City posts names of corporate donors

More than a year after the 2005 civic election, Vancouver city staff have finally posted candidates’ corporate contributors on the city web site .

Last September, the Straight reported that city staff had blacked out the names of corporate contributors to the campaign of Mayor Sam Sullivan and 10 members of council. This occurred despite a policy approved by the previous COPE-controlled council instructing staff to reveal the names of corporate contributors on the city’s Web site.

Paul Hancock, the city’s director of information, administrative and election services, told the Straight that he decided earlier this year to black out all names, including corporations, because some candidates mislabelled the category of donors. “We did not want to inadvertently release some personal information,” Hancock said.

Vancouver resident Robert Renger complained to the mayor and council, prompting Hancock to go over every candidate’s campaign-contribution document a second time and then repost it on the site with the names of corporate donors. “It took a significant number of hours to do that,” Hancock said.

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