Saskatoon city council rejected comparing campaign spending caps to other cities, even though a decade has passed since any meaningful review.

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A decade ago, a couple of former Saskatoon city councillors invoked the ominous Big Brother from George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 to argue against rules for campaign spending surpluses.

And here I thought Orwell was exposing the threat from totalitarian government to individual liberties and freedoms, not aiming to help politicians protect their treasure chests. I’ll have to reread that one.

Despite the silly argument, council voted 6-4 against a recommendation from a third-party commission that the city hold surplus funds in trust until the next election.

That vote happened six years after former mayor Don Atchison posted a higher surplus from campaign donations, $37,674.15, than he spent on his campaign, $34,316.84.

At the same 2015 meeting, council voted 5-4 to cap individual donations (but failed to suggest a dollar figure); 6-3 against banning union and corporate donations (Winnipeg banned them); unanimously to lower the disclosure level for donations from $250 to $100; and 8-1 to keep permitting donations from outside Saskatchewan.

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As former councillor Eric Olauson explained: “I have a rich uncle out in Alberta who actually likes me.”

In last November’s election, mayoral candidate Gord Wyant finished with a campaign surplus of $17,488.20 despite the highest spending ever on such a bid, $274,464.80. According to his disclosure form, the money is earmarked for “personal use,” presumably to refund some of the $40,000 Wyant donated to his campaign.

Mayor Cynthia Block also refunded some of her $3,105.91 surplus after she provided $16,025 in funding to her campaign, along with a $100 donation to the YWCA.

Coun. Randy Donauer, who led all councillor candidates by raising $27,549.76, plans to use his $5,558.17 surplus for “future election and resident engagement.”

Coun. Bev Dubois raised more than $20,000, but did not even run a campaign since she was acclaimed. She plans to divide her $8,793.37 surplus........

© Saskatoon StarPhoenix