DELTA — The DIVA war chest just kept growing in 2014.
Financial disclosure documents for last November’s municipal election were made available through Elections BC this week, figures that show just how mighty the support has become for the Delta Independent Voters’ Association.
In the end, there was no race for the mayor’s chair so Lois Jackson was acclaimed for a sixth term, but the council candidates on her slate, incumbents
Robert Campbell and Ian Paton and newcomer Rod Binder, had a total of $155,125 in contributions at their disposal. The slate spent $108,858, leaving a hefty surplus in the account.
Campbell and Paton were reelected, while Binder fell one spot short of a council seat.
In the 2011 municipal election, DIVA received $109,000 in contributions and recorded $93,358 in expenses; three years earlier the group got $84,270 in campaign contributions and listed $67,407 in expenses.
Some of DIVA’s more notable contributors in the 2014 campaign included Millennium Pacific Greenhouses ($6,000), Kenny Kyan ($5,000), Ron Toigo’s Shato Holdings Ltd. ($4,000), Darryl Goodwin’s Willow Bay Aviation and Willow Bay Holdings ($11,000 in total), Ocean Trailer ($5,000), Alpha Aviation ($6,000), Marina Gardens Estate Ltd ($3,000), Polygon Homes (two separate donations totaling $7,000), Captains Cove Marina ($3,000), Westshore Terminals (two donations totaling $7,000), Dayhu Investments ($5,000) and Century Group ($5,000).
The slate’s biggest expenses included more than $13,000 in newspaper ads and "professional services" costing $22,470. Independent candidate Sylvia Bishop, who topped the council polls, received $42,320 in contributions, while her expenses were listed at $42,861.
Heather King, another independent who was returned to council after a three-year absence, received $15,812 in contributions and spent almost the exact same amount.
Unsuccessful first-time independent candidate Peter Mattoo spent $21,895, a figure that included a big chunk from his own family’s pocket.
The incumbent pair of Bruce McDonald and Jeannie Kanakos, who ran on the Independents Working for You ticket with school board candidates Laura Dixon and Nick Kanakos, got good value for their $31,183 in contributions and $26,489 in expenses. All were re-elected with Jeannie Kanakos finishing second in the
council race and Dixon and Nick Kanakos fishing one-two, respectively, in the school board race.
The new Delta Connect group of Nicholas Wong, Jennifer Thoss, Lori Mayhew and Johann Ackermann didn’t get anyone elected. It listed a little over $3,300 in contributions and expenses.
Independent Ron Calliou had just had under $400 in contributions and expenses.
As far as the school board, Val Windsor, who ran on her own, spent $4,552 of her $10,500 in contributions to get re-elected.
Incumbents Dale Saip and Fabian Milat of REAL
Delta had just over $19,000 in contributions and expenses to get re-elected, but were unable to bring newcomers Scott Stoilen and Carla Qualtrough, who were also on the slate, with them.
Running on the Kids Matter slate, newcomers Bruce Reid, Rhiannon Bennett and Nic Slater had just over $9,500 in contributions, which included a big chunk from CUPE, and $10,543 in costs. Reid and Bennett were elected.
Donna Burke, who ran on her own but lost her school board seat, had $2,160 in contributions and $3,285 in expenses
For more stories from the Delta Optimist, click here.
