After losing in the Orlando City Council election, Chris Durant posed arm-in-arm with his former opponent Roger Chapin and wholeheartedly endorsed him for next month’s runoff against Mira Tanna. But Durant’s endorsement posted on social media Nov. 9 and Chapin’s new mailer highlighting his friendship with Durant doesn’t tell the full story. Chapin paid Durant $1,500 on Nov. 10 for “contract labor,” according to Chapin’s campaign finance report. Both Durant and Chapin denied Durant was compensated for his endorsement. In an interview, Durant described the nature of the $1,500 work as doing canvassing and offering messaging strategies for Precinct 45 for the Rosemont neighborhood where Durant lives. “The financial transaction had nothing to do with my verbal or my public endorsement,” Durant said. “He’s the one that offered. It was in recognition that I was a hard worker and a hard canvasser. I knocked on more doors than anybody else. And Roger recognized my hard work and he wanted me to be on his team because he recognized that I’m indispensable. I’m someone that could help him win.” Meanwhile, Tanna’s campaign countered that she doesn’t pay money to people who endorse her. “I’m very proud of the campaign and vision we’ve built. All of our endorsers and volunteers believe in that vision and that’s why they’re backing us without any financial incentive,” Tanna said in a statement. “That’s why they have been tirelessly knocking on doors with us, showing up at events, making phone calls, and donating their hard earned resources to this campaign.” Chapin has led Tanna in fundraising by 3 to 1 for the District 3 nonpartian race that covers Baldwin Park, Audubon Park, College Park, Coytown, Rosemont and a few other neighborhoods north of downtown Orlando. Durant, 24, who had never run for political office before, finished third in the Nov. 4 election. Nearly one out of every five voters chose Durant, a real estate wholesaler looking for residential properties not yet on the market while also coaching youth basketball on the side. “I consider myself a super canvasser,” Durant said about his success. “ Walked and knocked. I did it every single day from 9 a. m. to 8 p. m. I did that for five months straight.” Durant’s finish surprised some people although Durant said he was disappointed because he expected to make the runoff. Instead it was Chapin and Tanna, both Democrats separated by a mere 14 votes, who advanced to the Dec. 9 runoff out of the initial field of five candidates. After the Nov. 4 election, Durant’s phone blew up. He got calls from state Rep. Anna Eskamani and U. S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, two popular Orlando Democrats backing Tanna. Frost “tried to get him not to endorse me, and Chris still stuck with me. Having a U. S. Congressman call you is pretty big,” Chapin said in a earlier interview with Florida Politics. “I think that having a former opposition endorsing you speaks volumes.” In his timeline for events, Durant said he spoke to both Tanna and Chapin Nov. 5 and decided afterward he was all in on Chapin. The next day, that’s when Chapin and his campaign manager called him, offering him paid work for the runoff election, Durant said. He added he had not been promised any city hall jobs if Chapin is elected. The roots of Durant and Chapin’s friendship grew on the campaign trail where Durant said his opponent was genuine and complimentary as they crossed paths at events. They started reaching out if one knocked on the door of a resident supporting the other one, Durant said. Chapin even called asking for advice the best way to leave a message on residents’ Ring cameras if they weren’t home. “The campaign really exposes who you are,” Durant said of Chapin’s personality. “It didn’t matter what Maxwell Frost told me. I was going to go with Roger because I believed in him. I believed in who he was, and I believe he would be the best person for this district.” Frost declined to comment about Durant’s $1,500 contract work but he elaborated on his support for Tanna, the Orlando city grants manager “She understands the inner workings of what the city does, but also more importantly, how to utilize the federal and state resources to get the mission completed,” Frost said in an interview. The District 3 runoff comes at a time of major transformation for Central Florida since both Orange County and Orlando are getting new mayors in the upcoming years and the community is grappling with big challenges, from an affordable housing crisis to traffic congestion and a broken and underfunded public transit system. “I think people just want to know, ‘Are you going to make sure my trash gets on time, that we fill the potholes,’” Frost said. “’And are you going to make sure that you’re going to City Council with brand new ideas that can actually move our city forward?’ I think Mira checks both of those boxes.”.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/766978-one-of-roger-chapins-former-opponents-is-getting-paid-by-him/
