Following the ‘dark money’ ELISE STOLTE
Who are the big donors the NDP wants out of Edmonton elections?
When Regency Development executives face city council Monday to ask again for permission to build towers on Holyrood Gardens, seven out of the 13 council members will be looking back at a campaign donor.
Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson calls those donations “dark money.”
He said he wants corporate and union donations out of Alberta municipal election campaigns when he launched a public survey on the issue last month.
But corporate and union donors say it’s not so simple. This money helps fund a critical debate every four years as candidates get concerns in front of the public.
So Postmedia asked: Who are these big backers? The numbers are pulled from disclosure statements each candidate filed with the city clerk after last October’s election. The provincial survey runs until July 31 at alberta.ca/LAEA.
Edmonton’s largest individual donors last year were city unions representing bus drivers, firefighters and office-based staff.
The Amalgamated Transit Union easily topped the list with $51,500, including $10,000 over two years to challenger Rocco Caterina. That was the largest contribution from any corporation or union.
But there are more developers on that list.
Alldritt Land gave $25,500 to 10 candidates, excluding the four councillors who voted against their proposed 80-storey downtown tower.
Mayor Don Iveson voted against that, too, but his campaign still received $3,000.
Regency Developments gave $14,092 to nine candidates including Iveson and councillors Bev Esslinger, Sarah Hamilton, Tony Caterina, Tim Cartmell, Mike Nickel and Moe Banga.
Residents arguing against projects at public hearing worry these donations will bias council members. That’s impossible to know, but the numbers can give perspective. Esslinger received the highest percentage of her campaign budget from Regency — the $2,000 contribution was three per cent of the total she raised.
VOTER: IT’S AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
A free ride until retirement — that’s how city politics often looks to voter Tyler Zutz, who is frustrated at the low rate of turnover among sitting councillors.
“At first I chalked it up to voter apathy and name recognition,” says the 37-year-old information technology consultant, who lives on the north side. But after volunteering for the underdog campaign of Jon Dziadyk, who scored an upset victory in the last election, he studied the campaign records more closely and got angry.
“(Developers) just fund every incumbent and every single rightwing, land development candidate that might have a chance of winning,” he says, generalizing.
By his calculations, roughly 70 per cent of corporate donations are going to a winning campaign. More than 20 corporate donors supported 10 or more candidates.
Postmedia double-checked Zutz’s numbers with the list of top corporate and union donors.
UNION: IT’S LIKE AN ARMS RACE
Bullying in the workplace, protecting the pension plan, building infrastructure for communities — those are priorities for the Civic Service Union 52, says president Lanny Chudyk. Its political action committee interviewed candidates before backing 10 candidates in the last election. They’re looking for strong candidates who aren’t too radical to the left or the right. But it’s natural to back an incumbent, he says. He’d like to see corporate and union dollars out of politics, he says. But he doesn’t think it will happen, even if the province changes the rules.
“It’s like an arms race,” he says.
DEVELOPER: BEWARE OF WELL-FUNDED KOOKS
Dark money? Throwing that term around is “just politics,” said Qualico vice-president Brad Armstrong, arguing the current rules are at least transparent.
If a developer gives money to a candidate, it’s declared publicly and posted online. When a rezoning application project comes to public hearing, that debate is also public. Developers give political donations because it contributes to a stronger city, he said.
Developers want face time with candidates because they don’t feel the industry is well understood, said Ken Cantor of Primavera Development Group, saying it’s a good thing candidates must develop a broad coalition of support to win.
Public funding for campaigns would be crazy. You could have “13 well-funded kooks,” Cantor said.