Jessica Anderson, Chad Green tops in fundraising last month
Good Friday! Today, a look at June fundraising reports for our major races...a video report on middle school students aspiring to a medical career...and York County's new tow truck requirements.
Given the intense battle to gain control of the House of Delegates this fall, it’s no surprise that local delegate races saw the largest influx of campaign donations last month.
Jessica Anderson, the Democrat challenging Amanda Batten for the competitive District 71 seat, received the largest influx of cash and in-kind donations during June – a grand total of $69,419. After expenses, she retained the largest war chest -- $280,044, according to reports filed with the state board of elections.
The 71st district encompasses large chunks of James City County, Williamsburg and part of New Kent.
Incumbent Amanda Batten raised $9,804 last month, but she started with a significant balance and had the second richest campaign treasury, at $271,950.
The regional candidate with the second largest campaign haul last month was Republican Chad Green, the incumbent in District 69. He brought in $41,966 in June and had $98,221 in campaign funds at month’s end. The sprawling district includes much of York County and parts of James City and Gloucester counties and the city of Newport News.
His Democratic challenger, pediatrician Mark Downey, received the third largest amount of contributions -- $29,186. After expenses, his campaign had $69,964 left.
In local elections, the campaigns for James City County board of supervisors took in the largest amount of donations, although on a much smaller scale than the delegate races.
Tracy Leigh Wainwright, the Republican candidate for the Powhatan district seat being vacated by Michael J. Hipple, took in the most donations last month, a total of $4,475. Her Democratic opponent, Ti’Juana Gholson, brought in $1,458 in June. Gholson had more funds on hand at month’s end, $8,121 to Wainwright’s $7,002.
The Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Jim Icenhour in the Jamestown district, John Slokovitz, received the second largest amount of donations, $4,075. Icenhour took in $1,225 but had a larger campaign fund by month’s end, $16,923 to Slokovitz’s $10,558.
Stephen “Ty” Hodges, the Democratic challenger for the Jamestown school board seat held by Sarah G. Ortego, brought in $650 in June and had $5,138 left over. Ortego brought in no money and had $1,815 in campaign funds as of June 30.
Kimberley Hundley is unopposed for her school board seat in Powhatan district, but she reported a campaign balance of $560 as of June, with $90 in contributions.
Video Report — Middle School students learn about medical profession
We dropped in on a group of middle schoolers taking summer careers camp this week at Sentara’s Williamsburg Regional Medical Center. The students, all 8th and 9th graders from schools in James City County, Hampton and Newport News, were selected from applicants across the region who wanted to learn more about medical careers. Thursday we caught up with them in the emergency room, practicing trauma care with a medical dummy.
York County sets tow truck regulations for crash scenes
Business is booming for tow operators who remove vehicles from crash scenes in York County – and it should be worth more than $300,000 to them this year.
The number of tows requested by police after an incident have grown from 449 four years ago to 927 last year and should surpass 1,000 this year, York supervisors were told by Capt. Jason W. Houston of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s office.
Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve changes to county ordinances that set allowable rates when law enforcement calls for a tow truck. The ordinance also creates a list of approved towing companies and a dispute resolution mechanism for people who have issue with the service or charges for either tows or storage.
The changes were recommended by a towing advisory board the supervisors established a year ago to review tow truck operations.
The regulations are meant for situations where someone is involved in an accident in the county and is too injured or otherwise unable to call a tow truck for themselves, said Sheriff R.G. Montgomery.
“If you’re involved in an accident and you tell us you want your own wrecker we will honor that,” the sheriff told supervisors. The new standards and prices are only “for a situation where law enforcement has taken charge of it.”
The rates operators must charge range from $250 for a situation where there is no cleanup required to $1,375 per hour for large vehicles requiring specialized equipment.
Oversight for the program falls to the county’s Towing Advisory Board, which was appointed by the board of supervisors and includes two representatives each from law enforcement and towing companies and one citizen representative.
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