$75,000 spent by council hopefuls | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

SEEKING to have a say in how Wairarapa is governed cost a handful of people the thick end of $75,000 this year.

The candidates elected, and rejected, as members of the three district councils ? Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa ? have had to file campaign returns showing how much they spent in their bids to become either mayors or councillors.

Although four candidates in Masterton and three in Carterton failed to file campaign returns by the close-off date, the remainder were shown to have collectively spent $73,395.

The biggest spender was Masterton's Libby Gosse, who put $11,890 on the table in her unsuccessful bid to wrest the mayoralty from Bob Francis.

Mrs Gosse was able to write off $1321.11 in electoral donations but the remaining $10,568.89 kept her at the top of the spending tree.

As with most candidates Mrs Gosse spent most of her campaign money on advertising and distribution but she also outlaid $4800 to employ a campaign manager.

Next biggest spender was Mr Francis, who spent $9919.76, some of which went to paying for an APN award-winning series of advertisements published in the Wairarapa Times-Age.

The other two unsuccessful mayoral candidates in Masterton, Rod McKenzie and Luther Toloa, spent $4194 and $4711 respectively.

Local government laws covering elections set spending limits tied to population.

In Masterton, mayoral candidates were restricted to spending less than $20,000, urban ward candidates $14,000 and rural ward candidates $7000.

Carterton and South Wairarapa mayoral candidates were limited to $7000 and council candidates to $3000.

In Carterton, Gary McPhee, who unseated incumbent mayor Martin Tankersley, racked up expenses totalling $1450 on flyers and signs but Mr Tankersley spent a modest $455.

This was outlaid on newspaper advertising, pamphlet distribution and $86 was paid to Carterton School for photocopying services. The other mayoral challenger, Michael Blundell, who also stood for council, spent a total of $1128.

Adrienne Staples, who won the South Wairarapa mayoralty, just managed to get under the $7000 threshold. She spent $6646.

Her three opponents ? Garrick Emms, Kevin Lyford and Mike Gray ? spent $6252, $4080 and $1175 respectively.

Spending by individual council candidates was:

Masterton District Council: Bruce Bishop $1983, Judith Callaghan $3466, Garry Daniell $1671, Derek Daniell $1012, Brent Goodwin $1360, Jenny Harris $157, Kevyn Harris $2201, Jonathan Hooker $718, Peter Hunt $6, Marie McAnulty $710, Mark McGrath $584, Elizabeth McGruddy nil, Owen Perry $2580, Chris Peterson $1671, Jane Terpstra $876.

Candidates Troy Calder, Mike Daniell and David Holmes, all of whom failed to win election, had not submitted a return by Tuesday which was officially the last day for doing so.

One candidate, John Currie, died in the interim period.

Carterton District Council: Elaine Brazendale $658, Ruth Carter nil, Chris Engel $802, Jill Greathead $466, Adele Graham $608, David Lowes $206.

South Wairarapa District Council: Mike Beckett $481, David Bull $38.26, Bev Clark nil, Dean Davies $165, Steve Davis $40, Peter March $409, Viv Napier nil, Bob Petelin $627, Dianne Phelps nil, Gaye Rowberry $128, Keith Sexton $368, Susie Shaw $699, John Tenquist $80, David Winter nil.