Watts, Lee broke spending cap in Liberal leadership contest
VICTORIA Former Surrey MP Dianne Watts was the top spender in the B.C. Liberal Party’s leadership race, far outspending winner Andrew Wilkinson and in the process violating her own party ’s spending rules.
Elections B.C. released financial reports from the Feb. 3 Liberal leadership campaign, showing how much the eight candidates spent. Wilkinson won on the fifth ballot of the race, earning 4,621 points (53 per cent of the total) over Watts, who finished with 4,079 points (47 per cent).
Wilkinson won despite being outspent by three other candidates in the race.
The candidates spent: Watts: $1.15 million Michael Lee: $987,206 Todd Stone: About $800,000 (Stone didn’t file his campaign forms on time and faces a $500 fine from Elections B.C. He said the auditing firm that signed off on his expenses was backed up with work and he’ll have the final figures submitted by the end of the week. Stone said his campaign spending was in the $800,000 range.) Wilkinson: $734,156
Mike de Jong: $622,790 Sam Sullivan: $130,944 Mike Bernier (ran a partial campaign before dropping out): $75,949
Lucy Sager (ran a partial campaign before dropping out): $8,684
The B.C. Liberal Party had instituted a $600,000 campaign-spending cap as part of the rules set more than five months before voting day.
However, it would appear both Watts and Lee blew the party spending limit without repercussions.
Watts spent almost $356,385 more than was allowed under the Liberal party rules, once you subtract her transfers to the party from her spending total. Lee overspent by $224,557.
The Watts campaign was aware it was spending beyond the limit during the race, said campaign director Norman Stowe.
“It was what we believed we needed to spend to do what needed to be done,” he said. “It’s really up to the party to decide what they do, if anything, if somebody raises more and spends more.”
Wilkinson’s campaign spent about $18,027 under the $600,000 cap. Stone, whose figures aren’t yet public, said he “spent near but just below the cap.”
The B.C. Liberal Party didn’t have any specific penalties in its leadership-race rules for exceeding the limit.
“We are pleased to have run a successful and exciting leadership race that doubled our membership and expanded our base,” said Don Silversides, B.C. Liberal Party president. “The leadership rules stated contestant expenses were to be limited to a maximum of $600,000, not including party fees and transfers. Party officials emphasized repeatedly to remain within these parameters. Our focus now is to build on the strength and renewal of the B.C. Liberal Party.”
The top donations in the campaign also went to Watts, with waste-management company Super Save Disposal and development firm Woodbridge Properties each donating $100,000 to the Watts campaign. The full, scanned reports are available from the Elections B.C. website, as well as data on individual donations.