There was no strong correlation between spending and winning votes in the local elections last fall in Trail, Castlegar, and Rossland.
Financial disclosures posted to the ElectionsBC website show that by far the largest spending occurred in the Trail mayoral race, in which councillor Colleen Jones defeated incumbent Lisa Pasin.
Pasin spent $11,457 on her campaign, compared to $7,957 by Jones.
Pasin was her own largest donor, contributing over $3,500. The next largest were Scott Weatherford at $1,000, former councillor Kevin Jolly at $500, and AM Ford owner Dan Ashman at $500.
Jones’ biggest donor was her husband Doug at $1,250, followed by Richard and Louise Dewdney at $750 each. Ashman also contributed $500 to her campaign, as did each of Brian LeRose and Darrell Langille.
Among the councillors, the top spender topped the polls. Bev Benson spent $4,376 followed by Terry Martin at $3,225, incumbent Paul Butler at $3,079, Doug Wilson at $2,700 and Thea Hanson at $2,393, all of whom were elected.
The next three were not successful:Â Donovan Brown at $1,978, Rebecca Richards at $1,466 and Ravi Gandha at $1,222. Nick Cashol raised $1,000 but only spent $740 en route to winning his seat.
Rounding out the list were Bryan DeFerro at $775, Glen Byle at $271, incumbent Carol Dobie at $103, and Jeff Jones, who spent nothing.
Top spender misses cut in Castlegar
In Castlegar, the candidate who spent the most was one of only two who didn’t get elected.
Former councillor Florio Vassilakakis spent $1,705 on his campaign for council, but fell short. Shirley Falstead and incumbent councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff each raised $2,000 but did not end up spending that amount. Falstead’s total was $1,584 and Heaton-Sherstobitoff’s was $611. Both were elected.
Brian Bogle spent $1,561, Cherryl MacLeod $975, Darcy Bell $514 and Sandy Bojechko nothing. All were elected to council.
In the tight mayor’s race, Lawrence Chernoff outspent Maria McFaddin $1,287 to $950, but McFaddin won by five votes.
Rosslanders run frugal campaigns
Rossland’s election campaign was marked by low budgets.
Of the 11 people on the ballot for council, six spent nothing, including two who won seats.
Jeff Weaver spent the most, $945, in his successful campaign, followed by Paul Evans at $838, but he was not elected.
Incumbent Stewart Spooner spent $413 en route to re-election, Maya Provencal spent $342 and topped the polls, and Lia Kwiatkowski spent $281 and finished second.
Eliza Boyce and Craig Humpherys spent nothing, but were still elected. Richard Kemick, Brian Pistak, Tim Thatcher, and Sam Troy also spent nothing, but missed the cut.
In the mayoral race, Kim LaFond outspent Andy Morel $1,402 to $1,012, but Morel ended up the winner.
