In a news release sent out earlier this month, County Commission candidate Ken Cornell, who is running for the District 4 seat presently filled by Commissioner Susan Baird, stated he wouldn’t accept campaign money from corporations, political action committees, or people who have business before the commission. He will only accept contributions from individuals.
Campaigns shouldn’t be about money, they should be about people, Cornell, who works as a broker for Bosshardt Realty Services along with his wife, noted in the news release.
His campaign brought in $8,022 in fundraising contributions for January, according to the release, all from individuals — 94 percent of whom were Alachua County voters. According to Cornell’s campaign report, almost all of those contributions were monetary rather than in-kind donations and included loans Cornell made to his own campaign totaling $887.
Cornell hopes he isn’t the only local campaign to make this decision regarding campaign contributions. He is slated to face fellow Democrat Kevin Thorpe, a local pastor, in an August primary. Republican John Martin, a former Hawthorne city commissioner, has also registered to run for the District 4 seat. Baird, also a Republican, has announced she will not seek re-election this fall.