Once again corporations and unions – especially those involved in construction and land development – were significant election donors for those elected to city council last fall. The proportion of gifts from individuals is increasing, although many multiple donors now appear to be the owners or principals of corporations.
Corporate and union monies comprised over 80 percent of the contributions reported by Terry Whitehead and Chad Collins. That was also the case for over two-thirds of donations to Tom Jackson, Jason Farr, Scott Duvall and Maria Pearson. Mayor Eisenberger and councillors Sam Merulla and Lloyd Ferguson also gathered the majority of their election gifts from corporations or unions.
At the other end of the spectrum, three councillors relied heavily on individual contributions including two newbies. Matthew Green and Aidan Johnson each collected over 85 percent of their donations from individuals.
Despite his overwhelming reliance on individual donations, Green raised more campaign monies than all other council winners except Jackson, Ferguson and Merulla. Brenda Johnson was the only winner to report no corporate gifts at all.
That was also the case with Doug Conley, but his financial statements provide no indication of where he gathered the $17,164.99 to fund his winning campaign in ward nine. The line for “contributions from candidate” is blank as are all the other donation categories, and no names of contributors – corporate, union or individual are provided.
Judi Partridge, Robert Pasuta and Arlene Vanderbeek all reported their election funding from individuals exceeded what they received from corporations or unions – with the latter providing 43 to 48 percent of their donations.
In the mayor’s race, Eisenberger raised more from corporations and unions than from individuals. In fact, the $56,745 he gathered from those sources exceeded the combined amounts given to his two main competitors – Brad Clark ($31,380) and Brian McHattie ($24,605).
Both of the latter relied more heavily on donations from individuals than corporations and unions with McHattie collecting nearly three-quarters of his contributions in that way. That amounted to over $68,000 collected from over 180 individuals compared to $44,950 to Eisenberger and $41,430 to Clark.
McHattie got funds from over 185 individuals, more than twice Clark’s 82 donors, and more than three times Eisenberger’s 50. But the voters lined up the opposite way, giving the victory to the mayoralty candidate who found most favour with corporate and union donors.
Allowing non-voters like companies and organizations to make election donations continues to generate controversy in Ontario. It’s been banned in four other provinces and at the federal level in Canada. Some municipalities including Toronto have stopped it as well.
Revelations that a Markham councillor spent $36,000 of his donations on a victory party that was also a celebration of his wife’s birthday has led a York Region newspaper to call for a province-wide ban. A former Ottawa councillor is pushing for a ban in that city pointing to where those donations have usually gone.
“The numbers showed that companies that do business with the city — developers, construction companies, engineering consultants, waste management companies, taxi companies — put the majority of their combined contributions in 2010 behind just 19 candidates for councillor,” argues Alex Cullen, “And that all but two of those candidates were elected.”
That appears to be similar to Hamilton’s experience and that of most large municipalities in the province. In last fall’s election, for example, Carstar Automotive disbursed over $4000 including donations to nine winners, Hamilton Cab gave to eight, and the Carpenter’s union “political action committee” contributed to the campaigns of ten who are now members of city council.