SEBASTIAN — As dizzying, often obscene, amounts of money are spent by candidates in state and national races, and it’s become naïve to doubt elections can be bought, it is natural to wonder how or whether that phenomenon trickles down to the local level.
A look at the recent 5-way Sebastian City Council race, which saw the two incumbents beat out three challengers, reveals no clear answer, but makes for some interesting comparisons.
How much bang, we wondered, did the candidates actually get for their bucks?
The highest vote getter, incumbent Jim Hill, raised the second highest amount of money, $4,310, including his own contributions of $1,675.
Hill’s donations came from the North County Republican Club and, other than that, from real estate and development sources, local except for an Orlando Realtors PAC.
Hill garnered a little more than one vote per dollar (95 cents per vote).
The other incumbent, Jerome Adams, regained his seat with 3,139 votes, but had only the fourth fattest war chest – $1,330.
His donations came from the Realtors Association of Indian River County, Waste Management and one individual. Each vote “cost” about 42 cents.
The largest campaign cash stash – $6,025 – was raised by the third highest vote getter, challenger Damien Gilliams, who missed a seat on Council by only 254 votes.
Gilliams also received, by far, the greatest number of individual donations and raised the most money, with or without the $1,600 he loaned to his own campaign.
Each of Gilliams’ 2,885 votes cost about $2.08. Or, looking at it another way, he got about half a vote for a buck.
And one of the dozens of contributors to Gilliams’ campaign was the Mayor of Indian River Shores, Brian Barefoot.
With the fourth highest vote count – 2,003 – and the hands-down smallest campaign fund, was challenger Ed Herlihy, who accepted zero donations and loaned himself a frugal $350.
His dollars/votes stats comes to 5.72 votes per $1 or 17 ½ cents per vote.
Receiving the third highest donations number was newcomer Albert Iovino, who received 1,747 votes, with a campaign fund of $2,575, including $100 he kicked in himself.
Contributions from individuals ranged from $500 to $25; Iovino also received money from two businesses and the North County Republican Club.
The donation/vote breakdown comes to about a buck and a half per vote.
So – what does it mean? Does it mean anything? Hard to say.
There was likely a good bit of “if its not broke. . . .” involved in the outcome, as there was no real, hot-button, divisive issue this time around. And there was the familiarity of, especially
Hill, who has served multiple terms, and Adams, with one under his belt, and no gigantic missteps.
Gilliams crept closer this year, in his on-going pursuit of a Council seat and he, too, is a familiar community figure.
Herlihy was chair of the Budget Advisory committee, and his support of a millage hike was not a wildly popular position.
He also ran a very low-key race. As a first-time candidate, Iovino was simply the least known of the field.
Looking at who was supporting who: Hill might be seen as the Development Friendly Guy; Gilliams perhaps the candidate of the Common Man.
Although the city council election is non-partisan, the County Republican group was a presence as well, supporting one winner and on loser in the local race.