C.R. top three have raised $57,000

CEDAR RAPIDS - Each of the three City Council races here has one candidate who has raised substantially more in campaign contributions than the others in the races, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state by the Thursday deadline.

At-large candidate Ann Poe has raised the most among candidates - $20,465 from 111 contributors. Next is District 2 candidate Monica Vernon, the only incumbent in the three races, who has raised $18,600 from 166 contributors to go with $619 she had on hand from her last City Hall campaign. District 4 candidate Scott Olson has raised $17,870 from 97 contributors.

Most of those contributions have come from individuals, but the three also have support from labor and business. Poe's contributors include six labor groups and one business group; Olson's include three labor and four business groups; and Vernon's include two groups of each type.

Among the three, only Vernon has a challenger who is spending a considerable amount of money in the campaign, though all of the $7,049 spent so far by 19-year-old candidate Taylor Nelson is his own money. His father and campaign treasurer, Ted Nelson, said the money was coming from his son's college funds. Taylor Nelson reports $250 in outside contributions, which is listed as unspent, cash on hand.

The third candidate in the District 2 race with Vernon and Nelson, Paul T. Larson, has not filed documents with the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board because he does not intend to raise or spend more than $750 in his campaign - the threshold beyond which reports are required.

Larson, 54, has worked as a phone operator, telemarketer and customer-service representative; Nelson is a Kirkwood Community College student; and Vernon, 54, is founder and owner of Vernon Research Group.

In the at-large race with Poe, Carl Cortez has raised $3,480, $615 of which comes from his own money and the rest from 18 contributors. Justin Wasson has raised $2,663, $1,500 of which is was loaned by him to his campaign. He reports 15 contributors.

Cortez, 66, is a retired IBM technician; Poe, 58, is director of business development at M. Hanson & Co., a furniture and design firm, and spent three years as the community liaison in Cedar Rapids for the state's Rebuild Iowa Office; and Wasson, 23, is a recent Iowa State University graduate who works for a cleaning firm once owned by his dad.

In the District 4 race with Olson, Cloyd “Robby” Robinson has raised $1,035 in contributions from 14 contributors. Candidate Steve Rhodes filed a report, the state agency reported Thursday, but it was not available on the agency's website. A fourth candidate, Jean Leaf, is not filing a report.

Leaf, 70, works in retail at Gordmans; Olson, 65, is a Realtor with Skogman Commercial; Rhodes, 59, is an appraiser, landlord and income-tax preparer; and Robinson, 73, is a retired Quaker factory worker and one-time state senator.

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