The last round of campaign finance reports before Saturday’s local election showed big spending in the town of Hickory Creek, in the Pilot Point school board race, and in Argyle school board and town elections, where a specific-purpose committee has upped the ante for Town Council incumbents.

Charles Read

Individually, the area’s biggest spender so far is Charles Read, candidate for the Hickory Creek Town Council. He reported spending $6,092.

Read didn’t think his spending was out of place, he said. He couldn’t campaign door-to-door, so he shopped around and got advice before deciding what to do.

“I figured it would be $5,000 or $6,000 to do fliers, newspaper ads, copyrighting and some signs,” Read said.

He received a $1,000 contribution from TREPAC, the political action committee of the Texas Association of Realtors. He also loaned himself $5,100 to pay a local public relations firm, Dark Horse Productions, which is putting his campaign materials together. 

His opponent, Paul Kenney, reported spending $2,195 so far.

Last year, Hickory Creek’s Town Council race was one of the area’s priciest with six candidates spending $16,000 between them. TREPAC gave $2,000 to two of the three winners. A total of 907 ballots were cast in that election, which ousted two incumbents.

Melinda Street

In area school board races, Melinda Street has spent the most money in her bid for Place 2 in Pilot Point. She reported $3,503 in expenditures.

Her opponent, incumbent Linda DeGraffenreid, is the area’s second-biggest spender in school board races. She reported spending about $2,556.

Both candidates say the money spent is about getting the word out.

“I’ve been in town a long time but I’ve been quiet,” said Street.

Because she’s up against an incumbent, she said, her spending is what she felt that she needed to do to get her message across because she hasn’t been asked to speak anywhere or to participate in public forums.

Some of her money was spent on notepads that emphasized five points she pushes in her campaign.

Linda DeGraffenreid

DeGraffenreid said it takes a lot of methods and printed material, which can be expensive, to get the information out about her agenda. 

“I wanted people to see my heart,” DeGraffenreid said.

She also sent out postcards, she said, with the same information as her newspaper ads.

The printed material also helps keep the date of the election in people’s minds, she added.

Collectively, Argyle Concerned Citizens for Change has outspent Visionary Citizens of Oak Point more than 2 to 1. Both specific-purpose committees were formed to support a slate of candidates aimed at removing select incumbents.

Most Oak Point candidates kept their pledge to neither accept nor spend more than $500, but the Visionary Citizens of Oak Point spent about $3,000 on behalf of Judith Camp, Colleen Cameron and Stephen Shade.

The latest finance reports showed candidates in Argyle spent an average of $1,200 each so far.

Joey Hasty

Dona Schroetke

The Argyle specific-purpose committee is supporting candidates Joey Hasty, Dona Schroetke and Joe Phelps. That group filed its finance report Friday and claimed more than $23,000 in contributions.

Then its leaders filed a corrected report Tuesday, claiming $12,200 in political contributions and about $11,197 in expenditures, with $12,200 still maintained.

The committee’s filing showed cash contributions of $5,800 each by its treasurer John Michaels, developer of the commercial district around Old Town Road in Argyle, and Teresa Rather, a real estate broker with The Real Estate Station.

Currently, Michaels said, the ratio of his and Rather’s funding compared to the amount given by other contributors is about 9 to 1. He added that other people were contributing but they had been too busy with the campaign to solicit donations.

“I know that we have $4,500 of other contributions coming in,” Michaels said.

Joe Phelps

The committee reported cash contributions from Mike and Marie Davis ($250), Terry and Shelia Scott ($200) and Kwik Car of Argyle ($150).  

In the Argyle school board race, incumbent board President Deb­bie Cantrell has spent the most, with about $1,684 reported in expenditures.

She is followed closely by business owner Matt Portz, who reported $1,543 in expenditures.

The third-biggest spender in the Argyle school board race is Kent Bateman, followed by Denise Sizelove. Kim Hinnrichs and incumbents Randy McKellar and John Schinske each pledged to neither accept nor spend more than $500.

In the Cross Roads mayoral race, neither Burr Willcox nor Harv Kitchens filed additional campaign finance reports.

In Corinth, Place 3 candidate John Booher reported about $660 in expenses, outspending his opponent Bob Holsomback about 3 to 1. But Holsomback reported $780 remaining from a $1,000 TREPAC contribution.

Staff writer Dan McGraw contributed to this report.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .

AMY DODD THOMPSON can be reached at 940-566-6867. Her e-mail address is athompson@dentonrc.com .

In area races, here are the top five individual spenders:

1. Charles Read
Race: Place 4, Hickory Creek Town Council
Expenses: $6,092.01
Donations: $1,000 from Texas Association of Realtors Political Action Committee

2. Paul Kenney
Race: Place 4, Hickory Creek Town Council
Expenses: $2,195.34
Donations: $1,000 from Grady Brown

3. Dona Schroetke
Race: Place 3, Argyle Town Council
Expenses: $1,616.46
Donations: Schroetke reported no itemized donations.

4. Mark Bogosian (I)
Race: Place 1, Argyle Town Council
Expenses: $1,432.93
Donations: $500 from Dennis and Linda Clark, $311.88 from Reg and Susan Read, and $34.08 each from Scott and Glenice Norton, Pat Peckham, Larry and Maureen Meyer, and Buddy and Ann Harrison

5. Jayne Marshall (I)
Race: Place 3, Argyle Town Council
Expenses: $1,374
Donations: Linda and Dennis Clark, $500; Susan Marshall, $200; Reg Reed, $112; $68 each from Scott and Glenice Norton, Maureen and Larry Meyer, Frank and Ann Harrison; Pat Peckham, $34

In area school board races, here are the top five individual spenders:

1. Melinda Street
Race: Place 2, Pilot Point school board
Expenses: $3,503.29
Donations: none reported

2. Linda DeGraffenreid (I)
Race: Place 2, Pilot Point school board
Expenses: $2,555.74
Donations: none reported

3. Debbie Cantrell (I)
Race: At large, Argyle school board
Expenses: $1,683.84
Donations: none reported

4. Matt Portz
Race: At large, Argyle school board
Expenses: $1,543.31
Donations: none reported

5. Kent Bateman
Race: At large, Argyle school board
Expenses: $1,078.94
Donation: $250 from Kevin Sanders