Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: August 18, 2009 7:00 PM
Vernon-Monashee MLA Eric Foster is defending the bucks he dropped in the provincial election.Financing reports released by Elections B.C. show that the Liberal candidate had income of $89,685 and expenses of $60,063 during the May campaign.“It’s a scary amount of money,” he said when asked about the numbers. However, he says money is needed to run a proper campaign, particularly for signs, buttons and other items.“We didn’t run anything too extravagant. The biggest single item was advertising. Nothing comes cheap.” In terms of income, Foster received $37,390 in contributions from all sources. Of that, $26,695 came from donations greater than $250 and $10,695 from donations less than $250.“To run a campaign, you need good community support unless you have deep pockets,” said Foster.Among the contributions was $3,000 from Sleeman Breweries, $1,000 from Silver Star Ski Resort, $1,150 from JAT Investments and $1,000 each from Gerald Raboch, Phyllis Raboch and Patrick Nicol.There were also contributions of $454 each from 10 partners at Nixon Wenger Lawyers and $300 each from five partners at Davidson Lawyers.While some may speculate that political contributions lead to favouritism, Foster denies that. “I’m not for sale. People support a campaign because they support a political ideology,” he said.
And Foster wasn’t the only one spending money in May.NDP candidate Mark Olsen had income of $42,178 and expenses of $43,640.Of that, $14,053 came from donations greater than $250 and $345 was from donations less than $250.Virtually all of Olsen’s donations came from labour organizations, including $3,067 from the Hospital Employees Union, $1,000 from the Steelworkers, $1,996 from CUPE 543 and $6,623 from CUPE B.C.
Green candidate Huguette Allen reported income of $18,761 and expenses of $15,623 while there was $5,017 in income and $5,806 in expenses for Conservative Dean Skoreyko. Independent candidate Gordon Campbell registered $250 for each category, while Refederation candidate R.J. Busch had $260 each for expenses and revenue.
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