Mayor Nolan Crouse had so much money rolling in during his election campaign last fall he had more left over than most candidates spent.
Crouse's campaign raised nearly $48,000. He spent almost $28,000, far more than most candidates, but this still left him with a $20,000 surplus. He only spent $1,000 of his own money.
The information is contained in campaign disclosure documents that the city has made public.
Note: Norm Harley, Stanley Haroun and James Van Damme self-financed their respective campaigns. Asterik denotes elected candidates.
Crouse's lone challenger, newcomer Shelley Biermanski, raised just $1,000 and spent slightly less than $7,500, with the balance coming from her own pocket.
Crouse's spending was far less than the nearly $46,000 he shelled out in 2007 to get elected for his first term.
"I could have spent more. I could have spent less," he said of his 2010 campaign. "I didn't know. I just knew that I had to make sure that I was communicating."
His campaign team has turned his surplus over to the city to be held in trust, he said. He'll be able to access that money if he chooses to run again, otherwise it will be donated to charity or given to the city.
Among councillors, Coun. Malcolm Parker spent $23,700. The next highest total was Cathy Heron's $15,700.
Roger Lemieux spent $14,500, Cam MacKay was at $12,400 and Len Bracko, $10,000. The most frugal winning councillor was Wes Brodhead, who spent $8,300.
All six successful councillors were within the top seven spenders. Gareth Jones was the outsider, spending $13,700 in a losing effort.
Parker said his actual spending was closer to $20,000 but appears higher because of the way he reported his silent-auction fundraising activities to ensure everything was above board.
"The legislation is not very clear on how you do it," he said. "I obviously played it the safe way."
Corporate donations
The corporate community, especially developers, were very active in contributing to election cam.
View a list of top corporate donors here.
More than a dozen companies contributed $1,000 or more to assorted candidates, with Crouse's campaign drawing most of its support from the corporate sector. In contrast, Cam MacKay and Wes Brodhead largely self-financed their campaigns while drawing some donations from citizens.
Leading the way in corporate contributions was Rampart Capital, the company behind the Avenir development that will seek council approval this year. The company spread a total of $7,500 among the campaigns of Crouse, $2,500, and five council candidates: James Burrows, Cathy Heron, Gareth Jones, Roger Lemieux and Malcolm Parker.
The project has generated regional media buzz for its focus on developing clean technology but has generated more probing questions locally, particularly from Crouse, about the predominance of residential development.
Crouse said he doesn't vet where his donations come from, nor does he consider it when he's making decisions.
"I don't sit in council chambers and have a list of who gave me money and [decide] whether I vote yes or no," he said.
He said Rampart is part of the development community, which is "notoriously active in donating."
"They are spending money with the objective of trying to get a certain group in place," Crouse said. "There's an influence there, I don't argue that, but I don't think anybody's going to sit there and say, because of this [donation], this [decision] happened."
"Philosophically, the development industry wants pro-development people in charge," he added.
Rampart Capital CEO Gerry de Klerk said his firm's contributions aren't intended to bring payback in the form of an approved project.
"We believe that Nolan Crouse is probably the best that St. Albert can bring today and that's why we support him," de Klerk said.
This support comes despite the fact that Crouse isn't on board with Avenir's vision, de Klerk said.
"Even though we've made a campaign contribution, he still was opposed in the last meeting we had. We still had a fairly heated discussion," de Klerk said.
Waste contractor
The largest single donation of the campaign came from Ever Green Ecological Services, the company that holds the city's contract for blue bag pickup and recycling. The Sherwood Park-based firm gave Crouse's campaign $5,000, the maximum allowed. Ever Green didn't contribute to any other campaigns.
The city closed a request for proposals on Wednesday for a contract for organic waste pickup, as it prepares to launch that program in June. Ever Green did submit a bid and expects to win the contract based on merit not favouritism, said co-owner Lorenzo Donini.
"We do provide these services better than any other company in the region," Donini said. "They're done through a competitive bid process and we usually are the low bidder."
Donini said he was somewhat offended at the suggestion there could be an ethical issue with his company donating to the mayor of a city that is currently contracting his company and getting ready to award another contract in his sector.
He said he met Crouse in 2004 when he was starting his company and received some good advice about perseverance.
"It was support for a man who has given us good advice in the past and I believe is very good at what he does," he said of his donation. "I don't believe for a second that [we] stand to receive any favouritism."
Crouse said there are strict rules in place that prevent him from influencing the awarding of contracts.
The next largest overall contributor was Landrex and its subsidiary companies, which contributed a total just shy of $3,900. The St. Albert-based developer got council approval last year for its Erin Ridge North neighbourhood.
Next came Sarasota Homes and Sarasota Realty. Combined, the St. Albert-based companies spread $3,500 across four candidates. Crouse got the lion's share at $2,000.
The Ron Hodgson car dealership was next at $3,300, with $2,500 going to Crouse.
External Affairs Clinical Spas contributed $2,940 to Crouse's campaign in the form of a billboard donation.
Then came a $2,500 contribution from West Edmonton Mall Property, which went entirely to Crouse.
West Edmonton Mall is owned and operated by Triple Five Corp., which is the proponent of a controversial "leapfrog" development at St. Albert's northern tip. In December council agreed to exempt the project from a city requirement that all new growth be contiguous with existing development.
The decision cleared the way for Triple Five to present an area structure plan for approval, which it intends to do this year.
Room to tighten rules
The province brought in rules for the funding of municipal election campaigns last year. Candidates are limited to using $10,000 of their own funds and no single donor can provide more than $5,000.
There's nothing inherently questionable about companies contributing to political campaigns, as long as it's done within the rules, said MacEwan University political scientist Chaldeans Mensah.
However, it would be naïve to assume that corporate donations are motivated strictly by a desire to contribute to democracy, he said.
"Very often there are interests and there are opportunities that these firms see in being engaged in campaign contributions, often to create a favourable context for their interests," Mensah said.
As it's currently set up, the system requires vigilance on the part of the public and elected officials to ensure that decisions don't favour a particular company at the expense of the public interest, he said.
However, there's room to tighten up the rules around donations from companies that are directly involved in city business or those that have projects in development that will require council approval in the near future, Mensah said.
"Right now there's nothing that addresses that," he said, "and that leaves a big loophole for firms to jump through."
