Calgary mayoral candidate Jeff Davison is in hot water again over his involvement with third-party advertisers (TPA), with two complaints sent to Elections Alberta alleging that he is colluding with Calgary Tomorrow.
As per Elections Alberta’s new rules, TPAs can now purchase advertising materials and promote their own candidates of choice. However, the complainants claim that Calgary Tomorrow gave the advertising material to Davison’s campaign directly.
A spokesperson for the campaign has denied all allegations, saying they have followed the new rules “to the letter.”
“We take these actions obviously seriously and have taken steps to ensure it won’t happen again,” Davison told reporters last week.
“To simply roll over and have some bulls–t claim made about my integrity and my ethics is unacceptable.”
Several of Davison’s opponents in the race also voiced their concerns regarding his possible cooperation with the TPA, with many arguing that working with TPAs allows Davison to work around rules that prevent corporate donations from gaining an unfair advantage.
Since the 2017 election, corporate and union donations directly to candidates are illegal — likely the city’s attempt to crack down on lobbyists — and individual contributions are capped at $5,000.
It sounds great, but several unions have found a way around these new regulations.
To fill the void of large corporate donations, many TPAs have stepped up and initially had no cap on how much money could be received from donors — though this was later amended to a $30,000 cap.
Kelley Charlebois, Davison’s campaign manager, argued that the new rules are too stringent and have crippled their campaign’s ability to raise money and compete. Nonetheless, she maintains that they are following all the rules.
“From our perspective, we’re going to take help from everyone who supports us, and we’re going to run as good a campaign as we can,” Charlebois said.
“This is a [very] different election than it was four years ago. The rules are radically different, and we read the rules. And I would expect that it’s probably best if all the other campaigns read the rules as well.”
However, Professor Lisa Young, who studies campaign financing, suggests there is “close cooperation” between the Davison campaign and Calgary Tomorrow, with the latter essentially raising money for the former and then campaigning for them.
Jeff Davison with the prime full-page ad in the September Queensland-Diamond Cove Crier. (Authorized, it notes, by Calgary Tomorrow) #yyc #yyccc pic.twitter.com/mO4WDDEdUb
— Jason Herring (@jasonfherring) September 9, 2021
Young also agrees that it does not appear that any rules have been broken but says that the other candidates are right to be suspicious.
“(I)t creates an advantage for a campaign that can raise money from sources other than individuals via a TPA and then spend on things the campaign would normally spend on,” Young wrote. “If it was the intent of the law to allow this, all candidates should be able to do the same, in the interest of fairness.”
