This story has been amended since first posting.
Money’s nice but it doesn’t buy you a seat on council.
The winner of last November’s West Vancouver council byelection was outspent by his nearest runner-up by a ratio of more than three to one, according to recently released campaign finance disclosure documents.
Peter Lambur, who was elected with 1,262 votes, spent $3,909.98 on signs, mailouts, print ads and pamphlets for his winning campaign. All but $411 of that amount was funded by his sole proprietorship architecture firm.
Lambur also had an ally in the form of an official third party sponsor who endorsed him. West Vancouver council watchers and sisters Scenery and Melinda Slater put up $1,115.69 on flyers and print ads supporting Lambur for council.
First runner-up Andy Krawcyzk spent $14,254.67 in his campaign and finished with 939 votes, with $11,444 of the budget coming from Krawcyzk’s own pocket. The rest came from individual donations ranging from $100 to $500.
David Ayriss spent $3,802.95, placing third overall with 662 votes.
Of the remaining candidates, most spent less than $2,000, mostly without individual or corporate donations.
Only one developer contributed to a campaign. Donato DeCotiis donated $1,000 to David Jones’s run.
The average cost of a campaign was $3,592, although half of the candidates spent less than $2,000.
Perennial candidate Jon Johnson spent nothing for this run for council and netted nine votes.
The campaign finance disclosure documents are available on Elections BC’s website.
West Vancouver held the byelection on Nov. 19 to fill the seat for former Coun. Michael Lewis who died of cancer in August. A total of 5,172 residents voted, a turnout of about 17.5 per cent.
Editor's note: The Feb. 24 story West Van Byelection Budgets Made Public incorrectly stated candidate Tom Dodd spent $11,630 on his 2016 campaign. He in fact spent $7,704.39. The larger figure was the amount he raised, all but $100 of which came from the candidate himself. The remainder was reimbursed back to Dodd. The spelling of Dodd’s name also contained a typo.
