Republican mayoral candidate Kyle Moore is the first candidate to hit TV before the April 9 election. In his campaign ad called “We Deserve Moore,” Moore slams two-term Mayor John Spring, a Democrat, on hydropower and touts his record to increase efficiencies and accountability at the city level. Moore also declares his top priority is to bring more jobs to Quincy.

His campaign also received a big financial boost Monday.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, he received $5,000 from the 18th District Republican Central Committee and $10,000 from the Adams County Republican Central Committee. Moore’s campaign also sent a letter to the State Board of Elections correcting an error. In a Jan. 15 report, Moore’s campaign said it received $5,000 from state Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, when it actually received the contribution from Jim Tracy.

Just one month remains until the city elections, and money continues to roll in for Quincy Mayor John Spring, who is seeking a third term.

On Tuesday, his campaign reported a $6,000 donation from Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville. Last week, his campaign reported a $3,000 donation from the Construction and General Laborer’s District Council of Chicago Political Action Committee and a $1,000 in-kind contribution from Sullivan for staff salaries.

Third Ward Alderman Kyle Moore, the Republican candidate, reported $1,000 from the 18th District Republican Central Committee last week.

These aren’t all the contributions that candidates have received. Contributions of $1,000 or more must be reported year round, while other donations are disclosed quarterly. It will be interesting to see how much both candidates total for the election, which won’t be available until first quarter disclosure reports are due after the election.

Kyle Moore

Republican mayoral candidate Kyle Moore blasted two-term Mayor John Spring’s assertion that the Quincy job market is improving.

“If you look at the facts, in December 2005, our unemployment rate in the city of Quincy was 4.2 percent,” Moore said. “Our number of unemployed was 916 people. In December of 2012, the city of Quincy has a 6.6 percent unemployment rate with over 1,400 people unemployed.”

Moore made the comments after Spring gave his “state of the city” address to the Quincy Exchange Club.

During his speech, Spring touted that Adams County has the second-lowest unemployment in the state after Brown County. Still, he said the city needs to focus on bringing head-of-household jobs to the area.

“When you look at the fact that under his leadership, our average family income has decreased in the city of Quincy by 14 percent,” Moore said. “We’re not even keeping up with the state average. We’re not moving forward; we’re moving backwards.”

Moore admitted part of the rise of unemployment and decline in income stems from the worldwide recession — as it has been nationwide — but he claims Quincy is doing worse than the Illinois state average of 12 percent income decline over the same period.

“The state of Illinois isn’t known for its good economic sense,” he said. Moore said the city needs to work on creating an environment that allows head-of-household job creation, although he has not laid out specifics plans for making that happen.

Some Quincy residents have been contacted this week by a telephone pollster who seemed to tout Democratic incumbent Mayor John Spring and be not so kind to his Republican challenger, 3rd Ward Alderman Kyle Moore.

Survey questions were:

• Generally speaking, is Quincy on the right track or headed in the wrong direction?

• What is the greatest single problem in Quincy right now?

• Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Mayor John Spring? State Sen. John Sullivan? U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock? Moore?

• How would you rate Spring as mayor?

• Who are you going to vote for?

When person who received the call said the household was undecided, the pollster touted Spring as a fiscal conservative who has helped lower property tax rates in seven of the last eight years and helped get electrical aggregation — and promised lower rates — to Quincy.

The pollster then pointed out that Moore voted against funding for renovations at the Quincy Public Library, and then his company, Moore’s Floors, profited off work it did there after the project was approved by the City Council. The pollster went on to say that Moore opposed the city’s “fix or flatten” program, which tries to clean up derelict buildings, and had voted against a request by the Quincy Fire Department to buy new trucks.

The pollster then asked again who the resident would vote for.

The pollster appeared to be trying to steer the voter in Spring’s direction, at least that’s what the voter thought.

Both candidates have been seen campaigning door to door, both have campaign headquarters up and running and Moore — who, in reality, has been running for the office since September — already has mailed out an eight-page targeted campaign piece and has held two press conferences to tout his plans. With the municipal election just 55 days away, expect the race to continue to heat up.

Democrats will be listed first on the April 9 ballot after a drawing Wednesday morning at City Hall. Two pingpong balls — one with a D and one with an R — were placed in a paint can that City Clerk’s Office uses for United Way raffles.

The ball was drawn by City Hall employee Tess Bratton. Witnessing the drawing were Jim Perry, chairman of the Adams County Republican Central Committee, and Ray Thomas of the Adams County Democrats.

Republicans were drawn for the top spot in the 2011 and 2009 elections. The last time Democrats were atop the ballot was in 2007.

Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois