No regrets for biggest spending Invercargill mayoral candidate

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Rebecca Amundsen during campaigning for this year's local body elections when she stood for the Invercargill mayoralty.

Rebecca Amundsen pumped close to $16,000 into an unsuccessful mayoral bid this year, but she says she has no regrets at all.

The election expenses have been released which outlines how much each of the Invercargill City Council's candidates spent on their campaigns for the October local body elections.

Of the four Invercargill mayoral candidates Amundsen spent the most at $15,899,73. Close to half of that was spent on producing flyers, signs, and cards to distribute during the campaign.

Amundsen attracted 3302 votes, behind Sir Tim Shadbolt (9672 votes), and Darren Ludlow (6425 votes), but ahead of Steve Chernishov (623 votes).

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'No regrets. I knew heading into it I was the underdog and I had to work hard and that included doing a lot of things that cost money,' she said.

'Darren and Tim both have a high profile in the community because of the things they have done in the past. My profile was not as high as that so I did have to work extra hard to try and boost that, and also to get my message out about what I was standing for and why.'

Candidates have to declare any donations over $1500 which they received for their campaigns. Amundsen did not declare having any donations over $1500.

While Amundsen fell short of being elected mayor she was re-elected as a councillor.

When asked if she planned to have another shot at the mayoralty in 2022, she said, 'absolutely'.

At $8024 Chernishov was the next highest spender in regard to the Invercargill mayoral candidates.

Close to half of his spending was on promotional flyers.

Chernishov effectively spent close to $13 for each vote he received.

His campaign was backed by Inspired NZ Development Ltd which contributed $6460 in total.

The New Zealand Companies Office register states the sole director and shareholder of Inspired NZ Development Ltd is Roger Hodgkinson of Te Anau.

Of the mayoral candidates, Ludlow spent the least on his campaign at $3996, while Shadbolt spent $5732 with $4755 of that on billboards.

While Ludlow missed out on the mayoralty he was re-elected as a councillor.

Of the candidates who stood for council alone, Peter Kett invested the most into his campaign.

Kett spent $6025, which was on newspaper advertising.

Allan Arnold was the next highest at just over $5000.