In the race for Coral Gables mayor, Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is outraising her sole declared oppponent, 
former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, almost two to one.
According to the latest campaign finance reports filed last week, Slesnick raised $45,350 in January, compared to $24,800 raised by Valdes-Fauli. She also raised $9,950 in December, while the former mayor raised $2,345.
The gap is much bigger, though, because Slesnick has loaned herself $100,000 to Valdes-Fauli’s $10K, giving her a total that is three times as big at $156,300.
Each of them has spent about the same amount, however, leaving Slesnick with a much bigger kitty eight weeks before the election.
Slesnick’s biggest expense is $13,490 in consulting for a phone bank and data to a Missouri company called TJP Strategies. She also paid $6,000 for printed campaign materials, $5,550 on yard signs, bumper stickers, ads and mailers and $900 on postage.
Ladra looked but couldn’t find any expenses listed for the slickly produced video ad that was aired during Channel 10s This Week in South Florida last weekend. Sure, the media buy will be reported in February and I guess production will be, too. There’s even a version in Spanish narrated by her daughter in law, Cecilia Slesnick. That has to have cost a pretty penny,
Read related story: Coral Gables mayoral race — Slesnick vs. Valdes-Fauli, Vol. II
Valdes-Fauli has spent roughly half of his $45,145 total with the biggest item being bumper stickers at $6,300. He spent nearly as much on kick-off expenses (catering was $4,926 and parking was $1,000), $3,800 on postage, $1,256 on door hangers and $1,630 on a video we haven’t seen.
His expenses and contributions also include $4,000 donated and then returned to Mansfield USA, a property development company in Coconut Grove. It was likely returned because it was over the $1,000 limit and was really meant for a political action committee or, worse, 501c4 organization with less public scrutiny (we’re looking for it).
So, really, Valdes-Fauli only raised $20,800 in January. Slesnick outraised him more than 2 to 1.
Jeannett Slesnick winning Gables mayoral money race added by Ladra on
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Skip MillerReply
March 6, 2017 at 4:30 pm
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Why do former elected officials Valdes-Fauli and Withers want to return to political life?
Perhaps a vocation to serve …
If they were elected and are no longer serving, why did they leave political office?
Were they voted out of office? If so, did they not get the message that the people elected someone else in their place?
Is their desire to serve so strong that they insist on wanting to be elected again?
Do they have a new and improved version of themselves that would tip the electoral scales in their favor. What have Valdes-Fauli and Withers done to overwhelmingly convince the people who voted then OUT to vote them back IN?
Valdés-Fauli , Withers, and all who have served, have had their moment in the sun.
We, as tax paying voters, must ask ourselves … if these politicians were voted out of office or decided to leave public office, why would we want to vote them back in? These are the same guys!
Valdés -Fauli and Withers should have the dignity to leave well-enough alone and not further embarrass themselves. Ah … but their egos get the better of them and cloud the these gentlemen’s thinking.
Remember one thing, there is a reason why Valdes-Fauli is a “former mayor” and why Withers is a “former commissioner”.
Good Day to All.
[…] Read related story: Jeannett Slesnick winning mayoral money race […]
Valdes-Fauli had his time in the sun. The baton has since passed. Time for new, fresh leadership. Time for a woman. Time for going forward, not back. Slesnick’s the one.
So much for “El Soquete” Cason’s support bring V-F much $$$.
We all would be much better served by Jeannette remaining our newest esteemed commissioner & damn fine realtor…
We are so lucky to have a great reporter/Publisher like you in Coral Gables.
Sincerely,
Jackson Rip Holmes
Slesnick should slam Valdes-fauli for being a Castro apologists, who visited Cuba as part of Obama’s “opening” with the regime. What an embarrassment for the City Beautiful to go from an ex-diplomat to a known Castro apologist.