Green Campaign Contributors Named To Business Committee
Saturday, March 17, 2012 @ 3:49 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The financial disclosure document filed for Shari Green’s mayoralty campaign shows she had the highest-ever contributions and expenses for a civic election candidate in Prince George.
But it also reveals something further: that virtually one-third of the people appointed to the city’s Select Committee on Business were financial contributors to Green’s campaign. City council established the committee on December 12, 2011, twenty-two days after the last municipal election in which Green was elected mayor. The committee was to outline what the City is doing well and what it could do better to allow business to grow and generate new jobs. There were twenty-one people on the committee, including Mayor Green and a list of people from the business community. Labour, taxpayers and other groups that might have an interest were not represented.
Of the 20 on the list (besides Green), six individuals or their businesses donated money to the would-be mayor’s campaign. They are listed here, along with the amount of their campaign contribution:
David Livingstone, Committee Co-Chair $500
Janine North, Committee C-Chair $200
Eduard Hausot, V.P. of Northern Steel which contributed $5000.00
George Weinand $250
Scott Bilbrough $100
Kevin Horsnell, Chief Operating Officer of Conifex Inc. which contributed $2500.00
According to financial disclosure papers filed with the city, Green spent just over 81-thousand-dollars to get elected. The $8550 contributed by the six listings above amounts to approximately one-tenth of Green’s election pot.
The close of the business day Monday is the deadline for candidates to file their campaign expense documents. Six of the 23 candidates in November’s city council election are still to file their papers.
Comments
I’ve said it before that the average joe in Prince George is going to have to vote on block to ensure that we have a mayor that is going to work for Prince George.
Would it be possible to get the names of the other 14?
Yes … :-)
http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/22410
Thanks Gus
So you can buy your way onto Green’s committee?
Hardly surprising. If you were going to form a volunteer committee which would require the volunteers to dedicate time away from their businesses and families – and, you had committed to a very short turn around time on delivery, where would you start? By posting an opportunity for volunteers? Making cold calls? Or maybe using your existing network of people you know, trust, and are willing to dedicate their time, for free?
Sometimes, although it is not as fun to write about, there is no conspiracy. File this one under “nothing to see here folks”…
Zack, stop it with that common sense. It’s not welcome around here.
From what I’ve read on this site of late, If I was looking to start a business in downtown PG, I would open a business that sells stones. A wide variety of shapes and sizes – all perfect for throwing. I could make a fortune…
Just like this classic Monty Python scene:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsVAYFSEBrA[url]
Let me count the ways …….
I am not going to provide tons of options that can be done quickly.
How are committees of Council chosen? There seems to be no controversy about that. Fast track it and ask people directly.
To get a relatively wide range, ask each Councillor to contact 4 to 5 people that they would like to see (that spreads the workload as well as the variety) on the committee.
Submit those names to administration. They prepare the ballot and handle the voting process in Council. With probable duplication, to select 16 from a group of 36 to 45 people once the duplication has been reduced closer to the 16, it should be easy to tally the vote.
1. everyone had input and makes them feel good that they were part of the process
2. there should be no perceived conflict.
Now, it would have been interesting if those who had contributed more than say $200 to anyone’s campaign would have been excluded from the committee. But, I suspect that no one foresaw that someone would be posing this question.
These are politically sensitive times.
The Mayor brought the list to Council for approval. Why bother? Council was relegated to rubber stamping. At least, that is what it appears like.
Maybe there was a selection process which inluded all other Councillors but we have not been told about that.
You are right Gus. That would be one way to do it.
From my perspective, they did what they were asked in the terms of reference, they did it quickly, and they did it for free.
I found this to be in stark contrast to so many well intentioned “committees” that choke under the weight of their needless self imposed beauracracy where as the old saying goes:
“When all is said and done, there will have been a lot more said than done”.
In a small town its hard not to run into your friends on a regular basis. Same with business associates.
Sour grapes mixed with yellow journalism. Mayor Dan made sure Opinion 250 was given a juicy ad contract. To repay the kindness, Ben never wrote a single critical piece. When Mayor Shari cancels the Meisner Gravy Train the guns get trained on her.
The message is simple, “give us money or else.”
Sleezy, sleezy, sleezy.
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