News Update
Last campaign finance reports before Election Day released
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
The last round of campaign finance reports before Election Day in the Allen ISD school board election was due Friday, with candidates revealing how much they have spent and earned between April 12 and May 4.
Place 3 candidate Rona Zafari, who raised more money than any other candidate during the last reporting period at $930, again led the pack in fundraising for this reporting period with $550 in contributions.
During the previous reporting period, most of Zafari's donors lived within a couple of miles of the planned AISD service center site. This time, the addresses were more diverse, coming from Zafari's own west Allen neighborhood and outside of the district in southern McKinney.
The largest contribution on the report came from Chad Thibodeux, who donated $250 and lives less than a mile from the proposed facility site. Two of Zafari's six contributors do not have addresses attached to their names and donation amounts on the report.
Zafari's expenditures totaled $247 for this period, though the only payee is listed as FedEx/Kinko's, for the copying of fliers, and the amount of that expense is not listed. During the last reporting period, Zafari spent $1,314.
Place 2 candidate Carl Clemencich, who during the previous reporting period outspent all other candidates with $2,268 in expenditures, spent $785 according to his report. His largest expenses were injket cartridges and paper, totaling $178, $693 worth of postcards and $1,299 in yard signs. He also spent $27 on a voter registration list from Collin County.
Clemencich said he is not taking donations for his self-funded campaign.
Alan Hurst, Clemencich's opponent, netted the lowest totals of all the candidates with $75 in contributions and $95 in expenditures. Hurst said he did not include an itemized list of the contributions and expenditures because he did not receive any donations above $50 or spend more than $100 on a single expense.
When asked how he was able to spend so little money on his campaign, Hurst said he spent about $900 to have yard signs printed that he did not list on his report because he was unaware expenditures made from a candidate's personal account must be accounted for in the reports.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission website, all expenditures, including those paid for with personal funds, must be reported. Hurst can still file a correction affidavit with the district to account for the expenditures. While there is no deadline to file the affidavit, the Texas Ethics Commission takes into account the timeliness of corrections when investigating ethics complaints, a representative from the commission told the Allen American Wednesday.
Jason Shepard, the Place 3 incumbent, said last month he is using the "modified reporting" method this election cycle, which means he does not plan to raise or spend more than $500 and therefore is not required to submit financial reports. Shepard told the Allen American, however, that he has spent $340 in personal funds on domain name registration for his website, 50 signs, business cards and voting records from the county.
Election Day is set for Saturday, May 12 at the Allen Municipal Court. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For information, visit www.allenisd.org.
Place 3 candidate Rona Zafari, who raised more money than any other candidate during the last reporting period at $930, again led the pack in fundraising for this reporting period with $550 in contributions.
During the previous reporting period, most of Zafari's donors lived within a couple of miles of the planned AISD service center site. This time, the addresses were more diverse, coming from Zafari's own west Allen neighborhood and outside of the district in southern McKinney.
The largest contribution on the report came from Chad Thibodeux, who donated $250 and lives less than a mile from the proposed facility site. Two of Zafari's six contributors do not have addresses attached to their names and donation amounts on the report.
Zafari's expenditures totaled $247 for this period, though the only payee is listed as FedEx/Kinko's, for the copying of fliers, and the amount of that expense is not listed. During the last reporting period, Zafari spent $1,314.
Place 2 candidate Carl Clemencich, who during the previous reporting period outspent all other candidates with $2,268 in expenditures, spent $785 according to his report. His largest expenses were injket cartridges and paper, totaling $178, $693 worth of postcards and $1,299 in yard signs. He also spent $27 on a voter registration list from Collin County.
Clemencich said he is not taking donations for his self-funded campaign.
Alan Hurst, Clemencich's opponent, netted the lowest totals of all the candidates with $75 in contributions and $95 in expenditures. Hurst said he did not include an itemized list of the contributions and expenditures because he did not receive any donations above $50 or spend more than $100 on a single expense.
When asked how he was able to spend so little money on his campaign, Hurst said he spent about $900 to have yard signs printed that he did not list on his report because he was unaware expenditures made from a candidate's personal account must be accounted for in the reports.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission website, all expenditures, including those paid for with personal funds, must be reported. Hurst can still file a correction affidavit with the district to account for the expenditures. While there is no deadline to file the affidavit, the Texas Ethics Commission takes into account the timeliness of corrections when investigating ethics complaints, a representative from the commission told the Allen American Wednesday.
Jason Shepard, the Place 3 incumbent, said last month he is using the "modified reporting" method this election cycle, which means he does not plan to raise or spend more than $500 and therefore is not required to submit financial reports. Shepard told the Allen American, however, that he has spent $340 in personal funds on domain name registration for his website, 50 signs, business cards and voting records from the county.
Election Day is set for Saturday, May 12 at the Allen Municipal Court. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For information, visit www.allenisd.org.
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