Logsdon, Fleisch lead mayor’s pack; anti-Haddix group outpaces mayor

With Peachtree City voters on the cusp of answering political questions in Tuesday’s election, a look at the campaign disclosure forums filed by the candidates could be telling, depending on how deep you want to read into the political tea leaves.

Signs, mailers, newspaper ads and website aren’t cheap and it takes more than political capital to run a campaign and get a message out. Strong financial support doesn’t always translate to strong turnout at the polls, but the campaign reports do provide some generally useful data about the candidates’ campaign styles.

Political newcomer Ryan Jolly, for example, is operating a shoestring-thin campaign, having spent only $872. Mayor Don Haddix, despite drawing a political action committee urging residents to vote against him, has listed $449 in contributions, which include a loan from himself of $329.

Meanwhile, the organization advocating against Haddix, PTC Pride, has reported a whopping $3,470 in contributions as of Oct. 25. While $845 of those funds are not itemized because they came in donations of $100 or less, the lion’s share of the funding has come from noted Haddix opponent and former city planning commissioner Larry Sussberg along with one contribution from another Haddix critic, Mike LaTella.

Among the remaining three candidates, former mayor Harold Logsdon has logged the most contributions, with $8,865 reported to date. Logsdon has also pumped $910 of his own money on top of another $1,000 from his company, Square M LLC.

Mayoral candidate George Dienhart has reported $1,750 in contributions, though $1,500 came from himself. His two other itemized contributions came from local Tea Party members Jim Richter and Bob Ross.

In contrast, mayoral candidate Vanessa Fleisch has tallied $5,970 in donations including $1,600 she leant to the campaign on top of another $1,600 she has contributed on her own. Fleisch has listed some 16 individual supporters even though most of their donations didn’t eclipse the $100 mark.

Post 2 candidate Shayne Robinson did not report any contributions on her latest report though she listed $561.31 in expenditures. Her challenger, Mike King, reported $1,968 in contributions. A third Post 2 candidate, Austin Chanslor, did not provide his report to The Citizen in time to be included in this story.

In the Post 3 council race, candidate Cathy Haddix reported that she loaned her campaign $700 but had no other contributions. Her opponent, incumbent Kim Learnard, reported $2,934 in contributions including a loan from herself to the campaign of $1,234.

In the Post 4 race, Terry Ernst reported raising $3,025 in contributions. His challenger, Stephanie Franz, did not provide her report to The Citizen in time to be included in this story.