Liberal MLA Dan Ashton, seen here with his two children after his election win, and his provincial election team spent more than $80,000 on his campaign with a good chunk gone to advertising costs.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
August 21, 2013 - 8:26 AM
CANNINGS RAISED CASH IF NOT VOTES
PENTICTON - Before the 2013 provincial election, the Penticton riding figured to be a tough race, and the campaign spending by the NDP and Liberals.
MLA Dan Ashton slightly beat out NDP candidate Richard Cannings in both spending and votes. Ashton and his team spent $85,534 and collected 11,551 votes while Cannings' squad blew $84,612 and got 10,154 votes for their trouble. But clearly the NDP thought it was a winnable riding. Compare with the $36,495 spent by Shuswap candidate Steve Gunner, or the $24,500 spent by Tish Lakes in Kelowna-Mission.
Cannings may not have raised the votes, but he did raise cash, pulling nearly $48,000 out of the local community, including more than $20,000 in individual donations under $250—which aren't reportable under elections rules.
Ashton's team spent $17,594 on advertising, $15,873 on newsletters and election signs $9,643 on information technology and $3,706 on office rent. The rest of the funds paid for workshops, equipment purchases, travel costs, etc.
Cannings' expenditures tell a different story. There was $22,075 spent on salary and benefits making it the largest bill. The team also put $13,595 away for newsletters and elections signs, spent only $8,138 on advertising and paid $7,866 on research and polling services. The remaining funds covered the costs of telecommunications, data processing, office rentals, insurance, etc.
To contact a reporter for this story, to send photos or videos, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065, tweet @shannonquesnel1 or @InfoNewsPentict
News from © iNFOnews, 2013