If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.
After a few past attempts to reign in civic campaign financing, aldermen approved a donation limit for future municipal election campaigns at yesterday’s city council meeting.
A notice of motion brought forward by Mayor Dave Bronconnier results in a cap on candidate donations at a maximum of $5,000 – for either aldermanic or mayoral candidates – beginning with the 2010 municipal election. This also includes donations in-kind.
“I do think the public’s interested in transparency. This is far from perfect in accountability, but at least it addresses some of the issue head on,” said Ward 12 Ald. Ric McIver.
Ward 11 Ald. Brian Pincott agreed this was a good starting point.
“It actually shows to Calgarians that we actually are serious about doing something around campaign finance reform,” he said, adding that he didn’t want to ignore Calgarians’ concerns after the last election.
Aldermen also agreed on a voluntary declaration for proceeds exceeding campaign spending to be donated to charity if the candidate didn’t run for council again.
