Walter Gray spent twice as much as Sharon Shepherd in Kelowna election

Tuesday, 20 March 2012 02:00  Ron Seymour Kelowna Daily Courier:
 Mayor Walter Gray got his biggest campaign donation last fall from a man he'd never met before.   Michael Matvieshen of Sunlogics, a solar technology firm, authorized a corporate donation of $5,000 toward Gray's mayoral bid.   "I didn't even know the guy," Gray said Monday. "My first thought was why the heck is he giving that kind of money?"  Gray raised a total of $56,920 during last year's civic election campaign, compared to the $29,910   collected by his chief rival, then-mayor Sharon Shepherd.   Gray's spending was about   10 per cent more than in 2005, when he lost the mayor's office to Shepherd. In that election, Shepherd spent about $23,000.  On Monday, Gray said he had a policy of asking his campaign staff to tell him whenever they were approached by supporters offering to donate $2,000 or more.   After Gray heard about the offer from Matvieshen, he contacted the businessman to ask why he was making the donation. "He said he just wanted to see change at City Hall," Gray recalled of the conversation. Gray's second-largest donation was $2,500 from BFL Canada, a Vancouver-based insurance brokerage. He also received separate donations of $1,000 apiece from a half-dozen Kelowna businesses, and donations in the range of $200-$500 from dozens more.

In addition, Gray used $13,600 of his own money to help finance his election bid. In the 2005 campaign, he relied entirely on contributions from others.   "We spent more than we had coming in," Gray said of the reason for making a sizable personal contribution to his own campaign this time around. "People were very slow getting off the mark with their donations."  One reason for that, he believes, is that many people in the development community shied away from making big contributions to his campaign, lest there be a perception they were trying to unduly influence the election outcome. Still, Gray said he personally declined one campaign offer in excess of $2,000 from a developer. That's because Gray said he was fairly certain the company would be appearing before council in the near future on a development application.  "I just said no because I didn't want to be in any way compromised," Gray said.   Of his total contributions, Gray spent about $28,000 on advertising,  $12,000 on signs and pamphlets, and $6,000 on campaign events and office expenses. Members of his campaign team also received $8,400 in compensation.   Shepherd and her husband, a doctor, funded just under half her campaign themselves. She did not receive any donations over $500.   Monday was the last day for everyone who ran in last November's civic election to file their campaign contributions and expenses statement. Gail Given was the last councillor to submit her financial report, which showed her contributions at $7,577.20.  Only two of the nearly 60 people whose names appeared on election ballots had not filed their paperwork with the city clerk's office by the 4 p.m cutoff. Those who did not do so lost their $100 deposit, and will also be fined $500. They'll be fined another $500 if they miss a second deadline in a month's time.