Mark Sutcliffe and Catherine McKenney both raised more than $500,000, but they spent the money in different ways
In the city election last fall, the top two candidates for mayor spent about the same amount of money on their campaigns, but they got the money in very different ways.
About 3,100 people gave money to Catherine McKenney, who came in second, while about 75 people gave money to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, who won the election with more than half of the votes cast.
But Sutcliffe’s supporters gave much more when they gave on their own. Nearly 250 people gave $1,200, which was the most they could, for a total of $300,000. In other words, just 250 people gave more than half of Sutcliffe’s $537,824 in donations.
Actually, McKenney raised $5,000 more than Sutcliffe, but only about 60 people gave the maximum amount of $1,200 each. McKenney’s list of donations was much longer, and many of them were between $100 and $200.
- McKenney gave donors to his campaign a list before the election.
- A week before the election, endorsements show where each party stands.
- Candidates for mayor argue about releasing their lists of campaign donors.
Before 2 p.m. on Friday, all candidates in the election last fall had to turn in an audited financial statement of their contributions of $100 or more and campaign spending. There is a grace period of 30 days, but candidates who file late must pay a $500 fee.
Both of the top two candidates’ donor lists show a lot about their campaigns in many ways: Sutcliffe’s campaign had support from the business and political establishment, while McKenney’s campaign was more grassroots, as shown by the election results and campaign donations.Drew more votes from people in the city center..
McKenney spent an extra $100,000 on office and staff
Not only do Sutcliffe and McKenney seem to have raised money in different ways, but they also seem to have spent their money in different ways.
The mayor spent $282,792 on ads and $30,510 on brochures. His main opponent, on the other hand, spent $176,001 on ads and $18,277 on brochures.
But when it came to paying campaign workers, McKenney spent a lot more than their opponent. The salaries, honoraria, and professional fees for Sutcliffe’s campaign cost $46,094, but McKenney spent a whopping $128,322. The former council member for the Somerset ward also spent $20,000 more than Sutcliffe on office costs.
Sutcliffe and McKenney both spent about the same amount of money on signs: $40,035 for Sutcliffe and $37,188 for McKenney.
Sutcliffe also raised about $100,000 through five events called “Meet Mark Sutcliffe.” On September 22, 31 people paid $1,200 each for tickets to one of these events. $37,200 was raised at that one event.
There don’t seem to have been any fundraisers for McKenney’s campaign.
Neither had money from developers
It looks like neither Sutcliffe nor McKenney took money from developers. While McKenney released their donations several times during the campaign and pushed Sutcliffe to do the same, the mayor decided to wait until Friday to release his.
Both candidates said they wouldn’t take money from people in the development industry or their families. In Ontario, anyone can donate to a municipal candidate’s campaign, but donations from developers can be controversial because city council decisions on planning can be worth millions of dollars to the developers’ businesses.
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Sutcliffe’s list of donors was full of business people from all over the city, which isn’t surprising given that he was an entrepreneur, one of the founders of the Ottawa Business Journal, and a former chair of the Ottawa Board of Trade.
Some of the people who gave $1,200 were Shopify’s CEO Harley Finkelstein, Hexo’s co-founders Sebastien St-Louis and Adam Miron, restaurant owners John Borsten and Stephen Beckta, car dealership owner Jeff Mierins, and Farm Boy’s Jeff York.
On Sutcliffe’s list of donors were also well-known names from the political and lobbying worlds.
Four members of the McGuinty family, including former premier Dalton, gave the maximum amount, as did Michelle Coates-Mather, Kory Teneycke, and Chris Froggatt, all of whom work for the Conservative Party.
Jim Watson, who used to be mayor, gave $500 to Sutcliffe’s campaign.
Miron, who is famous for being in the band Hexo, also gave $1,200 to McKenney. The names of most of their max-contributors were not as well known as Sutcliffe’s.
The former Somerset ward councillor got support from many like-minded politicians, such as Joel Harden, the NDP MPP for Ottawa Centre, who gave $200, Jeff Leiper, the councillor for Kitchissippi ward, who gave $103.3, Shawn Menard, the councillor for Capital ward, who gave $250, Diane Holmes, who gave $600, and Alex Cullen, who gave $900.
Catherine McKenna, who used to be environment minister and backed McKenney during the campaign, gave $250.