Required campaign disclosure reports filed with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission for the 2011 Tyrone municipal elections show that the races for mayor and two council seats generated a total of more than $34,000 in contributions.
Candidates are required to file campaign disclosure reports at the end of September, October and December.
Former Councilman and newly-elected Mayor Eric Dial in his year-ending campaign disclosure report from December showed of $8,900 in total cash contributions with no in-kind donations. Dial in the expenditures portion of the report showed $7,376 in expenses for the campaign period.
Mayoral candidate Derrick Jackson in his December statement showed $10,906 in total cash contributions with no in-kind donations. Jackson also reported $10,854 in expenditures.
Post 1 candidate and newly-elected Councilwoman Linda Howard in her December report showed a total of $1,462 in contributions and $525 in expenses for her campaign run.
Post 1 candidate Tammy Proctor in her December disclosure report showed no contributions to her campaign though she listed $655 in expenses.
Post 2 candidate Pota Coston in her December report showed $11,126 in total contributions and $9,061 in expenses.
Post 2 candidate and new Councilman Ryan Housley filed reports in September and October but has no report on record for the required December year-end filing. Housley’s most recent report shows a total of $1,750 on contributions, with $1,000 in cash and $750 coming from in-kind donations. The report also shows $980 in expenses.
It should be noted that, for better or worse, campaign disclosure filings are not an exact science. Whether in Tyrone or in the disclosure statements for races in other localities, some candidates seem to confuse in-kind contributions with cash contributions, appear to confuse contributions with expenses and do not always list previous amounts of either in the opening section of the document for each reporting period. Fortunately in Tyrone those issues were kept to a minimum.
