Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale’s uncle spent $56k in fruitless bid to beat nephew

Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale had the second most expensive campaign of the July election and the two biggest donations - one from his mum and another from a property developer.

He spent $41,409 on his successful campaign.

But Drysdale's rival and uncle, Doug Owens, spent the most at $56,012 on his own run at the mayoralty.

Candidates in the July election are legally required to declare their election expenses and any donations over $1500 they received.

The maximum a candidate could spend for the Tauranga election was $60,000 based on the city's population.

Drysdale spent $22,505 advertising, $5750 on branding and $8000 on campaign consultant Tim Hurdle, who also ran Wayne Brown's campaign for the Auckland mayoralty.

Drysdale said he got pretty good value for money with his election spend and sought out Hurdle because it was his first political campaign.

"I spent what I thought I needed to, to win. The result showed that I probably put the money in the right places.

"Tim [Hurdle] had done a good job of getting Wayne Brown elected so he was very knowledgeable and very helpful throughout the campaign."

Drysdale received $31,500 in donations toward his campaign, the most any 2024 candidate declared.

The mayor received two $10,000 donations, the largest single donations of the election. One was from his mum Robin Owens and the other was from property developer Peter Cooney, director of Classic Group. Classic Builders is one of New Zealand's largest home builders.

Cooney said he was impressed by Drysdale's values and financial acumen given he was a financial advisor.

"One of the key things for me has always been, someone needs to understand finance and they need to understand the ins and outs of running a business."

Being a two-time Olympic champion and a five-time world champion rower meant Drysdale had the focus and ability to get the job done as mayor, said Cooney.

"He had all the skills that were needed and that's been lacking in the past."

Owens' spend was the biggest spend of any candidate in the last six council elections in Tauranga, according to the Tauranga City Council electoral expenses returns made so far.

Owens said he ran a purely digital campaign and was happy with the election result.

"We have an energetic, competent new council and a mayor with experience in the insolvency sector and who can follow the money."

Unsuccessful Arataki ward and mayoral candidate Anthony Goddard had the third largest spend at $34,132 for his 'Make Tauranga Great Again' campaign.

He spent $7891 on merchandise with $2952 of this on hats. Goddard gave his merchandise of t-shirts, jumpers and hats to anyone that wanted it.

"When the opportunity is there you may as well use it," he said of his election spend.

Goddard said he could have spent more on advertising, but it was noticeable early on that Drysdale would likely win, so he cut back.

Around 80 percent of people Goddard spoke to were supportive of his campaign slogan and some people took it as a racial slur, he said.

The Bay of Plenty Steamers' unofficial mascot Hori BOP had no election expenses for his mayoral attempt. Peter Stanley, Phillip Coleman and Michael Rayner also had no election expenses to declare.

Councillor Steve Morris spent $16,747, the second highest spend of the successful councillor candidates.

Tauranga's first Māori ward councillor, Mikaere Sydney, had the smallest spend of the elected members at $2254. He has been unable to take up his duties because of illness and has a leave of absence until the end of the year.

Deputy mayor - and sole woman elected - Jen Scoular's expenses were $11,435, councillor Marten Rozeboom spent $12,087 and Rick Curach's were $7802.

Councillor Kevin Schuler spent $4781, Glen Crowther's was $3232 and Rod Taylor's $4753.

Welcome Bay councillor Hautapu Baker spent $5634 on his campaign and was the only other councillor to declare donations, with $2496 donated to him.

As of 4 October, 65 of the 75 candidates have filed their expenses. If people fail to declare their expenses, they could be fined $1000.

Chief electoral officer for the election Warwick Lampp said a few people had filed this week and he would send another reminder in a week.

The process often "dragged on" and if a candidate continued not to file Lampp could send their details to the police.

This threat often hurried people up, he said.

"I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted or fined for this."

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.