If Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore were to run for re-election this fall, he would have had an extra $12,133 for his campaign — a nice cushion given the new fundraising constraints for local government and school board candidates this year.
Rather, Moore, who announced last November he’ll quit politics for good come Oct. 20, will be donating his surplus campaign funds to charity.
Tonight (Tuesday), after The Tri-City News’ print deadline, the city’s finance and budget committee is set to approve a request from Moore to transfer his extra campaign cash to the PoCo Community Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit he helped to found in 2011.
“I like that the foundation covers all aspects to make our community a better place,” said Moore who, during his tenure as mayor, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the foundation via its annual mayor’s croquet tournament and other activities.
Only two Tri-City candidates from the previous civic election have campaign money left over: Moore and PoCo Coun. Darrell Penner, the latter having $710.96 plus accumulated interest in a city trust fund.
Under provincial legislation, candidates are required to give any surplus campaign cash to their jurisdiction to be held for the next race; however, if they’re not running again, the money is considered revenue for the municipality unless otherwise directed, as in Moore’s case.
Elections BC spokesperson Andrew Watson said civic and school board candidates can still use their surplus money although, four years ago, it may have been collected via unions, corporations and organizations. “The source of these funds would have been reported in the previous election’s disclosure statement,” he noted.
According to Moore’s 2014 financial papers, he brought in $3,100 from individual donors, $38,111 from corporations and $1,500 from trade unions. His biggest business contributors were: Dynamic Structures ($5,000); Onni ($5,000); Westlo Financial Corp. ($2,500); and Seagull Leasing ($2,500). He also received $1,000 from CUPE BC and $500 from CUPE 498, PoCo’s local for unionized workers.
By comparison, Penner brought in $490 from individual donors plus $5,714 from businesses and $900 from the IAFF Local 1941 (PoCo firefighters) and the HEU.
As reported in The Tri-City News last week, many potential candidates in the Tri-Cities say they’ll be in a pinch this year to source campaign funds, with individual donations capped at $1,200 and a ban on union, corporate and organization cash.
