ST. LOUIS — A surge of big-dollar donations, many of them tied to construction firm Clayco and other developers, pushed Alderwoman Cara Spencer ahead of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones in total fundraising and gave her a comfortable cash advantage as the March 8 election nears. In all, Spencer and the political action committee supporting her raised over $677,000 during this past month of fundraising, and also spent over $500,000 in that time, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday. With a week before the the first round of voting, Spencer and her PAC are sitting on over $430,000. That was well over Mayor Jones' fundraising totals in the same period, from late January to Monday. The mayor, seeking a second term, raised $136,000 between her regular campaign account and her PAC, and the two committees spent $300,000 supporting her campaign. Combined, Jones had $168,000 left to spend in the final days of the campaign.
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In total for this campaign, Spencer and her allied PAC raised nearly $1.2 million, compared to the over $1 million Jones and the PAC supporting the mayor raised. A third candidate, Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler, raised $7,200 in the last month, bringing his total to $62,583. Butler, who has name recognition as both the recorder and a former chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, spent $5,600 in the last month and had $11,200 in the bank for the final campaign stretch. A fourth candidate, Andrew Jones, who has previously run for mayor as a Republican, did not file a campaign finance report. A large chunk of Spencer's fundraising haul came from Chicago-based construction and development firm Clayco and its executives, particularly chairman Bob Clark, who founded the firm in the St. Louis area, where it maintains a significant presence. The political action committee supporting Spencer, A Brighter Future for St. Louis, reported over $350,000 in donations over the last month, pushing its cash on hand from less than $20,000 to more than $330,000.
More than a third of that, $130,000, came from Clark's construction firm Clayco , including a $111,000 donation Clark has said was the amount he spent responding to a city request for proposals that the city rejected. Clark wanted to move Clayco's concrete business to a site in North St. Louis. St. Louis Development Corp. officials said they wanted retail for the area, prompting the rejection. In the final weeks of the election, Jones has cast Clark as a foil trying to buy the mayor's office, flagging past controversies including
Clayco's involvement in one of the teams that had bid to privatize St. Louis-Lambert Airport and Clark's attempt to
derail the expansion of the America's Center. Clark has also worked with controversial developer Paul McKee, a connection the mayor's father, Virvus Jones, has sought to highlight on social media. On Tuesday, Jones' political action committee released an ad calling Clark "Cara Spencer's billionaire megadonor" who is giving to Spencer "so he can do whatever he wants to us." Spencer, who represents downtown and neighborhoods south of it, or her PAC also received contributions from several area developers, including Michael Hamburg, who built the mixed-use project anchored by Target on Grand Boulevard, and $5,000 from Jeff Tegethoff, who has built apartments around the city and has worked closely with Clayco's development arm. Steve Smith, who developed the City Foundry in midtown, contributed $2,600, and George Stock, who works as an engineer on many area developments, gave $5,000. Other notable Spencer contributors include prominent plaintiffs attorney Jerry Schlichter and his wife, Susan, who have donated almost a combined $15,000 to Spencer this cycle; Pulitzer publishing heiress Emily Pulitzer, who donated $2,600; plus chair of rental car giant Enterprise Mobility, Andy Taylor, and his wife, Barbara, each gave $2,600. The Cardinals baseball team also gave $2,600 to Spencer. Jones' PAC, 314 Forward, received large donations of $25,000 a piece from two locals of the Laborer's International Union. Another union, the Plumbers and Pipefitters, previously donated $10,000 to Jones' PAC. Enterprise Holdings gave the mayor's PAC $7,500, and Sue McCollum, who led former alcohol distributor Major Brands before its sale, donated $5,000. Downtown law firm Thompson Coburn and the St. Louis Cardinals each donated $2,600 to the mayor's reelection. Jones' PAC in December also received $5,000 from Steven Miltenberger, the CEO of controversial unregulated slot machine company
Torch Electronics , which has operated slot machines in gas stations around the state via a legal gray area for years. Thousands more in donations came in from Torch's well-connected lobbying firm,
Strategic Capitol Consulting , led by former GOP Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley: The firm gave the mayor's PAC $2,500. Brittany Robbins, a lobbyist at the firm, gave $1,000. And a PAC tied to Tilley, Missouri Growth PAC, contributed $6,000 to 314 Forward in cash and in-kind contributions. Some of the
Tilley's big clients in the marijuana business also donated to Jones' PAC, including industry group MoCann Trade, which gave $5,000. The March 8 vote is the first round and will pare the field to two candidates. A runoff will be held April 8.
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