Foreign influence in our local elections is troubling

By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun - MAY 12, 2010

Money doesn't talk. But give it to politicians and it can buy access, influence and even a favourable vote or two.

 That's why citizens need to know who is giving, who is receiving and what amounts are changing hands. Transparency is largely lacking in the B.C. municipal election since no disclosure is required until four months after voting day. There are also no restrictions on either donations or expenditures. And, rather than requiring that donors live or work in the community, there's not even a requirement that they be Canadian.

 While it seems improved transparency and enforcement are finally on the agenda, it's astonishing that parochial politicians (and I mean that in a good way) and concerned citizens are not demanding a ban on foreign donations at the level of government that is supposed to be the closest to the people.

There is nothing xenophobic in telling rich people, organizations and corporations with no ties to a community to take a hike at election time. In fact, not doing so seems naïve. Do we really believe that the rich are only donating to campaigns to support the democratic process?

 At the federal level, there are spending and contribution limits as well as a prohibition on foreign donors. Yet B.C. lags at both the provincial and municipal levels. Perhaps the perception is that the benefits are such chicken scratch at the local level that it's not worth the effort of regulating.

 But the reality is that buying a city council is extremely cost-effective whether it's a corporation wanting to build a polluting plants, a greedy developer with plans for a highrise tower in a single-family neighbourhood, a religious organization bent on overturning values held by the majority, a union determined to preserve jobs during the economic downturn or an individual bent on altering the status quo.

 Voter turnout hovers at 30 per cent. So, the difference between winning and losing means it only takes swaying a few hundred people in a city like Vancouver or a few dozen people in smaller centres. Not only doesn't it take much money to buy a campaign, a candidate or a council majority, no one will know until it's too late.

 Mark Ziebarth is a good example. An American who did work with the Heritage Foundation (a right-wing group that has produced such controversial figures as Ann Coulter), he now lives in Summerland. During the 2008 campaign, Ziebarth wrote and paid for four ads in The Summerland Review and one in The Penticton Herald supporting pro-development candidates for mayor and council.

 "In order to have some fun at the expense of the antediluvian Smart Growth crowd, I named myself Citizens for Smart Governance and published my ads under that banner," Ziebarth bragged in a letter to the Review last December.

 He also broke the law by never registering as a campaign organization or filing a financial disclosure statement. Ziebarth wasn't charged because complaints about his action weren't filed with police within a six-month period following the election.

 Maybe no harm was done. But would anyone be comfortable had the secret financier had been from Saudi Arabia with links to militant Islam, a cult leader searching for a convivial community? What if it were a Chinese military leader or a state-owned company trying to influence the vote in resource-rich Interior and northern communities?

 It's hard to say whether it would have made a difference to voters had they known that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson had a handful of high-profile, foreign contributors including Oprah's pal, Dr. Andrew Weil.

 But since then, Robertson and all of Vancouver's councillors (including Raymond Louie who received $8,000 from a Taiwanese businessman for his failed mayoral bid) have recommended to the province's municipal electoral taskforce that foreign donations be banned.

 It appears that they too have belatedly realized that the perception — if not the reality — of foreign-influence in elections is troubling, to say the least.

dbramham@vancouversun.com