Effects and Methods of Municipal Campaign Financing

Effects and Methods of Municipal Campaign Financing, 2004
Mayor Bronconnier (Calgary) and Alderman Hawkesworth (Ward 4)

Through donations from individuals, corporations, and institutions, politicians fund their campaigns. Generally, the larger amount of money a candidate has to spend on his or her campaign, the better the chance that the candidate will end up elected in municipal office. Regime theory states that there is co-operation between different institutions that affects decisions and results. Politicians receiving donations from corporations and individuals often return the favor to their beneficiaries through municipal funding, contract preference, and policy changes.

Corporations help shape the policy of our elected politicians, referring to both Appendix A and B, one can clearly see that the construction and real-estate industries, along with related companies is a strong force, providing much of a candidates funding. If elected individuals did not in turn provide benefits to their campaign benefactors, either on purpose or through their personal campaign platform, they would likely not receive as much money from corporations in their next political venture, and thus increase their chances of loss against competing individuals. This creates a sort of ‘vicious-circle’ where politicians rely on donations to help secure votes, an the private sector companies rely on politicians for advantages in the business world.

As previously noted, Construction companies are a major influence in the campaign funding of both Mayor Bronconnier, and Alderman Hawkesworth. Mr. Bronconnier received approximately eighty thousand dollars alone from several companies working in the construction industry. Mr. Hawkesworth received a much smaller amount, three thousand, three hundred dollars in total, but in terms of percentage of total contributions, both men were at approximately the same level. These contributions may be intended to sway the opinion of the...