Elections BC posted the financial disclosure statements of candidates in the November municipal elections on its website earlier this week.
The statements are revealing about the costs entailed in running for political office, even at the municipal level.
In Penticton, Mayor Andrew Jakubeit won the race with expenses of $21,888, while John Vassilaki, the runner-up, spent $19,125 on his campaign. Jukka Laurio, the third mayoral candidate, spent $4,106.96 in hopes of securing the centre chair.
There were some major differences in where the funding came from. Laurio covered all of his expenses personally, while Jakubeit’s campaign was funded by donations, aside from a personal investment on $1,000.
Vassilaki put up more of his own money — $5,100 — but his donations were pretty much evenly split between private and corporate donors.
Jakubeit, on the other hand, drew $13,488 in corporate donations and $8,400 from private donations.
Cost of winning an election doesn’t seem to be related to the size of the community. In Kelowna, Colin Basran spent $76,451.70 to win the election there, with runner-up Sharon Shepherd spending $23,503.87.
But Akbal Mund, the new mayor of Vernon, only spent $8,554.19, which was less than two of his opponents: Mary Jo O’Keefe spent $20,747.48 and Victor Cuming spent $19,884.28.
Among the successful Penticton council candidates, Campbell Watt was the biggest spender at $7,465.14.
Andre Martin was next at $5,066.13, ranging down to the $1,922.87 spent by Tarik Sayeed.
Among the unsuccessful candidates for councillor, the stand out was Tim Hodgkinson, who spent more than $12,009 before he had to scale back his efforts due to illness.