South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Berry collects most funds of Crestwood candidates

When it comes to the amount of money donated to Crestwood aldermanic hopefuls in Tuesday’s election, Ward 4 candidate Charles Berry has been the most profitable.

Berry reported March 28 to the county Board of Election Commissioners that he had received $2,372 in campaign contributions. Of the funds Berry has raised for his campaign, $1,042 came from 20 people at a March 14 gathering at the Brick Bistro and $880 was donated from 60 people at a Jan. 30 event at Malone’s Grill & Pub.

By comparison, Berry’s Ward 4 aldermanic opponent — Steve Nieder — reported March 23 that he had received $400 in campaign contributions.

Campaign contributions for the rest of Crestwood’s aldermanic candidates are as follows:

• In the Ward 1 aldermanic race, candidate Richard Bland reported March 27 that he had received $1,260 in campaign contributions. Fellow Ward 1 candidate Darryl Wallach reported March 26 that he had been given $400 toward his campaign.

• In Ward 2, candidate Chris Pickel reported March 23 that he had been donated $1,279 toward his campaign. His Ward 2 aldermanic opponent, Tom Ford, reported March 22 that $435 had been given to his campaign committee.

• Ward 3 candidate Gregg Roby, who is unopposed, has not filed a campaign finance report.

Only candidates who collect or spend $1,000 in preparation for an election are required to file campaign finance reports, according to the county Board of Election Commissioners.

All candidates who filed for Tuesday’s election in Crestwood have until May 4 to deliver their 30-day-after-election reports to the county.

Those reports, however, are only required if the $1,000 plateau is broken.

Besides the aldermanic candidates in Crestwood’s election, a group supporting Proposition S — a proposed tax-rate increase of 20 cents per $100 of assessed value — indicated it received more campaign contributions than any candidate but Berry.

The Citizens for Prop S reported March 28 that they had received $1,530 in campaign contributions. The largest donations included $250 from the Perma Jack Co., $125 from the Baywood Realty & Construction Corp., $100 from Crestwood Police Cmdr. Frank Arnoldy, $100 from Crestwood Police Capt. Rick and Catherine Downs, $100 from Citizens for Prop S Treasurer Char Braun and $100 from Joan Robinson, wife of Mayor Roy Robinson.

The Prop S citizens group also reported $1,391.10 in expenditures. These include $585 to the Crestwood Post Master for postage, $284.70 to Braun for postage reimbursement, $279.68 to Office Max for printing campaign brochures, $174.72 to the Chesterfield Post Master for postage and $67 to the county election board for address labels in Ward 1 and Ward 3.

Citizens for Prop S also paid $135 March 7 to an aldermanic candidate — Ford — for postage to mail Proposition S brochures.

Ford, who has openly supported Proposition S, said he simply was covered for postage for mailing the brochures and did not use that money in any way for his campaign fund.

As far as what Ford has spent in his campaign, he reported that he has paid $309.34 for printing, cards, meeting items and expenses for his Web site. Ford also reported contributing $100 to the Kirkwood Police Department and paying $99.24 for additional printing expenses and a St. Louis County mailing list.

While campaign finance reports show that Berry has collected the highest dollar amount of campaign contributions, the same reports also reveal that he has taken out the most amount of loans of any Crestwood candidate this year.

Berry reports receiving $1,351.38 in loans between Jan. 10 and March 22.

Berry has also reported $4,410.47 in expenses toward his campaign and reported March 28 that he still owed $3.554.88 toward indebtedness. His campaign fund money on hand at that time was $1,516.41.

Of the expenditures Berry has made in his election bid, he has incurred $1,164.79 to Benz Press Works for printing, incurred $1,038.71 to the Goodson Co. for printing, paid $855.59 to Benz Press Works for printing, paid $343 to the Brick Bistro for a fund-raiser, paid $336 for postage, made separate payments of $208.76 and $206.62 to Kinko’s for printing, paid $178 to Malone’s Pub & Grill for a fund-raiser, paid $105 to the secretary of state to register his campaign group, paid $74 to the county election board for mailing labels and paid $5 to the city for his candidate filing fee.

The Crestwood candidate with the second-most amount of campaign contribution dollars — Pickel — has spent $921.24 toward his election bid and has also taken out $458.61 in loans. Pickel’s campaign money on hand as of his March 23 report was $816.37.

Pickel’s campaign committee paid $424.87 to LIPIC’s Inc. for yard signs, $182.95 to Shamrock Raisdletter and Printing Co. for printing, $105.61 for office supplies, $87 for postage, $75.81 to SBC for a phone bill, $40 for voters’ records and $5 to the city for a candidate’s filing fee.

Bland, who along with Berry and Pickel is the only other Crestwood candidate to report more than $1,000 in campaign contributions, had spent $1,079.14 toward his campaign as of March 27.

His campaign committee’s expenditures include $748.38 to the Goodson Co. for signs, $154.97 to Shamrock Raisdletter for printing, $85 to the county election board for filing fees, $53.52 for office supplies and printing, $20.52 for postage and $16.70 to St. Louis County for a check charge.

The two Crestwood candidates who each reported $400 donated to their campaigns — Nieder and Wallach — slightly varied in their methods of spending.

Nieder reported spending $500 — $100 of which was a loan from himself — toward his Ward 4 race with Berry. Of that spending, he reported separate payments of $261.72 and $189.88 to Mark’s Quick Printing and $48.40 for office supplies.

Wallach reported the least amount of spending — $285.61 — toward his campaign than any other Crestwood candidate. Separate payments of $121.95, $78.52 and $62.54 went to Office Max for printing and supplies and $22.60 was paid for postage.

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