Dear Editor,
The recent article in the Richmond News highlighting the extent of campaign contributions to various parties during the 2014 municipal election by developers and business directly linked to the real estate industry is interesting, but not surprising.
According to disclosure statements posted on Elections B.C., the value of campaign contributions from all sources for Mayor Malcolm Brodie was $265,227 (what makes this staggering sum even more obscene is that Brodie is currently carrying a surplus of $190,417 from the last election), for the Richmond Community Coalition it was $192,613 and for Richmond First it was $215,529 for a total of $673,369 (more than $3 for Richmond resident).
Based on the data, the total contributions by developers and their partners was $343,229, more than 50 per cent of all donations.
Due to the opaque nature in which donators are identified, even this percentage is probably low.
Assuming that, in the three years prior to the implementation of reforms to election donations, the Brodie fundraising machine was as efficient as it was prior to the last elections, he probably has a nest egg of more than $450,000.
This amount is probably more than all the other mayoralty candidates combined.
Of course the recipients of all this largesse will claim that the money does not influence the way they vote and the developers will say they are not buying influence but are only supporting good governance. (This is one of the three pillars developers use to defend the status quo, the second is ‘property prices are not influenced by foreign money’, the third is their default position used to attack anyone who does not agree with the nature or pace of development claiming they are xenophobic racists).
It would be naïve to the extreme to believe either the politicians or the developers when they claim that the level of donations by the developers and their partners does not influence decision making in Richmond.
I’m more inclined to believe in the (non-biblical) Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. The developers have plenty of gold and have no issue with spreading it around (and politicians have no problem taking it) if it helps them get what they want.
Al Williams
RICHMOND
