Thunder Bay municipal election candidate expenses now online

Unsuccesful 2014 mayoral candidate Ken Boshcoff spent more than double what Thunder Bay mayor Keith Hobbs did in his attempt  to unseat Hobbs last fall.

That's according to candidate financial statements now available on-line. 

Boshcoff spent $43,263.00 during last fall's municipal election campaign. 

Hobbs spent $21,472.99.

Neither candidate came close to the spending limit, which is slightly more than $80,000.  

The biggest-spending council candidate was unsuccessful at-large candidate Barry Streib whose expenses totaled more than $29,000.

"For us, that's an outlier," city clerk John Hannam told CBC.  "I think we had a couple of our at large candidates back in 2003 that spent 13 or 14 and that was kind of the tops at that point."

Couns. Andrew Foulds, Aldo Ruberto and Frank Pullia spent the most of any successful council candidates with expenses totalling more than $8,000 each. 

The most unusual campaign expense was documented by unsuccessful Current River candidate Claudio Monteleone. He paid to replace the windshield of a vehicle that was for sale at a car dealership after it appeared vandals used one of his election signs to smash it.

"You know to be courteous because he did give me the permission to put the sign up in his business I basically covered the cost of that window," Monteleone told CBC.

The full expense reports can be found on the T-Bay votes web site. 

City Councilor's campaign expenses during the 2014 municipal election

(Total expenses subject to the campaign spending limit.  Does not include expenses such as accounting, auditing, and office expenses incurred after voting day)