Territorial election campaign spending
| How much they spent |
| Range Lake: Sandy Lee $27,098; Dave Ramsay 8,148; Roger Russell 4,537; Everett Kasteel 4,140; Alex Debogorski 1,288 |
| Frame Lake: Charles Dent $14,959; David Wind 13,230; Bill Schram 4,447 |
| Kam Lake: Tony Whitford $13,328; Steve Petersen 4,969; Beaton Mackenzie 3,249 |
| Great Slave: Bill Braden $21,195; Marie Coe 15,668; Roy Desjarlais 9,835; Suzette Montreuil 8,561; Bill Enge 4,882 |
| Weledeh: Joe Handley $26,818; Mark Heyck 4,671; Blake Rasmussen |
| Yellowknife South: Brendan Bell $15,093; Pat McMahon 10,682; Mary Beth Levan 5,530 |
| Yellowknife Centre: Jake Ootes $20,505; Bernie Hughes 11,172 2,736 |
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 23/00) - Territorial election campaign reports released Wednesday provide a blinding glimpse of the totally obvious -- the more you spend the better your chances of being elected.
Without exception, the Yellowknife candidates who spent the most got elected.
Range Lake North MLA Sandy Lee was the top spender, coming in just $2,900 shy of the $30,000 legal limit on election spending. Weledeh MLA Joe Handley was a close second, investing $26,818 in his election campaign.
Candidates are also required to report the sources of all campaign contributions of more than $100. The maximum contribution by a company or individual is $1,500.
Most of the Yellowknife candidates who got elected did so with the help of healthy contributions from prominent Yellowknife businesses and business people.
Nova Construction made maximum contributions to the campaigns of Bill Braden, Handley, Lee and Charles Dent. Those four also picked up another $1,000 each from RTL Robinson.
Buffalo Airways fuelled Dent's campaign with a $1,000 contribution and gave $1,200 toward the election of Tony Whitford. Whitford also got another $1,500 from Buffalo Air Express. Buffalo Airways founder Joe McBryan also contributed $1,500 to Handley's campaign.
The Adam Dental Clinic added $1,000 to the war chests of Whitford and Ootes and donated $500 to Handley's campaign.
Bell got elected with the least help from corporate contributors. Only three of his contributions came from businesses, though the list of his and other Yellowknife MLAs includes a number of business people donating as individuals.
Full campaign reports on all the candidates in the Dec. 6, 1999 election are available at the legislative assembly library.
