Chabot says donors didn’t like his principled stance
Smith still refuses to release donor list before election as mayoral race heats up
Andre Chabot is alleging donations to his mayoral campaign from “well-to-do” Calgarians dried up after he refused to take certain positions that would require compromising his principles.
Chabot, who announced his mayoral run in March after 12 years on council, told Postmedia he has a small team working alongside him in his quest for council’s top job because he can’t afford to hire more staff after promises of campaign donations never materialized.
“It’s interesting. I had a lot of people convince me to run for mayor that didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t willing to do certain things or promote certain objectives,” Chabot said.
“There are certain things that I believe in that I’m not going to compromise my own principles for.”
Chabot said money was “flowing well” into his campaign early on, but he suspects the donors went elsewhere because they had different positions on certain civic policies. For instance, he ultimately supported the creation of the downtown cycle track network.
“They asked me questions and I answered them. They didn’t like my answers. I’m too principled,” Chabot said.
When pressed for details, Chabot was vague but said he wasn’t speaking only about people in the homebuilding business.
“A lot of them are home builders, it’s not just strictly home builders, though,” Chabot said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t even say home builders because there are inner-city developers that made some commitments that never came through, either, so maybe development, but again, not just developers.”
Chabot wouldn’t speculate where he believes the donations have gone.
The Ward 10 councillor is running for mayor against nine men, including incumbent Naheed Nenshi and lawyer Bill Smith.
During a wide-ranging interview with Postmedia’s editorial board Thursday, Smith said he also was “not for sale,” when asked about Chabot’s comments.
“If Andre can’t raise money, that’s Andre’s problem,” Smith said.
When asked if he’s undergone vetting by developers to get support, Smith said he’s vetted every day by Calgarians.
“I wasn’t asked to fill out a checklist or asked a series of questions,” Smith said.
“But anybody I’ve talked to and anybody that’s contributed to my campaign, I have made them the promise that I will work very hard to get our spending in line, to get our taxes in line, to make this a friendlier city to do business in, and a friendlier city for all our citizens.”
Smith added he’s told developers specifically he doesn’t care if they donate, and he will get his “pound of flesh” on behalf of taxpayers.
The conversation about donations comes at the same time Nenshi has challenged all candidates to release the names of donors ahead of the Oct. 16 vote.
Nenshi’s team released a list of his 1,300 donors in September, while Chabot said he plans to unveil his list before election day.
Under the Local Authorities Election Act, no person or corporation can donate more than $5,000 per year to a candidate.
Candidates don’t legally have to disclose their donor lists until four months after the election, and Smith maintains he will not release his before the municipal vote.
“(Nenshi) is trying to bully us into releasing our donors by suggesting there’s something nefarious going on. I’m following the rules and I will continue to follow the rules,” Smith said, noting residents are worried about pressing issues beyond his donation list.
“They’re not worried about this,” he said.
Nenshi said that’s the complete opposite of what he hears from Calgarians.
“Every day, I hear, ‘I’m thinking of Mr. Smith, but why won’t he release his donors?’” the mayor said Thursday.
I had a lot of people convince me to run for mayor that didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t willing to do certain things or promote certain objectives.