McBride tops chart for money spent on election campaign

An election hoarding for Chris McBride, who was the top spender in this year’s local body elections in Dunedin. Photo: Peter McIntosh

Splashing the most cash did not get him elected, but a failed Dunedin City Council candidate says his $28,000 campaign was "money well spent".

The Dunedin City Council has released the list of donation and expenses from this year’s local government elections.

It shows Chris McBride — who was elected to the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board, but missed out on a council seat — spent $28,277.90 with the largest sum over $22,000 paid to TD Creative, a Dunedin-based digital and print agency.

This was more than even the successful mayoral candidate Jules Radich who came in as the second-highest spender with $25,382.22, about $4000 less than his 2019 campaign.

Mr McBride gained 1368.25 votes, coming 18th in the race to be a councillor.

Mr McBride said he was "not bothered at all" to find he had spent the largest sum of money and been unsuccessful.

"I knew the numbers were stacked against me from the beginning, but I set my standards really high,

"Definitely money well spent. I’ve got no regrets."

Cr Carmen Houlahan was third-highest for spending, with $17,359.34, followed closely by tied-fourth Green Dunedin candidates.

Former mayor Aaron Hawkins missed out on the top job, and fellow Green candidate Marie Laufiso was re-elected to council.

The Green Dunedin candidates, including Otago Regional councillor Alan Somerville, split a cost of $51,822.38 three ways for a total $17,274.13 each.

At the other end of the scale, Cr Jim O’Malley did not spend a cent on his election campaign.

The lack of spending for the third-term councillor has been a running theme over past elections, and again Cr O’Malley spent $0 and was re-elected.

During the 2016 elections Cr O’Malley said he wanted to demonstrate it was possible to win an election without spending money, something he had successfully done over a nine-year period.

"I feel that sometimes in elections the people with bigger wallets are getting in because they are using methods to allow for name recognition, not necessarily understanding whether the person’s policies are good."

The two other low spenders during the campaign season Cr David Benson-Pope and Cr Steve Walker spent $391 and $3551.92 respectively.

The average spending by candidates was just over $6000.