After the election was won and done with, we began to learn how much debt the candidates had racked up in their doomed-except-for-Rob Ford race for the mayor’s office. Then came the announcement of a “unity dinner” that was billed as a way for Toronto’s monied crowd (mostly those who know Mike Harris, who is involved in organizing the soirée) to help the candidates retire some of their debt. Just two problems: that unity dinner is having a hard time putting butts in seats, and there’s even more debt than was expected just a few months ago. For Ford alone, the debt is $800,000—that’s $150,000 more than his team guesstimated after election day.
According to the Globe and Mail:
The mayor has raised approximately $400,000, and he’s expected to rake in more at a joint fundraiser with three of his former rivals next Thursday.
But the Harmony Dinner isn’t a sellout: With less than a week to go until the event, organizers have extended the deadline for ticket sales and distributed a cheery group photo of the guests of honour to drum up further interest.
Approximations of the other candidates’ debts break down like this:
If we’ve done our sums right, it means that the amount of debt the Ford campaign discovered between early November and today is about the same as all of the debt left over for the other candidates.
Since Pantalone won’t be participating in the unity dinner because he holds a grudge against Mike Harris, the Ford campaign will need about three times as much financial help from this dinner as the others combined.
There’s probably an analogy waiting to be made about the city’s recent budget chaos and the Ford campaign’s need to be bailed out by wealthy benefactors, but we’d hate to spoil the mood of the party in advance.
• Ford’s campaign debt $150,000 over estimate [Globe and Mail]
• Duelling fundraisers: How the former mayoral rivals are paying their debts [National Post]
(Images: Pantalone, toronto.ca; Rossi, Rocco Rossi; Smitherman, OldTownGuy; Thomson, Joey Schwartz; Ford, Shaun Merritt.)
I ran as a candidate in the last federal election(2008) and came out of the election with money in the bank. Granted I wasn’t running for president of the universe, er… Mayor of Toronto, I suspect it is possible to run any political campaign without going into hoc.
First thing we need is to setup some rules in this country that make sense. Harper wants to get rid of the subsidies for political parties, good idea, second move? Make it impossible for a political entity, be it a candidate, a campaign, or a party to borrow money to finance anything.
If these folks had to work, scrimp, save and beg for money they would probably learn how to make money, and be frugal about it before they get to office.
January 22, 2011 at 1:59 pm | by Paul ArbourIt is my understanding that it’s called the harmony dinner, and according to the globe and mail it’s already sold out…
January 22, 2011 at 2:40 pm | by PeteIs it me or is it bizarre, that anyone would bail out Ford ? Come on!!! The guys a multimillionaire, penny pincher and you are telling me he could not mamager the funds that he got together to run and now he is almost $1mil in the hole ? get real TO!! This guy is a real joke to Torontonians.
First he plays on us, STOP THE GRAVY TRAIN and then he is creating more problems by simple trying to be silly and holding down property taxes claiming that is what we voted him in for ? No I did not, I want my taxes increases so you stop penny pinching at all other services. You Boozoo!!~
January 22, 2011 at 3:19 pm | by PeeThe dinner is not sold out. As a matter of fact some of the candidates are already handing out tickets to “seat fillers” so that the event won’t appear as a ghost town.
All this so some rich folks can pay off their vanity campaign debt
January 24, 2011 at 2:25 pm | by Bro Steeles