<\/p>\n
Early voting continues in Charlotte County. Many candidate campaigns relied on funding from supporters, both individual and large groups.<\/p>\n
SUN PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER<\/p>\n
PORT CHARLOTTE \u2014 If elections were decided solely by how much money candidates raise, the race for the Charlotte County Commission District 4 seat would be over.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for No Party Affiliation County Commission candidate Michael Melton, it doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n
Kim Amontree, his Republican opponent for that District 4 seat, has a more than 11-1 edge in money raised with a bankroll of $280,285 in campaign contributions. Melton, a first-time candidate for office who said his team is working hard to overcome the discrepancy in money, has raised $18,206.<\/p>\n
The story is similar in the Punta Gorda District 4 City Council race where incumbent Janis Denton has collected less than half the amount of her challenger, Gary Butler.<\/p>\n
Florida law requires a designated campaign treasurer to file regular reports of all contributions received as well as money spent.<\/p>\n
A look into campaign finance reports shows which individuals, businesses and PACs contributed to candidates.<\/p>\n
Charlotte County Commission District 4<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kim Amontree<\/p>\n
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KIM AMONTREE<\/p>\n
Kim Amontree<\/p>\n
According to finance reports, Amontree\u2019s campaign received a total of $280,285 in contributions as of Oct. 2.<\/p>\n
Melton\u2019s currently at $18,206.<\/p>\n
A majority of Amontree\u2019s campaign contributions were before the primary election on Aug. 18. Over $150,000 was contributed between April and June 2025.<\/p>\n
Notable businesses that contributed during this time period were:<\/p>\n
Goldman, Tiseo & Sturges, P.A., $1,000Christopher G. Constance MD, $1,000The Nix Team Companies, LLC, $1,000Florida Premier Contractors, $1,000DMK Associates, $1,000Key Agency, Inc., $1,000<\/p>\n
Both Joseph Tiseo and Christopher Constance are current county commissioners, although Constance\u2019s time will end in November after losing in the August primary.<\/p>\n
Political committees include:<\/p>\n
South County Conservatives, $1,000Florida Prosper, $1,000Friends of Amira Fox, $1,000Suncoast Professional Firefighters & Paramedics Charitable Foundation, $1,000FPF Fire PC, $1,000<\/p>\n
The Truex Family Trust donated twice for a total of $1,500. Bill Truex is a current county commissioner.<\/p>\n
Danny Nix Jr., a state representative seeking reelection, donated $1,000<\/p>\n
Amontree also donated $25,000 to her own campaign.<\/p>\n
After the primary election, Amontree received contributions from Ambitrans Medical Transport ($1,000) and the Local Home Builders PAC ($500). Ambitrans is owned by former state official Mike Grant, with his daughter, Florida Rep. Vanessa Oliver, listed as the CEO and vice president of the company.<\/p>\n
Bill Truex is a vice chair of the Local Home Builders PAC.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michael Melton<\/p>\n
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MICHAEL MELTON<\/p>\n
Michael Melton<\/p>\n
Melton\u2019s campaign relies primarily on individual contributions rather than businesses or political committees.<\/p>\n
The largest donation was Melton\u2019s own contribution of $5,000 on July 13 of this year.<\/p>\n
Since the primary election, Melton received $6,419 for his campaign.<\/p>\n
A notable contributor is real estate owner Brian Faro. He initially donated to Amontree\u2019s campaign in 2025 but switched to Melton in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was invited to a fundraising event for her and initially made a contribution off my understanding of her character and intent in this position,\u201d Faro said. \u201cAs I dug further, I realized that many of her backers had similar interests and control tactics in supporting her. The more I looked at candidate options and got to know her opponent, the more I built my confidence in the person Michael Melton is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Punta Gorda City<\/p>\n
Council District 1<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jeannine Polk<\/p>\n
PHOTO PROVIDED<\/p>\n
Jeannine Polk<\/p>\n
Running for reelection in the nonpartisan race, Polk\u2019s campaign received a total of $13,938 as of Oct. 22.<\/p>\n
Business contributions come from John Joiner Insurance Agency ($514), Renaissance Homes ($300) and Polk & Associates ($526).<\/p>\n
Political committee Firefighters and Paramedics for Public Safety contributed $1,000.<\/p>\n
Polk loaned a total of $1,000 to her campaign.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
George Williamson<\/p>\n
PHOTO COURTESY OF GEORGE WILLIAMSON<\/p>\n
George Williamson<\/p>\n
Running against Polk, Williamson\u2019s campaign collected over twice the amount of contributions with a current total of $32,391. He has the most money behind a city council candidate.<\/p>\n
Similar to Amontree\u2019s campaign, a lot of funding comes from businesses. Notable ones include:<\/p>\n
Base 1 Construction Services LLC, $750Waterside Recycling LLC, $1,000Florida Premier Contracting, $750Boyette & Miller Construction & Development, Inc., $1,000Laishley Crab House, $1,000<\/p>\n
Williamson received political committee contributions from the Local Home Builders PAC ($500), Realtors Political Advocacy Committee ($1,000) and Friends of Kim Amontree ($300).<\/p>\n
Two trusts gave money: Thomas Living Trust ($200) and Sankey E. Webb Family Revocable Trust III ($150).<\/p>\n
Local businessman Bruce Laishley contributed $500.<\/p>\n
Punta Gorda City Council District 4<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Janis Denton<\/p>\n
SUN PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER<\/p>\n
Janis Denton<\/p>\n
Similar to Polk, Denton is running for reelection, and she primarily received funding from individual contributions rather than businesses or groups.<\/p>\n
As of Oct. 20, Denton has $10,625 in campaign contributions, the lowest amount for local elections.<\/p>\n
Only two businesses contributed: Bent Nail Holdings ($1,000) and Vic Lewis & Sons Auctioneers ($1,000).<\/p>\n
Denton contributed two loans to her campaign totaling $220.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gary Butler<\/p>\n
SUN PHOTO BY NICOLE DROEGER<\/p>\n
Gary Butler<\/p>\n
Butler\u2019s campaign is funded from a mix of individuals, businesses and political committees. As of Oct. 21, his campaign collected $27,126.<\/p>\n
Like Williamson, businessman Bruce Laishley contributed to Butler\u2019s campaign, giving a total of $1,500 in catering and sales.<\/p>\n
Two other notable Punta Gorda figures who contributed are Isaac James, executive director at the Military Heritage Museum, and Lynne Matthews, former city mayor.<\/p>\n
Business contributions include:<\/p>\n
Base 1 Construction Services, LLC, $750Florida Premier Contractors, $750Saw Palmetto Corp, $500The Meridian at Punta Gorda Isles, $1,000Boyette & Miller, $1,000<\/p>\n
Two political committees contributed: Fire Fighters & Paramedics for Public Safety ($1,000) and Realtors Political Advocacy Committee ($1,000).<\/p>\n
Butler loaned himself $1,015 for his campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early voting continues in Charlotte County. Many candidate campaigns relied on funding from supporters, both individual and large…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[33602,170979,209,211,210,46991,4195,170977,14496,2715,170978],"class_list":["post-436687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-campaign-finance","tag-campaign-finance-disclosure-forms","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-charlotte-county-commission","tag-charlotte-county-commissioners","tag-charlotte-county-elections","tag-early-voting","tag-elections","tag-punta-gorda-city-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}