Greener pastures down south?

After the last editorial in April about former Prince George mayor Shari Green throwing her name in the running for the Conservative nomination in South Surrey-White Rock for the 2019 federal election, many phone calls and emails came in. One of those communications suggested taking a closer look at the Elections Canada candidate campaign returns for the Dec. 11, 2017 by-election in South Surrey-White Rock to fill the seat after Conservative MP Dianne Watts resigned to run for the leadership of the B.C. Liberals.

In the byelection, federal Liberal Gordie Hogg defeated Conservative Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a former cabinet minister in the Stephen Harper government, by 1,600 votes.

It was seen as an embarrassing loss for the Conservatives and their new leader Andrew Scheer.

Green served as Findlay’s official agent and campaign manager in that tight race last December.

Findlay’s campaign spent $87,502.59 during the four-week byelection. The single biggest expense of that campaign was the $10,500 Green billed for her services. She also billed the campaign two other times for expenses of $105 and $110.

William Healy also billed Findlay’s campaign $5,000 under the “official agent, campaign manager” category, along with about $600 in other expenses.

To put Green’s wage for four weeks work into context, Hogg’s campaign spent $87,942.81. Hogg’s official agent and campaign manager, William Brooks, billed the campaign just $2,500, plus about $2,300 in other expenses.

To make a comparison closer to home, Conservative candidate Todd Doherty spent $73,974.85 in his successful 2015 campaign to win the Cariboo-Prince George riding.

Gerald Pinchbeck, Doherty’s official agent and campaign manager, received six biweekly payments during the long campaign for $960 each or $5,760 in total, with no other expenses.

In other words, Doherty and Hogg paid their campaign managers about $6,000 to run a winning campaign while Findlay paid Green nearly $11,000 in a losing cause.

Hard to say if it would have made a difference but South Surrey-White Rock Conservatives are certainly wondering if Findlay could have squeaked out a win if Green had spent $5,000 more on the election and $5,000 less on herself.

To be fair, Findlay was parachuted into the riding from Delta-Richmond East, which she lost handily in her re-election bid in 2015. Meanwhile, Hogg is a former mayor of White Rock who sat as a B.C. Liberal MLA for Surrey-White Rock for 20 years.

Seen in that light, it would also be unfair to accuse Green of sabotaging the 2017 byelection because she had her eyes on being the Conservative candidate less than two years later. A newcomer to the riding, she will have a difficult time unseating the far better known and better connected Hogg next fall. Even if Hogg is weighed down by Trudeau’s adamant support of the Trans Mountain pipeline, he should have no problem swatting off a one-term Prince George mayor who was unable to win the Conservative nomination in her own turf against two lesser-known candidates.

But to get a chance at Hogg, she first she has to win the Conservative nomination in South Surrey-White Rock.

Card-carrying Conservatives will cast their ballots on Sept. 22.

Green failed to keep an existing Conservative riding in Conservative hands and away from Justin Trudeau’s Liberals but she made sure she got paid well, no matter the outcome.

If the other reasons in the April editorial weren’t enough (unpopular one-term mayor, sketchy political resume), Green’s expensive failure as a campaign manager in South Surrey-White Rock should be just one more reason for Conservatives in that riding to look elsewhere for their 2019 candidate.