Mayor spent $44,000 on re-election campaign

Kevin Davis spent just over $44,000 on his re-election campaign for mayor of Brantford.

Davis was narrowly re-elected to a second term, with a 208-vote difference between him and his closest challenger, Dave Wrobel, in a municipal election last October that had a vote turnout of just 27 per cent.

Wrobel, who served three terms as councilor for the city’s Ward 4 and has run three times for mayor, has asked for a recount of the votes.

Maria Visocchi, the city’s director of communications, said Wrobel filed an application with the city for a recount and a “resolution has been achieved by both parties that now requires confirmation from the court.”

Financial statements for each candidate’s campaign costs and contributions are posted on the City of Brantford’s website. Davis said any legal expenses and any additional funds raised to cover a potential re-count will be disclosed in a supplementary audit that has to be filed before the end of June.

Davis won the election race with 9,220 votes. Wrobel, who didn’t meet the March 31 deadline to file his campaign expenses, got 9,012 votes.

There were two other mayoral candidates – Ryan Smith, who received 1,491 votes; and John Turmel, who finished with 343 votes. Smith also failed to meet the deadline to file his expenses. Turmel listed both his campaign expenditures and contributions as zero.

Davis was first elected mayor of Brantford in the 2018 municipal election, defeating long-time incumbent mayor Chris Friel by more than 5,600 votes. Friel blamed the loss on being out-spent by Davis. Records show Friel spent $15,800 on his campaign and Davis spent almost $53,000.

“Overall, the campaign expenses were less than they were in 2018 as I didn’t need to do as much advertising and promotion to establish name recognition,” said Davis, who resigned from his job as a lawyer after his first election win. “Fair to say that in 2022 I was much better known in the community than in 2018.

“I also didn’t need to raise as much money as I reused some assets from the prior campaign, such as intellectual software and signs.”

Davis’s financial statement shows he had a total campaign income of $44,081. He spent $8,500 for advertising; $6,500 for billboards; $5,400 for signs; $3,300 for meetings hosted; $1,800 for T-shirts and caps; and $1,600 for brochures.

Records show Davis used $8,500 worth of goods and materials from his previous campaign, including signs, and designs for his website and business cards.

Davis had monetary campaign contributions from a long list of supporters amounting to just over $35,000. He personally contributed about $2,600 in money and goods and services to his campaign.

“I am grateful to all of my donors, as well as the many volunteers who gave their time and effort to the re-election campaign,” said Davis. “I am particularly pleased to have had support from people of all walks of life, all parts of the community and all political backgrounds. I ran a positive campaign focused on the future of Brantford and all its residents and I believe people responded to that.”

Penalties for candidates who didn’t file their election expenses by March 31 include forfeiting their office (if elected) or being ineligible to be elected or appointed in the next election. However, there is a 30-day grace period during which candidates can pay a late filing fee of $500.

Ward 1 candidate campaign expenses: Rose Sicoli ($15,123), Michael Sullivan ($4,928), Mike Tutt ($3,550), John VanDyk ($1,780). Sicoli and Sullivan were elected.

Ward 2 candidate campaign expenses: Gino Caputo ($6,840), Erica James ($3,377), Mark Littell ($9,945), John Sless ($9,140), Matthew Vandering ($888). Peter Sheere did not submit his financial statements by the March 29 deadline. Caputo and Sless were elected.

Ward 3 candidate campaign expenses: Kim Harrison ($3,804), Greg Martin ($1,900), Frances McCallum ($2,013), Dan McCreary ($14,109), Kailee Poisson ($823), Mark St. Angelo ($2,922). Martin and McCreary were elected.

Ward 4 candidate campaign expenses: Richard Carpenter ($8,657), Rob Ferguson (zero), Kris Gutierrez ($8,069); Linda Hunt ($6,133), Janet Paul ($743), Ray Petro ($15,765). Dale Beemer, Mike Gomon and Richard Wright did not submit financial statements by the March 29 deadline. Carpenter and Hunt were elected.

Ward 5 candidate campaign expenses: John Beaumont ($1,082), Sandra Biggar ($1,202), Mike Clancy ($149), Paul MacDougall ($3,214), Mandy Samwell ($5,701), Brian VanTilborg ($3,770). Heather MacDonald did not submit financial statements by the March 29 deadline. Candidate Eric Mundy died during the campaign. Samwell and VanTilborg were elected.