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Tri-City provincial candidates relied on party, union $

When it comes to financing political campaigns, very few people these days are reaching into their pocketbooks.
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Green, NDP and Liberal candidates in Port Moody-Coquitlam in late April, at a Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce debate at Port Moody city hall.

When it comes to financing political candidates, very few people are reaching into their pocketbooks these days.

And for the last provincial race, Tri-City contenders relied heavily on party transfers and unions to see them through.

According to documents released last week by Elections BC, Liberal, NDP and Green contenders in the four Tri-City ridings collected only $10,583 from individuals — with about half of that brought in by Rick Glumac’s campaign team in Port Moody-Coquitlam (his BC Liberal challenger, Linda Reimer, failed to filed her disclosure papers by the agency’s deadline).

In Coquitlam-Maillardville, no candidate from the three main parties received individual cash donations while, in Port Coquitlam, the NDP incumbent also had no outside sources.

The most successful fundraiser in the Tri-Cities was Joan Isaacs, who narrowly won the Coquitlam-Burke Mountain seat from the NDP’s Jodie Wickens. The BC Liberal collected:

• $800 from individuals;

• $9,000 from Unimet Investments;

• and $4,500 from the Independent Contractors and Business Association of B.C., and the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

Glumac was the second most successful candidate fundraiser in the Tri-Cities during the contest, hauling in:

• $5,548 from individuals (including $4,435 from Pasta Polo owner Fred Soofi);

• $2,290 from corporations and businesses (including $1,030 from Brook Pooni Associates — the urban planners overseeing the redevelopment of Flavelle Oceanfront — and $630 from Peller Estates Winery);

• and $4,835 from the Hospital Employees Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW).

Meanwhile, the BC Liberals’ Susan Chambers listed $1,412 in contributions from a single donor: Manual Eduardo Asomoza, whom her campaign last month paid $906 for “office repairs and cleaning,” the Elections BC documents show.

Wickens reaped $1,336 from individuals sources including $1,186 worth of in-kind services from Coquitlam Coun. Bonita Zarrillo.

Selina Robinson, now B.C.’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, retained her seat for the BC NDP in Coquitlam-Maillardville by raising $26,425 exclusively from UFCW locals and receiving $98,797 in party and constituency association transfers, of which she returned $10,706 after the election.

And PoCo veteran MLA Mike Farnworth, who was appointed the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General last month, also exclusively took in union funds: $10,831 from the Health Sciences Association and $5,792 from the United Steel Workers Union, of which his campaign manager — PoCo Coun. Brad West — is an employee.

jcleugh@tricitynews.com

 

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WHERE THE BIG BUCKS WENT

Joan Isaacs
SPENT: $88,185
Media advertising $9,766
Signs and brochures $16,146
Office rent and utilities $13,680
Office supplies $8,081
Professional services $11,813
Research and polling $12,115
Salaries and benefits $1,250
Social functions $4,300
Telecommunications $2,267

Rick Glumac
SPENT: $89,005

Accounting: $2,824
Meeting fees: $1,423
Furniture: $2,652
Media advertising: $5,530
Signs and brochures: $13,677
Office rent and utilities: $5,798
Office supplies: $1,520
Postage: $3,926
Professional services: $13,137
Research and polling: $12,395
Salaries and benefits: $17,658
Social functions: $4,544
Telecommunications: $1,886

Selina Robinson
SPENT: $88,942

Accounting: $2,625
IT: $4,539
Media advertising: $3,676
Signs and brochures: $19,533
Office rent and utilities: $10,481
Office supplies: $2,730
Research and polling: $9,812
Salaries and benefits: $29,962
Telecommunications: $1,788

Mike Farnworth
SPENT: $62,945

Accounting services: $2,500
IT: $1,880
Media advertising: $1,576
Signs and brochures: $14,239
Office rent and utilities: $5,250
Postage: $5,644
Research and polling: $5,644
Salaries and benefits: $20,223
Social functions: $2,314
Telecommunications: $1,748