From five-figure campaigns and professional support packages to rosettes, hotel drinks and £100 worth of baking supplies for cakes that were never actually handed out, Jersey’s election expense returns reveal exactly where candidates put their money in the race for the States.
Returns published today by Vote.je show a huge gulf between candidates’ spending – from more than £13,000 at the top end to nothing at all.
Hey big spenders…
Senator candidate Alan Maclean declared the highest direct election expenses of anyone on the list, at £13,750.90.
He was closely followed by fellow Senator candidate Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, on £13,310.60, while Sam Mézec spent £11,609.68 on his failed Senatorial bid.
Helen Miles and Mark Boleat completed the top five Senator spenders.
The full Senatorial ranking was:
- Alan Maclean – £13,750.90
- Lyndon Farnham – £13,310.60
- Sam Mezec – £11,609.68
- Helen Miles – £10,598.08
- Mark Boleat – £10,500
- Elaine Millar – £9,644.65
- Ian Gorst – £9,297.32
- Bernard Place – £6,737.90
- Serena Kersten – £6,391
- Steve Luce – £5,371.22
- Mary Le Hegarat – £5,319.20
- Martin Aliga – £1,698.23
- Karl Busch – £1,338.75
- Alan Breckon – £1,103.31
- Alan Le Pavoux – £476.70
- Guy de Faye – £10.98
- Tom Binet – £0
Constable campaigns
Inna Gardiner topped spending among those standing for Connétable, declaring £4,184.55.
She was followed by David Curtis at £3,532 and David Warr at £3,076.65.
The top ten were:
- Inna Gardiner – £4,184.55
- David Curtis – £3,532
- David Warr – £3,076.65
- John Le Fondré – £2,254.19
- Michael Jackson – £1,995.64
- Stephen Pallett – £1,948.81
- David Johnson – £1,942
- Richard Vibert – £1,860.59
- Rob Ward – £1,757.56
- Kevin Lewis – £1,670
At the other end of the scale, Mark Labey declared just £20.41, while Richard Honeycombe and Andy Jehan spent £135.45 and £135.25 respectively.
Biggest Deputy spends
Gerald Voisin had the highest direct expenses among Deputy candidates, at £3,632.58.
Robert Parker was narrowly behind on £3,362.46, followed by Chris Leck on £3,303 and Ian Barnes on £3,005.53.
The Deputy top ten were:
- Gerald Voisin – £3,632.58
- Robert Parker – £3,362.46
- Chris Leck – £3,303
- Ian Barnes – £3,005.53
- Christopher Rebindaine – £2,906.06
- Karen Wilson – £2,775
- Samantha Gleave – £2,737.38
- Phil Romeril – £2,582.40
- Kirsten Morel – £2,579.55
- Judy Martin – £2,338.53
Value Jersey support packages
Value Jersey-related spending appears across a number of the returns, including Robert Parker with £2,568 listed against Value Jersey and Phil Romeril, who recorded a £2,068 Value Jersey support package.
Claire de Than spent £2,094 on a “support package purchased from Value Jersey”, whilst Serena Kersten’s direct expenses described an almost £4,000 “Support Package from Value Jersey” – covering posters, flyers, calling cards, an electoral address and professional services.
She also recorded £1,491.66 for campaign support from The Messina Group, the strategic consulting firm founded by Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina.
Samantha Gleave declared £2,737.38 in direct costs, including a £1,840 support package from Value Jersey.
An invoice included in her return breaks that package down further, including posters, flyers and calling cards, as well as £745.83 for campaign support from The Messina Group and £44 for a photographer.
Her return also contains one of the more unusual items of the election: £6.99 on AI video and image creation platform Kling for the creation of a “Star Wars 4th July video and three still images for Facebook”.
Cakes that never made it to voters
Gabriel Raimondo’s campaign came with perhaps the most unfortunate expenditure note of all.
His £1,993.23 total included £100 for “cake material” from Amazon, but adds: “Cakes never given out.”
The teenage candidate also spent £790 on a Value Jersey support package, £49 on DJI microphones from Amazon, £22.99 on drinks for a drop-in session at St Brelade’s Bay Hotel and £37.35 on rosettes.
Deputy Raimondo’s return also recorded £307.18 worth of donated replacement poster wood, cable ties and glue.
The cheapest campaigns
At the very bottom of the spending table were Tom Binet and Rose Binet, both declaring £0 in direct expenses.
Other particularly low-spending campaigns included Guy de Faye at £10.98, Mark Labey at £20.41, Richard Honeycombe at £135.45, Andy Jehan at £135.25 and John Ttokkallos at £228.99.
Across the 89 names in the three candidate lists, the declared direct expenses supplied amount to just over £227,000.
Declarations are missing for candidates Alvin Aaron, Marcus Troy and Tina Palmer.
Cost per vote
St Mary Constable candidate Mark Baker spent £5.64 for every vote he received. He spent £880.46 but polled 156 votes in his park.
Fellow St Mary candidate Ivor Barette was close behind at £5.57 per vote, while winner David Johnson’s campaign cost £4.78 for each of his 406 votes.
At the opposite extreme, the Binet siblings declared no spending at all, meaning their 12,584 and 1,846 votes respectively effectively cost nothing in declared direct election expenses.
Grouville Constable Mark Labey spent just £20.41 on his successful campaign, equivalent to roughly 1.5p for each of his 1,398 votes. Guy de Faye spent £10.98, or about 0.37p per vote.
Among the Senator candidates, Alan Maclean had the highest total bill (£13,750.90) and paid the equivalent of £1.10 per vote.
By comparison, Helen Miles topped the poll while spending 67p per vote, while Ian Gorst, who came second, spent just 59p per vote.
Serena Kersten spent 51p per vote and secured a Senator seat, whilst former Reform Jersey leader Sam Mézec spent £1.24 per vote but was not elected.
