Bigger parties top campaign costs

The big parties were the big spenders in their bid to snare parliamentary seats in the Wanganui region in last year's general election.

Whanganui MP Chester Borrows spent the most on campaigning with the bulk of $15,313 going to newspaper advertising. The rest covered the costs for hoardings and flyers.

Mr Borrows and Labour candidate Hamish McDouall were streets ahead in terms of big budget campaigning with Mr McDouall shelling out $11,787. That sum was largely split between newspaper advertising ($5400) and flyers and hoardings ($4668).

Mr Borrows' newspaper advertising cost $10,337 with the remaining $4906 going on other advertising such as flyers and hoardings.

Unlike Mr McDouall, his electioneering was bolstered by $19,000 in donations that he declared in his returns to the commission.

Mr Borrows' benefactors included Smith Bros Trading (Hawera), Talleys Group (Motueka) and Neil Walker (Hawera) who each donated $5000, along with Taumaha Trust (Hawera) and Moller Johnson Motors (Hawera) who each gave $2000.

He said he received a lot of donations from supporters in Wanganui this time but they were amounts below the $1500 minimum that must be declared.

While Mr Borrows would not disclose that total he said it was "significant".

"Obviously it indicates the Government is popular and people want to ensure that it stays in power," he said. "The same thing happened when Labour was in government in 2002."

Mr Borrows said his spending was about $2000 up on his campaign budget in 2008.

Mr McDouall didn't have the benefit of any donors. While he and Mr Borrows were the big spenders, the smaller parties ran extremely frugal campaigns.

John Milnes (Green Party) spent $231 in his campaign and $201 of that was in newspaper advertising.

Democrats for Social Credit candidate Heather Marion Smith's election campaign cost her a total of $150 and that was one newspaper advertisement.

But neither Ian Brougham (NZ First) nor Alan Davidson (ACT) spent a cent in their campaigns.

In neighbouring Rangitikei electorate, National candidate Ian McKelvie spent $12,306 on the campaign trail with $6779 of that in newspaper advertising and the remainder on items like hoardings and business cards. He received no donations.

Labour candidate Josie Pagani racked up $9861 in expenses. A third of that was for direct mail-outs, $2036 for newsletters and $1982 for hoardings.

Ms Pagani also received a $2000 cash donation from Robert Smellie of Auckland for her campaign.

Tariana Turia (Maori Party) and Soraya Peke-Mason (Labour) were the major spenders in the Te Tai Hauauru electorate.

Mrs Turia received $9740 in donations from raffles organised by Morgan Waitoa of Otaki which were sold between July and November last year. Her election expenses totalled $6003, with $4151 of that going on billboards.

Mrs Peke-Mason's return was received late last month and is still being processed by the commission so there is no detail on what, if any, donations she received for the campaign. However, her expenses totalled $4957.

In the three months before an election candidates can spend up to $25,000. However, there are no limits on spending on election material before that.