On donor lists

Jason has already pointed out the list of those who have given $250 or more to Saskatchewan NDP leadership contestants - which as of now is updated to April 9. But while the numbers may be fairly consistent with other indicators in the race (with Lingenfelter in the lead, Higgins and Meili in a fierce battle for second place, and Pedersen trailing the field) there are a few interesting twists worth noting in the donor lists so far.

Starting off with Deb Higgins' list, the most striking factor at first glance is how much of her money has come from former or current MLAs: $8,000 of her $14,000 reported comes from current or former NDP caucus members.

But perhaps more noteworthy is the source of her biggest single donation, as the vast majority of her additional funds ($5,000 in total) came from Ernest Butler. While I haven't been able to track down much information on a quick search of the name, it appears worth noting (1) that nobody by that name contributed to the NDP in the two most recent years reported by Elections Saskatchewan (2005 and 2006), and (2) an individual of the same name from Moose Jaw was one of Conservative Ray Boughen's maximum donors in the 2008 federal election where Boughen narrowly beat out NDP stalwart Don Mitchell.

Not surprisingly, Higgins isn't alone in receiving a substantial amount of money from sources which might not be expected to be donating to an NDP race. Instead, the clear leader in that department is Dwain Lingenfelter, whose fund-raising lead includes:
- $2,000 from Chancery Properties Ltd., whose only apparent previous political contribution was to the provincial Libs in 2005;
- $1,000 from Earnscliffe Strategy Group, best known for its federal Lib connections;
- $2,000 from Glencoe Developments, a condominium developer based on the AB side of Lloydminster;
- $2,000 from Prairie Pipeline Contractors, which has participated in a Lingenfelter-led trade delegation to Mexico; and
- $8,000 in donations from businesses which don't seem to have any public Saskatchewan presence based on a quick look at MySask as well as Google search results, including Reliable Property Management ($5,000, tied for Lingenfelter's largest donation), G5 Management ($1,000), Merma Developments ($1,000) and Sadig Holdings ($1,000).

Also of note in Lingenfelter's disclosures is that he appears to be the only candidate to have received any union money in the race so far, with the Canadian Ironworkers and Saskatchewan Building and Construction Trades Council each having contributed $5,000 and the IBEW adding in $2,000. (Which may be worth keeping in mind next time a right-winger tries to complain about the NDP being union-dominated - especially compared to the 2/3 of the Saskatchewan Party's revenue that comes from corporate donations.)

Among Ryan Meili's receipts, it's a $5,000 donation from Olin Valby that stands out as a remarkable contribution. Unlike the other large donors in the race, Valby isn't lacking for somewhat of a public data trail - having been a member of a Saskatchewan-based band and an advocate for increased bike use in Saskatoon. (For those who have been following my coverage of the race far more closely than could possibly be healthy, it's one of Valby's former bandmates who wrote one of the posts which I discussed here.)

Finally, Yens Pedersen's larger donors so far apparently consist almost entirely of members of the legal community or Pedersen's family - and even the total contributions are less than the top single donation to each of the other candidates.

In closing, it's worth noting that none of the candidates appear to be anywhere near the $200,000 expense limit in their fund-raising so far. So to the extent that unions or anybody else decide to start putting their money into the race even relatively late, there would seem to be some significant potential to shape what kind of resources the candidates have to work with leading up to the June convention. But it may still be worth keeping in mind who's seen fit to support the candidates so far in determining who's best suited to lead the NDP into the future.

(Edit: fixed wording X2, added link.)