Related stories: Three candidates compete to be mayor | Three vie for Council Seat A
By Steve Plunkett
Early campaign finance reports and recent elections show it takes deep pockets to run for the Boca Raton City Council.
Kathy Cottrell, a consultant running for Seat A, lent herself $25,000 to seed her campaign, finance reports show. Rivals Tamara McKee, an actress, lent her campaign $23,000 while Andy Thomson, a lawyer, chipped in $20,000 toward his race.
Seat A opened up May 22 when the City Council passed a resolution to hold a special election Aug. 28. Two weeks before, council members passed a resolution to hold an election the same day to replace Mayor Susan Haynie, who was suspended in April after she was charged with official misconduct and perjury.
In the campaign to replace Haynie, Scott Singer lent his campaign just $15. He opened his campaign account back in October, when Haynie was expected to resign as mayor to run for the County Commission and leave an opening in the March 2019 election.
Lawyer Al Zucaro, who publishes the BocaWatch online blog and lost to Haynie in March 2017, is running again and initially gave himself $3,500.
And real estate broker Bernard Korn, who filed an official declaration of domicile listing a Boca Raton address in April, gave his campaign $2,602.72.
The totals for all candidates could change substantially between now and Election Day. In 2017 Zucaro gave his campaign $15,000 to start out and then $47,750 in the closing days of the race. He repaid himself $82.91, finance records show.
Similarly, March 2018 candidate and eventual council winner Monica Mayotte gave her campaign $25,000 and repaid herself $1,019.26.
More campaign finance reports were due Aug. 3, Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, City Clerk Susan Saxton said.
Names of the candidates will appear on the ballot in an order chosen at random, not by alphabet. Zucaro will head the list, followed by Singer and Korn. For Seat A, Thomson will be on top, then Cottrell and McKee.
Candidate forums
Who: Candidates for mayor and City Council Seat A When: 7 p.m. Aug. 9 (all candidates), Municipal Building, 6500 Congress Ave., hosted by the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations
6 p.m. Aug. 17 (council candidates), Community Center, 150 Crawford Blvd., hosted by The Boca Raton Tribune
6 p.m. Aug. 24 (mayoral candidates), Community Center, hosted by The Boca Raton Tribune
Comments