Mayoral candidates discuss campaign, or not

Wrightsville Beach mayoral candidate David Cignotti has given himself a $4,000 donation, money he is allocating for a person-by-person type of small-town campaign geared toward reaching voters and hearing them out individually, the candidate said.
“Our town’s a small town where I think nothing is more important than calling people on the phone and talking to them face to face and letting them know that you want to hear what they have to say about the issues that are of concern to them,” Cignotti said during a telephone interview last week.
“Our campaigns are very personal,” he added, referring to Wrightsville Beach. “One of the neat things about it is you get to meet people and talk to them face to face.”
Cignotti said he will be working diligently to get his name out to voters by using small-town campaign methods like mailing flyers, but he continued to stress the importance of meeting voters in person and talking to them individually.
A candidate does not have to disclose campaign donations or expenditures unless they break the $3,000 threshold, and as of Monday, Aug. 24, incumbent Mayor Stephen K. Whalen still hadn’t filed over that mark, said officials with the New Hanover County (NHC) Board of Elections.
When he filed for reelection, Whalen decided to remain under the threshold. He can still surpass the mark and file an amendment, which will state that he’s exceeded the threshold and is now subject to disclosure, said Bonnie Williams, director of the NHC Board of Elections.
Whalen said last week he will likely file that amendment, but staunchly refused to discuss his method of campaigning.
“I fully believe that I’ll probably exceed that,” he said regarding the threshold. “I had to make a statement with regard to something and that’s what I did at this point.”
“I haven’t formulated my plan and I’m certainly not going to share it with the Lumina (News),” he continued. “I just don’t think that’s appropriate. If the other candidates want to say how they’re … you know, that’s entirely their prerogative, but I just don’t think at this point, two and a half months away from an election, I’m just not going to share my game plan with anybody.”
“I can’t even believe that you guys would ask that,” he added.
After he was told about Cignotti’s previous comments about campaigning, Whalen said: “That’s his prerogative and like I said, at this point in time, going through this process, I mean there’s all these forms and everything you have to fill out, and I just got done with all my questionnaires from the Realtors and everybody else, you know you really don’t even have time to breath.”
“And so it was just, I don’t know if you would call it strategic or what, I fully believe that I will exceed that $3,000, but I haven’t at this point and I did it more from a simplistic point of view than anything else. It was just the easiest thing to do at this point so that’s what I did.”
Brian Freskos