According to campaign finance reports filed Friday, Smith received $9,700 in contributions last week – $6,500 of which came from donors without Oxford addresses.
Attempts to reach Smith for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Smith received $3,000 last week from Barton Moore of Birmingham. Moore is president of Kirkpatrick Concrete, which has locations in Birmingham and Calhoun County. Attempts to reach Moore were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Smith also received $1,000 each from Eric Abel of Maryland and Gerald Timmis of Michigan. Both helped found ValStone Partners in Michigan. According to its website, ValStone is a private equity investment firm that coordinates the activities of several investment funds. Attempts to reach Timmis and Abel for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Park Grimmer of Birmingham donated $1,000 to Smith last week as well. Grimmer’s family owns most of Quintard Mall. Attempts to reach Grimmer Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Shad Williams, CEO of Cheaha Bank in Oxford, was one of a few Oxford residents to donate to Smith last week. Williams, who donated $1,000, said he thought Smith had the right skills to lead Oxford.
“I think that the complexity of the city of Oxford demands someone that has a lot of experience … they have to have extremely good managerial skills,” Williams said. “I think Mayor Smith has those.”
Smith’s latest donations were still not enough for him to surpass the total amount of contributions raised by his opponent, Cristy Humphries. Campaign records indicate Humphries has about $4,163 more in contributions to date than Smith.
Oxford’s other mayoral candidate, Russell Mullins, did not file any campaign reports last week. A candidate is only required to file if he or she surpasses the minimum $1,000 spending threshold.
Last week, Humphries received $1,050 in contributions, $200 of which came from Anniston resident Kenneth Vandervoort and $100 from Thomas Woods of Birmingham. Humphries is no stranger to large donations from people living outside of Oxford. She has received thousands of dollars in the past few months from Noble Bank and Trust board members, none of whom live in Oxford. Humphries’ husband, Anthony Humphries, is president of Noble Bank.
Attempts to reach Cristy Humphries for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Though Smith still trails Humphries in contributions, he now far exceeds her in campaign spending. Smith has to date spent $27,280 more than Humphries. Campaign reports show Smith spent nearly $17,000 last week, compared to the $525 Humphries spent. And Smith still has plenty left to spend – more than $60,000 mainly left over from previous campaigns.
Of Smith’s expenditures last week, $2,500 went to Matrix LLC for advertising. Smith paid Matrix more than $15,000 a few weeks ago for polling services.
Smith also paid $9,100 last week to Kelley Bell of Munford. Bell said she operates a graphics and design business out of her home.
“He paid for a four-page folded flyer,” Bell said. “You should be getting one in the mail shortly if you live in the Oxford area.”
Staff writer Patrick McCreless: 256-235-3561. On Twitter @PMcCreless_Star
