UPDATE: Rays Supporters Cast Votes in St. Pete Mayoral Election (with Checkbooks)

Following up an Aug 1 post about Rays-related campaign contributions in the St. Pete mayoral race, candidates just filed their final reports before Tuesday's primary and there are a few interesting contributions for each of the frontrunners:

Mayor Bill Foster:

• $500 from Thomas Sansone, minority owner of the Tampa Bay Rays
• $500 from the St. Pete Chamber PAC, one of Pinellas' pivitol players in the Stadium Saga
• $500 from David Feaster, former president of grass-roots Rays boosters, The Clutch Hitters
• $100 from Dick Greco, former Tampa mayor

Challenger Rick Kriseman:

• $100 from Bob Byelick, chairman of The Clutch Hitters
• $250 from Harry Cohen, Tampa city councilman

Ironically, Feaster had previously donated to Kriseman and Byelick had previously donated to Foster.

And it should be noted: while the St. Pete mayors race is a non-partisan affair, many contributions tend to fall along party lines, rather than stances on a stadium.  Nevertheless, there was little support for candidate Kathleen Ford's campaign from those involved in the stadium debate.

 

The maximum allowable donation in this race is $500.
The polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday night, with the top two finishers facing off in November.