Our cover story this week was a profile of Metro Councilman Lonnell Matthews, one of the council's youngest members who is seen as a rising star by many of his colleagues and other Metro political insiders.
He's currently running for one of the council's five, countywide, at-large seats and raising money for the effort. You can peruse his (and other candidates) campaign finance disclosures here.
For the first quarter of 2015, Matthews raised $12,365, with no personal loan. Of that total, $3,365 came from contributions $100 or less which do not have to be disclosed. Three of his largest contributions came from the Tennessee Laborers' PAC ($2,000), developer Mike Hampton ($1,500), and contractor Roy Goodwin ($1,000). He's received smaller contributions from developer Taurus McCain ($500), land use and engineering consultant and former Councilman Roy Dale ($500) and vice mayoral candidate David Briley ($250).
The next round of disclosures is due July 10, but in the early going Matthews trailed some of his fellow at-large candidates and more have entered the race since (like John Cooper, or other district council members looking to make the jump like Jason Holleman and Erica Gilmore). For the same quarter, Councilman Walter Hunt raised $28,000, attorney Bob Mendes raised $45,741 (including a $10,000 personal loan), and former Councilman Jim Shulman raised $18,520.
