The challenger in a Tallahassee City Commission race wants the incumbent to return part of his campaign contributions. But there is no legal requirement for that to happen. Steven Hougland is running for the Commission seat now occupied by Curtis Richardson.
Hougland insisted Richardson should return the nearly eight-thousand dollars in campaign funds he’s received from almost forty firms that do business with the city.
“I want to be clear that I’m not alleging Mr. Richardson or any of his contributors have violated the law,” Hougland said during a Tuesday (8/2) meeting with reporters at the Florida Press Center. “I believe the practice should be illegal, but currently it is not. I do believe however that this practice is unethical and must stop.”
But since Hougland is objecting to only this race and not vendor contributions to other city, county and school district races, Richardson said he has no intentions of returning that part of his campaign donations.
“I will continue to accept those contributions and use them to fund my re-election campaign as other candidates have done and are doing and I’m sure will do in the future,” Richardson said by phone after being informed of his opponents objections.
Hougland wants to see Tallahassee enact an ordinance similar to that of Miami Beach that bans larger vendors from making city campaign contributions.
