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Boyer-Gergel Race High Dollar, Big Stakes: Match-Up May Shake Up Balance of Power
September 3, 2007
The first campaign contribution filings for Columbia City Council candidates are in and the numbers are enough to make the much talked about 2000 totals look like peanuts.The dollar figures also make clear: Running for City Council is not for the financially faint of heart.
Three of the council's seven seats are up for grabs in a city election scheduled for April, but one in particular is getting most of the attention: In District 3, five-term Councilwoman Anne Sinclair is not running for re-election.
Sinclair's pending departure has given rise to a high-dollar showdown, thus far, between homebuilder Brian Boyer and former educator Belinda Gergel.
In the two other races on the ballot, at-large Councilman Daniel Rickenmann, a restaurateur completing his first term, faces challenger Cameron Runyan, director of development and public information for Richland County Court Appointed Special Advocates, while no one has emerged to this point to give longtime Councilman E.W. Cromartie a run for his money.
Given Gergel's fundraising total, money will be a key component of the District 3 race. She reported more than $82,000 in contributions for the quarter ending June 30. Boyer listed his total at about $43,000.
The election is eight months away, giving both contenders plenty of time to obliterate the $100,000 high-water mark former Councilman Jim Papadea set in 2000, an amount that generated lively discussion about spending on City Council races.
Papadea laughs when asked about the matter. "Oh yeah, I got a lot," he says of attention he received for the amount. But it costs a lot to run, especially for direct mailings, Papadea says.
There's also a lot at stake in the District 3 race.
Although city elections are nonpartisan, some speculate that the Boyer-Gergel match-up could impact the balance of power on the council. By this theory, Boyer is perceived to be aligned with a pro-business wing on the elected body personified in its two newest members: Rickenmann and Kirkman Finlay. Gergel, on the other hand, is seen as in line with the rest of the council, a left-leaning caucus led by Mayor Bob Coble.
Boyer and Gergel downplay the scenario.
Boyer: "I really think that's sort of a media play."
Gergel: "I think that's probably very simplistic."
Perhaps, but the names of those who have donated to the candidates help fill in the picture of where Boyer and Gergel are coming from and how they might vote if elected.
Boyer's filing is replete with the names of builders and developers such as Mungo Homes, Don Tomlin and Chris Dorsey. Boyer says his base of support will broaden going forward.
In contrast, the Gergel supporters include a small army of lawyers as well as big names like former Gov. Jim Hodges and former S.C. Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum. "I've got some little names lined up behind me, too," Gergel says.
Both candidates also contributed heftily to themselves: Boyer $20,000, Gergel $22,500.
The Free Times
BY ERIC K. WARD