According to figures released by the Edmonton Journal, former Edmonton McClung MLA and Economic Development Minister, Mark Norris, spent over $100,000 in his failed November 2004 re-election campaign. Norris, who is considered by some as a contender for the soon-to-be-vacated PC throne, was unseated by 533 votes at the hands of rookie Liberal Candidate Mo Elsalhy. Elsalhy spent less than $30,000 on his campaign.
Also released were figures showing that Tory-turned-Alliance MLA, Gary Masyk, spent near $40,000 on his bid to be elected in Edmonton Decore (the seat he was elected to in 2001, Edmonton Norwood, was dissolved after the 2003 boundary re-distributions). On election night, Masyk received a whopping fourth place 830 votes (9%). Liberal Bill Bonko was elected in that riding with 45% of the popular vote.
I thought this was funny. I guess money can't buy you everything (Chuck Guite must have missed that lesson).
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Random Quote of the Day
"I'm very important. I have many leatherbound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany" - Ron Burgundy, Anchorman (2004)
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GREWAL UPDATE: Buckets of Grewal has set up an awesome slide show of the changes made to the Grewal/Dosanjh//Murphy Transcripts (props to Mark at Section 15 for the heads up!)
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Elsalhy really rocked that campaign. Everyone wrote him off at first, but by sheer will and effort he ran a very impressive campaign and really attracted more volunteer support than he could even put to work.
ReplyDeleteNorris was such an arrogant prick for taking it for granted that his riding was Liberal for 15 years before his tubby ass got elected (due to hard work on his part in the first place, I might add).
I even read somewhere that he took a week long golfing vacation during the campaign.
Mark: you suck.
PS. Do you know of any places online that have figures for other candidates? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
I get the feeling the online figure are going to be hard to come by (until I get them, then they'll be posted).
My suggestion would be to call Elections Alberta and ask when 'The Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act for the Calendar Year 2004 and the 2004 General Election' will be realeased.
They usually (or used to) have these documents available for free. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can go down to elections alberta and pay an exorberant amount of money (the Journal had to pay about $95 for 300 pages) to have the contribution lists photocopied (elections canada gives the lists away for nearly free. But not having an open and easily accessable political contribution database is the price we pay for living in an Alberta-style democracy).
You can reach elections alberta at 780-427-7191
Cheers,
D
From Elections Alberta
ReplyDeleteThe Public Files contain information concerning political financing of registered political organizations in Alberta. The Public Files now contain data for twenty-seven consecutive calendar years including the seven General Elections held since 1979, the sixteen By-elections held since January 1, 1978 and the Senate Nominee Elections held in 1989 and 1998. Interest in examining these records usually peaks when the candidates, constituency associations and parties file the required campaign period or annual financial statements.
All financial statements are contained in the Public Files maintained by this Office and are available for examination from 8:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Photocopies of data maintained in the Public Files are available at a rate prescribed under authority of Section 11(2) of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Copies of all reports published by the Chief Electoral Officer are available to the public at no cost and are also available on the Elections Alberta website.
www.electionsalberta.ab.ca