When it comes to campaign cash, Springfield Mayor Ken McClure is outraising opponent Melanie Bach by more than five and a half times as the two race for a two-year term.
It will be votes, not dollars, that decide the outcome of Springfield’s municipal elections April 4, but campaign finances can be an indicator of how effective a candidate will be in communicating their requests for votes to the people who cast ballots.
The Missouri Ethics Commission posted campaign finance disclosures 40 days prior to the election for all eight of the candidates involved in four contested races. Three members of the Springfield City Council opted against running for reelection to four-year terms. McClure has served three of the possible four consecutive terms allowed by Springfield law and may run for one more term of two years.
Mayor: Ken McClure vs. Melanie Bach
Ken McClure has raised $39,200 from January to February, bringing his total for the election cycle to $69,359. McClure has spent $20,811, according to the Ethics Commission report.
Most of the McClure for Mayor’s campaign expenses were payments to Victory Enterprises, an Iowa-based consulting firm that conducted research, managed parts of the campaign, made yard signs and managed a campaign website.
Ken McClure
Occupation: Mayor of Springfield/vice president for administrative services at Missouri State University
Why he’s running: “We’re dealing with a post-pandemic environment, and that makes things almost unprecedented,” McClure said. “How do we make sure that we continue to progress, to continue to make good growth decisions, good economic decisions, good social decisions, good neighborhood decisions? And that’s a different challenge than we’ve had to face before.”
Gail Smart, wife of Missouri State University President Clif Smart, contributed $5,000.
The Springfield Good Government Committee made an in-kind contribution of $4,692.06 to the McClure campaign.
McClure’s top donations include $3,500 from Chad Samuel, an investor and financial advisor, $2,500 from Springfield Striping and Sealing owner Joseph Manzardo and $1,250 from SMC Packaging Group CEO Kevin Ausburn. The Southern Missouri Professional Firefighters political action committee gave $2,500.
McClure had eight contributors give $1,000 each. They are the Central Bank of the Ozarks political action committee; John Griesemer, CEO of the Springfield Underground; Mark Rhoads, owner of the Rhoads Company; self-employed developer Debra Hart; architect John Oke-Thomas; Steve Plaster, former owner of a contentious piece of property at the corner of National Avenue and Sunshine Street; Elliott Lodging CEO Gordon Elliott; Andy’s Frozen Custard founder John Kuntz and former Springfield City Utilities employee Susan Turner.
Twenty-five different contributors made $500 contributions to McClure for Mayor. They include Brian Fogle, president of Community Foundation of the Ozarks; former Springfield Chamber of Commerce director Jim Anderson; Springfield Community Bank retired president Robert Fulp; Jeff and Mary Schrag, owners of Mother’s Brewing Company; Springfield Grocer Company president Jefferson Tynes; Hartman and Company president Dean Hartman; Ozarks Technical Community College Chancellor Hal Higdon; former Springfield-Greene County Health Department Director Clay Goddard; Ophthalmologist Thomas Prater of Mattax Neu Prater; Thompson Sales owner Lynn Thompson; Joe Carmichael, former chairman of the Springfield-Branson National Airport and Springfieldian Award winner, and Chandler Carlson.
(Carlson is the wife of Tom Carlson, publisher and chairman of the board of directors of the Hauxeda. Full editor's note here regarding more Daily Citizen connections. Board members do not influence news coverage or editorial decisions, in accordance with our ethics policies.)
Melanie Bach
Occupation: Neighborhood organizer/former records clerk
Why she's running: “I am ready to rebuild trust between the city and our citizens,” Bach said. “I feel like there is a level of trust that’s been lost. People do feel disregarded and marginalized, for the most part, when they’re dealing with city government, and I want us to rebuild that level of trust.”
Melanie Bach has received $12,205 for this election cycle, with $4,865 coming in between Jan. 16 and Feb. 22. Bach’s campaign, Melanie for Mayor, spent $4,027.27 as of the February filing with the Ethics Commission. Bach’s treasurer is Wendy Huscher, who was instrumental in the referendum zoning campaign against rezoning property for mixed-use development on Lone Pine Avenue in November 2022.
Teamsters Local 245 gave Bach $1,000 from the union’s political action fund. Galloway Village residents Jack and Sue Sisco gave $1,000 and Premiere Tree Thinning, LLC, gave $500.
Records show Bach spent about $3,700 on yard signs and T-shirts.
General Seat C: Jeremy Dean vs. Callie Carroll
Callie Carroll
Occupation: Vice President, Business Development and Shareholder Relations Officer at Old Missouri Bank
Why she’s running: “Communication and relationship building — if I stood on two platforms of what I bring to the table, that’s it,” Carroll said. “I am an uplifting, optimistic person, and I think even in the climate of now, there are so many things to be proud about in Springfield. We need to put those at the front.”
Callie Carroll is a former television news anchor who now works for Old Missouri Bank. Former Missouri State University athletic director and baseball coach Bill Rowe is her campaign treasurer.
Carroll received $11,610 in cash and another $4,773 in in-kind donations for a total of $16,383. As of Feb. 20, she spent $292.
The Springfield Good Government Committee made an in-kind contribution of $4,692 to the Carroll campaign. The political action committee also gave $5,000 cash to Carroll’s campaign fund.
Kristy Harrington, wife of Old Missouri Bank President Mark Harrington, gave Carroll $1,000, as did Major League Fishing bass angler Dillion Statler of Galena. Retired attorney Mark McQueary donated $500. Realtor Jim Hutcheson, attorney Bryan Fisher and developer Stephanie Stenger all made $500 contributions.
Jeremy Dean
Occupation: Office coordinator in an OB/GYN clinic at CoxHealth
Why he’s running: “I saw myself representing the average Sprngfieldian, and hadn’t seen that on our actual city council by most of our representatives for a while,” Dean said. “This race would have gone unopposed had I not run for it, so that was one of the reasons that I did it this year.”
Jeremy Dean, who worked on State Rep. Betsy Fogle's (D-Springfield) campaign in 2022, is his own campaign treasurer.
Dean took in a total of $975 in contributions and has spent $71. His biggest contributor is the Teamsters Local 245 political action fund, at $500.
Amy Blansit, who is founder and president of the Drew Lewis Foundation in honor of her late husband, gave $200 to Dean’s campaign. Blansit ran for the Missouri House of Representatives in 2022, but was not elected.
General Seat D: Bruce Adib-Yazdi vs. Derek Lee
Bruce Adib-Yazdi
Occupation: Architect, Vecino Group
Why he’s running: “I can see what we can be if we can just get out of our own way and think about, as an architect, what’s our vision for what we want to be 20 years from now?” Adib-Yazdi said.
David Catlin, the former manager of the Springfield Conservation Nature Center, is treasurer of architect Bruce Adib-Yazdi’s campaign.
Adib-Yazdi has taken in $1,350 and spent $13.50. Adib-Yazdi contributed $1,000 to his own campaign. He got $100 from Mama Jean’s Natural Market owner Susie Kawamoto and $100 from retired tax preparer William Cooper.
Derek Lee
Occupation: Civil engineer
Why he’s running: “I have always been involved in service, and so when my kids were little we did everything from foster care to working through our church,” Lee said. “Servant leadership is something that I’ve always done.”
Lee has received $25,597 in contributions, and spent $10,597 as of Feb. 20. Commercial real estate broker Tom Rankin is the treasurer of Lee's campaign. Rankin gave $1,500.
The Springfield Good Government Committee also made a $5,000 contribution to Lee, plus an in-kind contribution of $4,682.
Jeffrey Hutchens of Hutchens Industries, auto dealer John Youngblood and developer Richard Pendleton made $1,000 contributions to Lee.
Developers Mark Eck, Stephanie Stenger, Jason Finley, Scott Harrell and Jim Hutcheson, Columbia-based consultant Tanya Willmeth, and Springfield psychology training consultant Katherine Dixon all gave $500 to Lee’s campaign. F&H Food Equipment owner Jeff Ast and Recovery Chapel founder Farris Robertson were also $500 contributors.
Council Zone 3: Brandon Jenson vs. David Nokes
Brandon Jenson
Occupation: Community manager, Missouri Community Development Block Grant program
Why he’s running: “I recognized that my ability to affect change and ensure the change is reflective of what the community says they want is really only possible at the highest level, so at our elected official level,” Jenson said. “My parents always said if you’ve got the skills and the passion to do a job, then that’s the time to do it.”
Outgoing city councilman and former state legislator Mike Schilling is the treasurer of Brandon Jenson’s campaign to represent southwest Springfield. The Jenson campaign has taken in a total of $1,470 and has spent $481.
Jenson made two contributions to himself, adding to $170. He received $250 from the Springfield Central Labor Council, $250 from Care to Learn Director Jhasmine Watson, $100 from developer Andrew Doolittle and $300 from Connie Culp of Joplin.
David Nokes
Occupation: Retired police officer
Why he’s running: “Citizens supported me for 28 years in Springfield, being an officer, this is a time to pay back,” Nokes said. “It’s a tough job. I’m just excited to be back involved in a leadership position where I can make a difference. It sounds corny, but I can make a difference in this city.”
Retired Springfield police officer David Nokes is acting as his own campaign chairman. He took in $9,634 in contributions and spent $4,337.
Rapid Robert’s owner Robert Wilson contributed $2,596, while manager Todd Wilson gave $1,929 in in-kind contributions. Nokes’ contributors include Springfield Board of Education member Kelly Byrne, at $500, BK&M developer Ralph Duda at $750 and Med-Pay Inc. founder Gordon Kinne at $500. BK&M is the would-be developer of the Heights, a mixed-use proposal at the corner of Sunshine Street and National Avenue that has been the subject of dispute in University Heights since August 2022.
Nokes also reported $1,000 in in-kind contributions from David Nehmer, president of Whysdom, an analytical and behavioral data tool system. Elliott Lodging CEO Gordon Elliott gave the Nokes campaign $1,000.
The February report shows Nokes made three contributions to his own campaign, adding to $231.
To vote April 4, 2023
Registration ends March 8
Absentee voting began Feb. 21
Information on absentee voting, election regulations and polling locations is available on the Greene County website.
The Greene County Clerk-issued sample ballot is also on the county website.
Editor's note: Jim Anderson, Chandler Carlson, Brian Fogle, Robert Fulp, Hal Higdon, Jeffrey Hutchens, Gordon Kinne, Thomas Prater, Gail Smart, and SMC Packaging Group are donors to the Daily Citizen’s start-up fundraising campaign.
William Cooper, Gordon Kinne, Richard Pendleton, and Stephanie Stenger are donors to the Daily Citizen’s annual fund.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, Drew Lewis Foundation, Mattax Neu Prater Eye Center, and Mother’s Brewing Company are corporate partners of the Daily Citizen.
Read more about donor and financial transparency, and see a list of Daily Citizen donors, here.
