Money in mayor’s race
Dilkens raised more than he could spend on election
The Drew Dilkens for Mayor campaign raised more money than the maximum it was eligible to spend in last year’s Windsor mayoral election race.
But the eventual winner ended up spending less on his campaign than his nearest competitor, John Millson, according to financial statements filed with city hall last week.
The Dilkens campaign raised $145,160 and spent $129,026.21. The maximum spending allowed per candidate entered in the Windsor mayoral race was $136,496 — based on an Ontario Elections Act formula.
Millson, who was hoping to return to the mayor’s seat he occupied from 1988 to 1991, raised and spent $133,582.54 on his campaign, according to filed election campaign returns.
The excess contributions meant Dilkens was able to repay himself $16,888.11 on the $30,200 in personal funds he had committed to his own campaign. Millson injected $21,258.54 of his own money into his campaign, while the other leading mayoral contender, businessman Larry Horwitz, contributed $116,673 of his own money to fund the bulk of his campaign which cost $125,500.68.
On a cost-per-vote basis, Dilkens spent $4 (32,271 votes); Millson spent $8.43 (15,848 votes) and Horwitz invested $17.21 (7,293 votes).
Developers feature prominently on the contributor lists of both the Dilkens and Millson campaigns, while professional, managerial and financial services populate the contributors’ list of the Dilkens campaign, and Millson drew heavily from area machining and industrial shops. Unions sided squarely with Millson, who pulled in $7,450 from 11 contributors.
The city’s inside and outside workers, represented by CUPE Locals 543 and 82, backed the wrong horse, each giving the maximum $750 donation to the Millson campaign. The Windsor Professional Fire Fighters Association, likewise, was among nine labour organizations, including Unifor Locals 200, 444 and 2458, contributing the $750 maximum to Millson.
Dilkens wasn’t totally shunned by organized labour — Local 494 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union donated the $750 maximum.
Although Millson had fewer contributors overall who donated between $100 (the minimum reportable) and $750 — 188 vs. 224 for Dilkens — he attracted a higher number of those who were willing to donate the $750 maximum — 113 vs. 105 for Dilkens.
Windsor’s prominent Strosberg lawyer family alone donated $3,500 to Millson’s efforts — $750 from Sutts Strosberg LLP and $750 each from Harvey and children Jay and Sharon, as well as $500 from their stepmother Cathy. Harvey Strosberg also donated $500 to the Dilkens campaign.
Politicians past and present appeared to side more with Millson, with financial contributions from former Liberal cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan ($750) and Bill Wrye ($250), former NDP cabinet minister Dave Cooke ($250) and former Kingsville deputy mayor Tamara Stomp ($250).
Ed Sleiman, who successfully fought to retain his own Windsor Ward 5 seat, donated the maximum $750 to both Dilkens and Millson.
Among other who bet the maximum on both Dilkens and Millson — the two perceived frontrunners — were Architectural Design Associates and Windsor Spitfires coowner Brian Schwab. David Mady gave the $750 individual maximum to Millson while his company, Mady Development Corporation, gave the $750 corporate maximum to Dilkens.
Dilkens and Millson seemed to share in the pizza vote, with generous donations to each campaign. Naples Pizza Ltd. outdid the competition, however, with the maximum $750 contribution to each of the Dilkens, Millson and Horwitz campaigns.
Valiant Corporation founder Michael Solcz gave $500 to the campaigns of all three main contenders.
Other prominent $750 supporters of the Dilkens campaign — billionaire Barry Zekelman; WFCU president Marty Komsa ( the WFCU threw in another $750); Coco Paving CEO Jenny Coco; Dr. Fouad Tayfour of the Windsor Laser Eye Institute; lawyer George King (now a judge); Max De Angelis, whose De Angelis Construction Inc. also gave $750; and Vic Neufeld, former head of Jamieson Laboratories and now CEO of Aphria, the area’s first medical marijuana grower.
Among the private enterprises backing Millson with $750 contributions were Mikhail Holdings, Mid-South Land Developments, Mousseau Deluca McPherson Prince LLP, ReMax Capital Inc. and Windsor Chrysler.
Three Windsor mayoral candidates — Timothy Dugdale, Ronald Van Dyk and Jaysen Sylvestre — submitted signed financial statements without a single financial or spending entry.
“It’s their responsibility to hand in a bona fide financial disclosure,” said Chuck Scarpelli, the city’s manager of elections and records. Any elector has until June 25 to request an audit of any submitted 2014 campaign financial statement, he said.
Among candidate Bruce Martin’s declared campaign expenses of $861.50 was $7.90 for “chlorine test.”
Dilkens spent $5,763 on “voter ID” and $4,640.61 on phone/ Internet expenses. Advertising was the priciest item for all three main contenders — $61,466.51 for Dilkens, $58,726.71 for Millson and $33,923.66 for Horwitz.