Davies Leads Vernon Election Spenders

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 20 March 2012 01:07
 There was a wide range of spending by the Vernon  council candidates last November.  In documents filed with the city, Patrick Nicol led the councillors by spending $13,233, all of which came out of his own pocket. Nicol topped the polls for the councillors. Jonathon McMurray and Catherine Lord were next, at $7,169 and $6,848 respectively. Lord got a spot on council, while McMurray was 11th. Lily Kerr spent the least, $297, and came in 13th out of 15 candidates. Third place mayoralty hopeful Patrick Davies was the biggest spender by far---shelling-out $31,208 for ads, signs, pamphlets and office expenses. He also had the same amount in contributions with part of that from companies he owns, co-owns or from relatives. Second place Wayne Lippert spent $10,900, while new mayor Rob Sawatzky had $19,689 in expenses. The retired doctor had $5,073 in donations, and he paid for the rest, $13,500. The biggest contribution to Sawatzky was from Lakeside Development at $750, while Cecil Schmidt, Victor Cumming and Robert Ross provided $500 each. Lippert's largest contribution came from Wesbild Holdings of Vancouver at $3,000, while RL Walker Contracting of Vernon gave $1,000. Davies' largest contributions came from companies he owns or co-owns: Latitude Marine $5,000 and Naked Media $5,050, Walter Davies provided $4,000 and Alderbaran Enterprises $2,000. Of the other councillors that got elected, Brian Quiring spent $3,537 and got donations from S and P Paschenik of Vernon ($1,000), the Vernon Professional Firefighters Association local 1517 ($500) and Lakeside Development Corp ($500). Juliette Cunningham spent $1,167 and among her donors was the Okanagan Labour Council ($500). Mary Jo O'Keefe had $1,948 in expenses with a contribution of $300 from Alex Dantzer. Bob Spiers paid out $2,131 with Al Schuck providing $300. Catherine Lord's main contributors beside herself and her husband, were Nancy and Gary Forsythe at $500. The deadline for filing the information with City Hall was Monday. They are available for viewing by anyone, but you have to view them in person at City Hall.