Wednesday, Dec 18, 2019
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
YEARS
Frank’s bringing Christmas back FULL STORY
Gun buy-back nears end P2
PHOTO SUSAN SANDYS 161219-SS-035
Spending money wins elections By Sue Newman
sue.n@theguardian.co.nz
Demolition job P16
P4
More than $40,000 was spent in October’s local body elections by people chasing seats around the Ashburton District Council meeting table. And for most it appeared the more they spent on raising their profile the greater number of votes they received. With the numbers in on candidate expenditure Neil Brown, who won the district’s mayoralty race in something of a voting landslide, spent significantly more on his campaign than his three rivals. His campaign expenses ran to
$10,859, well within the $20,000 limit allowed for councils with a population the size of the district. That investment earned Brown one-third of the votes cast, for the mayoralty, 4446. Brown’s expenditure was mainly on newspaper advertising and signs. Second placed runner Tony Todd spent $5698 on his campaign and secured 3753 votes. Sitting mayor Donna Favel, however, spent just $3870 on her campaign and received just 2400 votes. The lowest polling candidate Leen Braam’s return has yet to be processed. The majority of Favel’s expenditure
was on flyers, hoardings and radio advertising, while Todd’s was heavily weighted towards newspaper advertising. With Braam’s returns not available, it is unclear how much he spent chasing one of the five urban councillor seats, but second highest poller, John Falloon spent just over $5000 on his campaign, the highest of any councillor.
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