Randall padded accounts both ways

It is usually a rather perfunctory exercise for a reporter or editor to plow through the final campaign financial reports after a town election, but an examination of the reports filed by the Bill Randall for Mayor Committee were rather baffling at first until the pattern became clear.

Randall, who lost on Nov. 5, 2013, to Mayor Vivian Jones by an overwhelming margin, 71 to 28 percent, padded his contribution and his expense reports by equal amounts in order to claim he received $9,137.97 in contributions and had $9,007.56 in expenses, leaving him with $130.41 left.

Jones, on the other hand, had $1,887.15 remaining in her account in January and donated it to the “We Make People” Campaign at the Kerr Family YMCA in Wakefield.

Randall listed his mileage almost daily and added $250 for a trip to Washington, D.C., for a Patriots Rally. All the mileage was listed as a contribution to the campaign and then later the campaign wrote checks to Randall totaling $782 for his mileage as a refund or reimbursement.

He was also reimbursed for the amount of the filing fee, for the fee to set up the bank account, and for mailing costs, and office costs. Some of the reimbursements and inkind donations remain a mystery.

Sarah Hurley of Wake Forest provided palm cards and yard signs for the campaign and that was counted first as a contribution and then she was repaid for the same amount.

Other people were first listed as contributors for photos, food for a meet-and-greet and contributions, then repaid in the same amount.

Randall went into the Wake Forest mayoral campaign as a bit of an oddity since he had already waged and lost two campaigns the 12^th Congressional District seat. He had $955.55 in his campaign fund to begin, and he had a website that was changed slightly to reflect his new campaign.

Much of his fundraising and his campaign apparatus was outside the state, though Wake Forest resident David Bissette was paid $250 to set up his web site. Maelstrom Technologies in Wisconsin, however, was in charge of the software for donations, which came from Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and other states as well as from donors across North Carolina. The few Wake Forest names who donated $100 or more were Kelly Perry ($100), Ron Bowman ($500), Allan Koptish ($100) and Ted Wilder ($300). The one political donation was from the Republican Women’s Club of Chapel Hill for $100.

Randall had donations under $100 that totaled $1,685.12. The donations from listed individuals, including those that were later refunded or repaid, totaled $7,552.85.

The editor sent an email to Randall asking if he wished to make a statement about his campaign finance reports and there was no response.

In winning her fourth term, Jones had a donation of $250 from the N.C. Homebuilders Association. Almost all of her large donations were from people who either live, work or live and work in town.

The largest donation was from Dino Radosta, $500. Those who gave $250 were T. Graham Edwards, the CEO of ElectriCities, Hollie Wright-Hicks, Ricky Wright, Jimmy Hicks, Jenny Wright, Jane Wright, Thomas Walters, Randy Bright and Robert White. Walter Reynolds with the YMCA, Douglas Pearce and Sue Anthony gave $150. Bill Andrews and Deborah Bordeaux gave $200. Those who gave $100 were Harry Mitchell, Eric Vernon, Louise and Bill Howard, Richard Stinnett, Rob Bridges, Carol Smith, Al Dubber, Barbara Massenburg, Michael Perry, Fred Nelson, Joel Keith and Gwendolyn Davis, and Theresa Hale gave $75.

Donations of $5, $10 and more but less than $75 totaled $935.

Altogether, Jones raised $6,310.35.

She spent $4,423.20, including $2,285.84 for marketing services from Communicopia Marketing Services, $598.52 to The Wake Weekly for advertising, $420.18 to Over the Falls Deli for the after-election party and $249 to Sojourner Publishing for advertising.

Then she zeroed out her campaign fund with the donation to the YMCA.