Suffolk News-Herald

All seven candidates for Clerk of the 5th District Circuit Court filed their financial disclosure statements by the deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday; Barbara X. Gayle having the largest amount in the campaign coffers.

Pasty Parker, Suffolk’s registrar of Voting, said Tuesday that Gayle filed a campaign finance report showing that she had $4,280 in campaign contributions on deposit with First Federal Savings Bank.

W. Randolph Carter Jr., Suffolk’s Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, has the next largest amount of contributions with $3,155 in his &uot;Carter for Clerk&uot; campaign.

The &uot;Friends of T. Kirk Pretlow&uot; campaign has $2,520 in contributions according to the finance report filed Monday, and Robert Nelms’ campaign committee has generated $1,849 in contributions according to his report filed just after noon on Monday.

The Committee to Elect Johnnie F. Edwards for Clerk of Circuit Court stated in the disclosure form that they have $810 in funds, and the Committee to Elect Clinton L. Jenkins filed its report Tuesday, stating it has $735 in contributions.

Parker said Tony Michael Brown was the only candidate who did not file a financial disclosure form. Instead, he filed a &uot;request for exemption&uot; in reporting his contributions.

&uot;The financial disclosure forms provide us with the amount of money the candidates have received in campaign contributions, how much they’ve spent, and the balance of funds in their campaign accounts,&uot; said Parker. &uot;Candidates can request the exemption if they do not intend to contribute more than $1,000 to their campaign. His (Brown’s) actions restrict him, however, from soliciting or accepting contributions from any other person during the course of his campaign, and if his campaign funds go beyond the $1,000 mark, he will then be required to file expenditure reports.&uot;

Parker also noted that this is only the second time that such an exemption has been requested.

The position of Clerk of the Court pays an annual salary of $91,364 and carries an eight-year term. Pretlow is running as the Republican candidate. The rest are campaigning as independents.