24 January 2009

The joy of giving

The new chair of the board of governors at College of the North Atlantic – headquarters in Stephenville – just happens to be the top contributor to the past two election campaigns of Joan Burke, education minister and member of the provincial legislature for Stephenville.

There’s a story on the front page of the Saturday Telegram.

Appalachia Distributing – the company listed as making the donations - has a record of political giving:

Year

Party

Candidate

Annual/
Election

Amount

1998

Liberal

 

Annual

450.00

1999

Liberal

 

Annual

450.00

 

PC

Leonard Muise

Election

150.00

2000

Liberal

 

Annual

450.00

2001

Liberal

 

Annual

450.00

2003

Liberal

Gerald Smith

Election

170.00

 

PC

Joan Burke

Election

1,000.00

PC

Joan Burke

Election

192.50

PC

Jim Hodder

Election

200.00

2004

PC

 

Annual

375.00

The Telegram also reports election contributions for 2007 - $1,000 to Joan Burke’s campaign - but those still aren’t available on the provincial elections office website.

Government corporate registry records show the company was dissolved in 2005 and revived a year later. The corporate registry lists Appalachia Distributing Limited with two directors, Terrence Styles and Darlene Styles.

That makes the political giving totals (including the grand listed by the Telly for 2007) as follows:

Liberal (ended 2003) : $1,560.00

PC (1999, 2003-current) $2,577.50

-srbp-