Bonita incumbents lost despite raising more money

Money didn't talk in the Bonita Springs City Council elections March 7 where three incumbents were swept out of office in favor of challengers who advocated government change.

Incumbent Bob Wagner and Wayne Edsall both far outspent their opponents but still suffered double digits defeats on the ballot, according to the final campaign finance reports released today.

Edsall in District 1 doubled up spending against his opponent -- $5,000 to $2,292 -- but retired police captain Richard Ferreira won 63.6 percent of the vote to 36.4 percent.

Wagner had two opponents in District and spent $5,600, outpacing retired stock broker Pat McCourt ($4,604) and zoning board member Pete Pastore ($500), but McCourt received 51.8 percent of the vote. Since he received more than 50 percent of the vote, McCourt avoided a runoff between the top two vote-getters.

The District 5 race was the closest in spending and for votes. City businesswoman Martha Simonss spent $5,426 and received 58.2 percent of the vote while incumbent David Piper spent $5,050 and got 41.8 percent of the vote.