Council spends thousands on swag
Mini sticks, playing cards, hand sanitizer among items bought for self-promotion
People love free stuff and city council members know it.
Many politicians break out their corporate credit cards and go shopping for anything on which they can slap their names.
Through an access-to-information request, the Citizen received invoices for branded merchandise purchased from political office budgets in 2016. It’s a one-year snapshot of what goodies councillors are buying to sprinkle around their wards.
Boxes and boxes of personalized loot were delivered to city hall last year as councillors found hot items that would be coveted by constituents.
Coun. Jody Mitic, council’s sports commissioner, loaded up on hockey swag.
Mitic ordered 500 personalized plastic mini-sticks, each 17.5 inches in length. The total price, including artwork and other service fees, was $1,220. He also bought 300 branded hockey pucks at $3.05 per puck.
Coun. Michael Qaqish ordered a batch of 500 mini-sticks, too.
While Qaqish bought 524 “fling ring” disc toys for $1,079, Mitic chose 500 nine-inch Frisbees for $1,249.
There was also an order in Mitic’s file for 500 10-inch yellow ice scrapers that came with a total cost of $1,887.
But Mitic wasn’t the only councillor who liked the ice scraper swag.
Coun. Jan Harder bought 100 royal blue ice scrapers for $435, around the same time she picked up 25 royal blue fleece blankets for $416.
Coun. Keith Egli went with a more high-end ice scraper featuring a “sturdy” blade and a foam handle. The 250 scrapers cost $1,463 with fees and shipping.
Merchandise catalogues show that anything can be branded.
Coun. Diane Deans bought 262 decks of bridge-size playing cards, which have a picture of Ottawa City Hall and Deans’s name on one side (the face cards don’t have Deans’s face, though). It cost $1,535 to have the decks customized and shipped.
Deans also bought 250 microfibre cloths, five inches square, and individually bagged. The total cost was $587. Another 250 Deanspersonalized insulated cooler bags cost $1,098. Fifty acrylic and stainless steel travel mugs added $641 to her annual swag bill.
Then there were the drinking containers.
The 420 mugs purchased by Coun. Jean Cloutier for his Breakfast with Santa event cost $2,370.
Qaqish bought 576 mugs — half of them white, half dark blue — for $4,108. Egli expensed 148 white mugs for $1,022.
Coun. Tim Tierney picked up 550 red drinking bottles with sport tips for $2,285.
There are some swag items that can be surefire hits with an older demographic, like the 525 walletsized magnifier cards purchased by Coun. Mark Taylor for his annual Mother’s Day tea. Total cost: $1,431.
Taylor also scooped up 200 branded hand sanitizers ($3.06 each) and another 200 packages of mint tins ($2.98 each) to hand out at an Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Windsor last August. (Most of the money to pay for the bill was provided by the city clerk, since the city provides a small budget for council members running for AMO board positions).
Hand sanitizer was also a preferred swag item for Coun. Stephen Blais, who bought 1,005 of the eight-millilitre spray bottles for a total of $2,316. He also purchased 1,000 helium-quality, 11-inch, blue balloons for $344.
Invoices for customized standup banners and 10-foot square tents showed up in the pile. They are often deployed to community events and consultations.
According to the invoices, Coun. Tobi Nussbaum paid $1,795 for a personalized tent, Coun. Catherine McKenney paid $1,412 for her tent and Coun. George Darouze paid $1,200.
Councillors often work serving lines at charity breakfasts and dinners. Coun. Riley Brockington had 100 personalized red aprons made with his name on the front for $977.
Some of the most common merchandise bought with office funds are shirts with the Ottawa logo and the council members’ names.
Customized tote bags are also among the most popular items purchased by politicians. Thousands are produced and personalized for council members.
Then there are the customized shirts, banners, pens and magnets that are hallmarks of political expenses.
Judging by the spending on swag, which has become part of regular operations at city hall, council offices must be some of the best return customers for local promotions companies.