Columbia mayoral candidate Blair Murphy nets third five-figure donation
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Columbia mayoral candidate this week collected another five-figure check, his third such donation this winter.
Blair Murphy's campaign took a $10,000 donation from Richard Miller, owner of Miller's Professional Imaging. The picture printing company has a location in east Columbia. Miller is also a prominent University of Missouri athletics booster, having most recently helped with the search for a new athletics director.
Murphy is running against incumbent Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, challenger Tanya Heath and write-in candidate Lucio Bitoy. The four have done various campaign forums and events over the past few months, picking up endorsements on the way to the April 8 election.
Miller's donation makes the third five-figure donation to Murphy's campaign since he announced his campaign in October. Murphy received a $25,000 donation from the dormant Citizens for a Better Columbia committee on Dec. 10. The group formed in 2014 to oppose a property tax increase meant to fund public safety and featured commercial real estate and home developers as its donors. It had not made a campaign donation since 2016 when it supported Fourth Ward candidate Daryl Dudley.
Murphy got a $10,000 donation from William Little, of Boone County, on Jan. 27.
Heath said she did not mind Murphy's large-dollar donations. She said she hoped voters would focus on the vision of each candidate's campaign for the city rather than the number of yard signs a candidate might have.
Bitoy told ABC 17 News he felt Murphy lacked specific policy proposals to make the city better. He expected Buffaloe to still bring in a similar amount of money as Murphy by campaign's end.
"They represent the political dead ends of conservatism and neoliberalism," Bitoy said. "If either of them wins, the people lose."
Municipal candidates will give a full accounting of their campaign fundraising to the Missouri Ethics Commission by Feb. 27, 40 days before the April 8 election. It will be the first required public disclosure of the race's campaign finance activity. The January 2025 quarterly report was optional this year.
Buffaloe and Heath still filed campaign finance disclosures in January. Buffaloe reported $13,929 on hand at the end of 2024. Heath said at the end of the year, she had $1,179 on hand.
