The contenders for Alamance County’s board of commissioners seem to be having vastly different degrees of success in obtaining funds for their respective political campaigns.
These incongruous efforts are apparent enough from the latest campaign finance reports that the local election office has received from the six candidates vying for the county’s governing board in November’s general election.
At the bottom of the heap are two candidates who haven’t posted any finance reports for the current calendar year due, presumably, to the paltriness of their campaign coffers. Meanwhile, Republican Ed Priola has led the field with a comparatively voluminous war chest of $23,931.40 for the entire campaign, while Democrat Anthony Pierce has outraised the other contenders during the latest filing period, which saw him take in $4,607 toward his bid for one of the three commissioners’ seats that will be up for grabs in November.
Both state and federal law require candidates who raise or expend more than $1,000 to file routine reports on the financial activities of their respective campaigns. The most recent of these reports, which putatively covered the second quarter of 2024, was due at the local election office by July 10. Contrary to its name, this particular report applied to more than just period of three months and included transactions that stretched as far back as February 18 through June 30 of this year.
Of the six contenders for Alamance County’s board of commissioners, neither Democrat Carissa Ann Graves or from Republican incumbent John Paisley, Jr., have submitted these second quarter reports to the local elections office. Graves, who formerly served as the mayor of Green Level, filed the paperwork last December to declare her intention to remain below the $1,000 threshold for disclosure. Meanwhile, Paisley, the current chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, doesn’t appear to have made a similar declaration during the current campaign cycle – although his annual reports from the past three years have shown an unchanging account balance of $873.80.
Below are the latest donations that the other four candidates for the board of commissioners have reported to the local election office. (In addition to the contributions themselves, state law requires candidate to provide names, addresses, and employment information for their itemized donors. The information here is taken directly from the publicly-available finance reports that each candidate has submitted to the local elections office. Omissions and truncations, as well as descriptions of donors as “not employed,” have been preserved from the original records):
Anthony Pierce
Anthony Ramon Pierce, a Democrat who presently serves on Alamance County’s planning board and is making his second bid for the board of commissioners, has reportedly accrued a total of $9,455 toward his current campaign. This total includes $4,607 in receipts during the second quarter of 2024 – of which $912 reportedly came from smaller donations that didn’t meet the legal threshold necessary to name the contributors. According to his latest campaign finance report, Pierce also received $100 from the campaign of Burlington city council member Dejuana Bigelow.
Pierce’s second quarter report goes on to enumerate campaign contributions from the following 24 individuals:
Tracy Burnett, 2041 Burnett Church Road, Graham, parks and recreation director for Chatham County, $75; Dreama Caldwell, 2805 Holmes Road, Greensboro, a nonprofit director for Down Home NC, $46 ($146 for the campaign); Rebecca Clark, 3844 Heritage Drive, Apartment 205, Burlington, not employed, $150; Lynita Cooke, 1716 Crystal Creek Drive, Durham, program manager for Cisco, $100; Donna Corbett, 801 White Daisies Court, Raleigh, professor at Wake Tech, $70;
Stephanie Enoch, 2236 Basil Holt Road, Burlington, not employed, $85; Charley Flint, 709 Still Run Lane, Graham, not employed, $100; Andrea Galicia, 110 New Castle Road, Mebane, QA lead for Zenergy Technologies, $70; Diane Heath, 3027 Maple Avenue, E1, Burlington, CPA, $150 ($250 for the campaign); Benita Kearney, 627 Oakgrove Drive, Graham, not employed, $200;
Tanya Kline, 1211 Brookview Drive, Elon, not employed, $315; Katherine Landes, 1313 Cherry Drive, Burlington, not employed, $96; James McClure, 622 Johnson Avenue, Graham, owner of Green & McClure Furniture, $100 ($200 for the campaign); Becky Mock, 5563 Thom Road, Mebane, not employed, $96; Elizabeth Osborne, 2585 Nealwood Avenue Graham, not employed, $110;
Anthony Pierce, P.O. Box 122, Haw River, senior manager for AbbVie, $500; Patsy Simpson, 1022 Gold Circle, Mebane, not employed, $100; Patty Temples, 1214 Brookview Drive, Gibsonville, senior account executive for Old Republic Home Protection, $146; Jean-Mychal Thorpe, 1010 Lorraine Drive, Graham, chef at Press Coffee, $275 in-kind for software ($310 for the campaign); William Traynor, 5768 Church Road, Graham, manager of Trusted Space Partners, $100 ($350 for the campaign cycle);
Steve Van Pelt, 2700 Jamestown Court, Burlington, not employed, $500; Edith Ward, 813 Trail One, Burlington, mental health with New Possibilities Home for Children, $200; Ernestine Ward, 311 East Morehead Street, Burlington, not employed, $66; Omega Wilson, P.O. Box 661, Mebane, not employed, $70 (170 for the campaign).
Ed Priola
Republican Edward James Priola has amassed the largest war chest in this year’s race for the board of commissioners. According to Priola’s latest campaign finance report, the one-time state house hopeful has amassed a total of $23,931.40 in his bid for the county’s governing board – of which some $3,570 has come in during the second quarter of 2024.
Priola’s receipts from the second quarter include $190 in smaller donations that didn’t meet the legal threshold to identify the contributors. The would-be commissioner also reported a $5 contribution on April 1 from the campaign of incumbent county commissioner John Paisley, Jr. – who is currently one of Priola’s rivals for the three commissioner seats that are up for grabs in this year’s election.
Priola’s latest finance report also details $3,375 in contribution from the following 13 individual donors:
Margaret Bravato, 229 Brandford Road, Unit 129, North Branford, Connecticut; not employed, $100; Terry D. Crenshaw, P.O. Box 910, Burlington, president of Crenshaw Hyundai, $1,000; Ronald L. Hall, 145 Balmoral Court, Burlington, not employed, $100; Leonard R. Harrison, 3181 Fieldstone Drive, Mebane, owner of Carefree Merchant Processing, $250; Peter Harper Huff, 134 Edinborough Drive, Mebane, president of PHC & Associates, $150;
John M. Jordan, P.O. Box 128 Saxapahaw, not employed, $100; William P. Pfeiffer, 810 Beech Glen Drive, Mebane, not employed, $300; Mary P. Priola, 206 Lody Lane, Kokomo, Indiana, not employed, $500; Al Redmer, Jr., 54 Kingston Park Lane, Middle River, Maryland, executive director of Maryland Auto, $100; Jerry D. Stewart, 2636 Elon-Ossipee Road, Elon, a property owner in the real estate industry, $500;
Aaron S. Terry, 1105 Olympic Drive, Mebane, principal data & technology advisor for BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, $75; James White, 4252 Dickey Mill Road, Mebane, sales for Stifel, $100; Jeffrey Yusiewicz. 150 Grace Landing Drive Mebane, Senior IT Engineer for Railinc, $100.
Chris Smith
Democratic newcomer Christopher Cameron Smith has raised $1,503.33 toward his bid for a seat on the county’s board of commissioners, including $648.11 during the second quarter of 2024. Smith’s latest finance report lists $552.04 in smaller donations that didn’t meet the legal threshold to identify the contributors. It also reports a contribution of $96.07 from Don Chaplin of 2602 Edgewood Avenue in Burlington.
Pamela Tyler Thompson
Republican incumbent Pamela Tyler Thompson has accumulated a total of $9,116 toward her bid for reelection this year, including $700 in individual contributions during the second quarter of 2024. These itemized donations came from the following three individuals:
Deborah King, 1001 Mil Pointe Way, Elon, not employed, $200; David Massey, 1629 South Church Street, Burlington, owner of David Massey Real Estate, $200; Steve Van Pelt, 2700 Jamestown Court, Burlington, retired educator/principal, $300.
