Hinds County voters will get their first comprehensive look at how the five candidates for district attorney are financing their campaigns just a week before the Nov. 3 special election.
Even some of the candidates aren’t sure exactly how much money is in their campaign coffers.
“You’d have to ask my wife,” said Marvin Sanders, a defense attorney who previously worked for the Mississippi attorney general’s office.
Sanders said he’s had one fundraiser so far, at the Continental Cigar Club in downtown Jackson. Off the top of his head, he said, he isn’t sure how much is in his campaign account.
“I’m not taking any money from anybody right now,” he said, adding that he’s contributed nearly $15,000 of his own cash to his campaign.
In a normal election year, voters would see multiple reports itemizing contributions of at least $200, according to a campaign finance guide produced by the Mississippi secretary of state’s office. But when the timeline for an election is truncated – such as in a special election – Mississippi law does not require candidates to file more than one report before Election Day, although last-minute contributions over $200 must be reported at least two days before balloting.
The limited financial disclosures take on additional significance for the Hinds DA special election, which was set after former DA Jody Owens pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge and resigned three months ago.
Federal prosecutors say Owens took money from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers and wired the funds from his campaign account to help pay off a Jackson city councilmember’s campaign debt. He is set to be sentenced in early November.
The deadline for candidates for Hinds DA to declare was Aug. 20. So far, many okf them told Mississippi Today the primary contributors to their campaigns have been themselves.
“You mean how much I’ve loaned myself?” said Greta Mack Harris, an attorney practicing in Madison and Rankin counties, when asked how much she’s raised so far. The answer: More than $16,000.
Mack Harris is the only candidate of the five who has filed paperwork with the secretary of state forming a political committee to solicit donations.
In Mississippi, candidates for DA are not required to set up political committees. But doing so creates some separation between candidates and their day-to-day handling of campaign contributions, which is overseen by a treasurer.
Wendy Wilson White, a prosecutor in the Hinds DA office, said she is also self-financing her campaign.
“At this stage of the game, I haven’t collected enough funds for anyone to be concerned about me mishandling any finances,” she said.
“My campaign has been funded by me – 95% of it at this point has been handled by me,” she said, before revising her estimate. “Truly 100% of it.”
Unlike her opponents, Gwen Agho, another prosecutor in the Hinds DA office, said most of her fundraising has come from donations. She has held two fundraisers so far: One at a bar in downtown Jackson in mid-September and another at her father’s restaurant in Clinton, Monte’s Steak and Seafood.
Agho said she’s raised tens of thousands of dollars, but she isn’t sure the exact amount because the donations have been deposited directly into an account that her campaign manager is responsible for checking.
“It’s being aware of those laws and what’s required,” Agho said. “Even if you have someone else doing it for you, at the end of the day, it’s your name.”
Darla Palmer, a defense attorney who is running for Hinds DA for a third time, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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