April 11, 2007
Gentry: “Last place” money doesn’t matter
City Paper reporter Bill Harless has more this morning on Howard Gentry’s modest fundraising tally announced yesterday:
“The truth is — I’m not concerned. We’re running our campaign the way my campaign is run, and we’re touching people — we are moving across this entire city, we are raising enough funds to pay for our efforts to this point. In our account, we have a plus balance, which means that our bills are getting paid. We’re fully staffed, and we’re moving forward,” Gentry told The City Paper.
“If you look at races across the country, and even locally within our state, everybody’s talking about money, money, money. And I have been consistent the entire time saying that my campaign was not going to be defined by money and that I was going to raise what I needed to raise at the times I needed to raise it,” he said.
Gentry acknowledged that it is never “fun to be considered in last place, and, of course, financially I guess it puts me there, but money alone cannot determine [whether this] puts me in last place in this race.
“It is time that someone succeeds in a manner that is not dictated by how much money they have but by their ability to connect to the public and have the public trust. And I just choose this direction,” Gentry said. “And don’t count me out until the race is over.”
He said he would not take “defensive position” about the amount of money his campaign has raised, saying “I think it is more of a concern to political pundits and to the press than it is to me.”
As I said yesterday, I do hope that money alone does not determine this race, especially because I personally do not think that current fundraising leader Bob Clement is the best candidate to lead the city forward, but I also doubt Gentry would be saying all of this if his numbers had been better. At the same time, what else can he say at this point? I applaud Gentry’s candor for acknowledging that his fundraising may have him in “last place” currently and respect his intention to persevere. I’m curious to see how Gentry’s position and his talking points evolve as the race picks up over the next couple of months.
![Rob Robinson](http://thinktrain.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/Rob.jpg")
newscoma said,
April 11, 2007 @ 8:52 am
As the political climate changes (or maybe I’m just more aware of it now that I was a few years ago) I’m afraid that money does make the difference and that issues are becoming secondary.
I can only hope and pray I’m wrong.
Rob Robinson said,
April 11, 2007 @ 8:58 am
I think you are right, NC. I hope that does not mean that Clement will be our next mayor, though. I like Gentry and think he is a good and honorable man, but I am not sure he is the best person to serve as our mayor either, though. At this point, of the five candidates, I’d have to go in this order: 1) Briley or Dean, 2) Gentry, 3) Dozier, 4) Clement. Do you have a preference, since (correct me if I am wrong) you do not have a dog in the hunt as a non-Davidson County resident?
BlairBlvd said,
April 11, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
The problem is not in the stars, but with ourselves. If voters were more engaged, if newspapers and televison news outlets provided us more coverage of political and governmental affairs, candidates would not have to rely on advertising so heavily to make themselves known to voters. Negative advertising also would be blunted, as voters would already have reached judgments about candidates before the attacks began in force. As it is, candidates have few alternatives to paid advertising to communicate directly with voters. The internet is changing things and largely for the better, but that change hasn’t fully occurred yet.
Civics education would help. So would a real newspaper, and responsible journalism by the TV stations (not just at election time).
Rob Robinson said,
April 11, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
Good point, BB. I’m all for encouraging people to be more informed and involved in their local communities. Taking the time to learn about the candidates is a big part of that, and it sure would be an improvement if people didn’t depend on TV ads for insight.