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Campaign finance reports from April 7-29 for candidates running in contested races in the May 7 election for a spot on the Mission CISD school board show Veronica R. Mendoza was the most aggressive campaigner in that race.
Mendoza, the Place 1 incumbent who is attempting to defend her seat, raised a whopping $31,110 in campaign contributions.
Large donations included $2,500 from Tijerina Legal Group in McAllen, $1,500 from Albert Treviño in Pharr, $5,000 from Jeffrey Everitt in Weslaco. They also included $1,500 from Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott LLP and $2,500 from Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP.
Advertising, events and pay for campaign workers ate up most of that money. Mendoza’s campaign spent $3,742 alone for an event at Brickfire Pizza in Mission.
Mendoza’s opponent, Amanda Salinas O’Cana raised just $5,240.33 in contributions but received over $10,000 in loans, along with an in-kind contribution for the campaign in the form of a skeet shoot valued at $1,820.
O’Cana spent $11,533.25, primarily on polling and printing. She also spent a little over $1,400 on data and $290 on a phone bank.
In the race for Place 7, Juan C. “JC” Avila raised $16,985 in contributions.
The largest contributions were in the amount of $1,000: they came from Tenzo McAllen LLC, a construction company in Mission, from Armando and Brenda Sandoval, Palmhurst residents who listed their principal occupation as engineer, GEF Financial Group, consultants out of Brownsville, 2 Zero 5 Protection, a Mission security company, and Rojas Heavy Equipment of Alamo.
Avila’s biggest buys included printing expenses for campaign materials. He also spent $1,000 on contract labor and purchased advertisements in local media and social media.
Hermina “Minnie” Rodgers, Avila’s opponent, raised $8,252.12. Big donors included Jeffrey Everitt, an insurance salesman from Weslaco who donated $2,500 and Alberto Treviño, an insurance salesman from Pharr who gave $3,000.
Rodgers also received $2,500 from Linebarger and $500 from Perdue, along with a $575 in-kind donation of buttons and push cards from Dee Rendon, the publisher of the Progress Times.
Rodgers hadn’t spent all that aggressively during the reporting period. Her biggest expense was signs, buttons and flyers, although she also logged some advertising and polling expenses.
In the race for Place 6, Dolores “Loli” Reyna spent $8,808.22, using $9,100 in loans from herself and her husband to fund her campaign.
Reyna used much of that money on advertising, to hire a campaign consultant and on events — including one that featured a DJ named “Grizzwall.”
Petra B. Ramirez, Reyna’s opponent, received $17,750 in contributions and $2,500 in loans.
Large donors included Jeffrey Everitt, $3,500, Albert Treviño, $2,500, and Bingo Benefit of Mission, which gave $3,000.
Ramirez also received $2,500 from Linebarger and a $3,685 in-kind contribution from Los Dianas Land Development in Mission in the form of political signs.
Advertising materials, phone banks, and several ambiguous high-dollar items ate up much of that money. Large expenditures included a bingo benefit and an advertisement.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correctly identify a candidate who received a $2,500 contribution.
