What would you do with an extra $125K in your life right now?
For the BC Liberal leader, that seems to be no more than pocket change. And it has fallen between the couch cushions.
Last week, the NDP pointed out a mystery in filings related to Kevin Falcon’s 2022 Liberal leadership race.
First, you may be thinking: BC Liberals? Didn’t they change their name to sound more like a soccer team? The BC Liberals are poised to soon rebrand as BC United. A flower by any other name, right?
But back to the money. Let’s follow it.
Some will remember that Falcon overspent the cap on expenses in the Liberals’ leadership race last year.
That is, overspent by $478,220.
The cap on expenses for the leadership race was $600,000. Falcon reported spending $1,078,220 to gain the party’s leadership.
But as the NDP pointed out, in an amended campaign filing something isn’t right.
Once buried in a generic line, “Other Contestant Expenses,” $125,783 has since disappeared.
Poof! Gone! But where did it go?
It’s also worth noting the campaign still hasn’t paid off $100,000 in loans from RBC as of this filing.
Wildly overspend? If you are running a leadership race for a political party, it looks like you can just make that inconvenient number go away.
“People expect their elected officials to operate within the rules and to be transparent,” said NDP MLA Dan Coulter in a media release.
“Kevin Falcon needs to explain how he overspent his own party’s contribution limits and how $125,000 worth of expenses have gone missing from his public disclosures. This is very concerning and British Columbians deserve an answer from Kevin Falcon.”
But we still haven’t heard yet where Falcon’s mystery $125K went.
Here’s a little context for comparison.
The expense cap in the NDP’s leadership race last year was $350,000. David Eby spent $338,173 and change.
In 2020, the Greens had a cap of $300,000 for their leadership race. Sonia Furstenau spent $61,943.92.
What makes this even more laughable is looking back to Falcon’s remarks when Eby made a $1 billion spending announcement during his first week as premier.
“You cannot just equate more spending with better outcomes,” Falcon said at the time. (Seriously!)
He called Eby’s rebate programs a “tiny gift back” to taxpayers.
But we aren’t talking tiny amounts here.
How many years would you have to work to earn the amount of money that Falcon just seemingly wiped from his expenses?
Is your family budget that “flexible?”
Didn’t think so. Falcon needs to account for his lax accounting. What were these “other expenses” and what happened to them on the report line?
And if this is any indication of Falcon’s idea of “tiny” — then you’re right to be concerned.
How out of touch are some politicians?
And can we trust someone with such magical accounting skills to manage our provincial budget?
Would you trust him with your personal budget? Many would say No Falcon Way!
Let’s demand better from the man who fancies himself the premier-in-waiting.
