, incumbent Linley Jones reported about $42,500 cash on hand, while challenger Eve Erdogan reported only about $8,200.
District 3 City Councilman Bates Mattison, who is running unopposed, had about $3,900 on hand after various expenditures.
Mattison also ran into campaign finance disclosure problems this week, apologizing for racking up $1,375 in fees and fines for failure to file various disclosures in 2011 through 2013. Mattison said he filed hard-copy versions of the form on time, but failed to file electronically as well under a state system that “has since been scrapped due to problems with campaign filings from across the state.”
“I apologize to my constituents that, due to a technical issue in how the CCDR [Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report] forms needed to be submitted, the reports were not filed on time,” Mattison said in a written statement. “I have nothing to hide in my reports and regret any appearance that I was not fully transparent in this process. I’m glad that all of the reports are now available online and the fines have been fully paid.”
Campaign spending
Here are the amounts raised and spent by Brookhaven candidates in competitive races.
Mayor
Dale Boone
Raised: $3,880
Spent: $624.68
John Ernst
Raised: $55,918.28
Spent: $22,616.64
City Council, District 1
Eve Erdogan
Raised: $9,603
Spent: $1,403.53
Linley Jones
Raised: $53,400
Spent: $10,906.17
Source: city of Brookhaven
Whatever a candidate is before the election, they’ll be more so after the election. Looks like our winners are already clearly defined.–Tom Reilly