Ward 3 Councillor Brendan Luchetti says a $10,000 campaign donation he accepted from the spouse of a local business owner has not influenced his stance on the Springwood revitalisation process.
Political donation and expenditure declarations from last September’s council election were recently made public on the Election Funding Authority’s (EFA) website.
The Save Our Springwood-backed councillor listed contributions totalling $10,010, with the bulk of that sum attributed to a $10,000 cheque from Patricia Egan.
Ms Egan is the wife of Andrew Bell, a director of Lower Mountains Liquor Supplies, which trades under retail outlets Springwood Cellars, Winmalee Cellars and Faulconbridge Cellars.
She told the Gazette she is in no way involved in the operation of the Cellars businesses.
Mr Bell has previously made known his opposition to a major supermarket coming to Springwood, taking out a full page advertisement in the Gazette in September 2007 that stated a multi-national retailer would “ruin local traders” such as bottle shops.
Clr Luchetti has continued to participate and vote on Springwood’s future, strongly backing moves to stop the possibility of a Coles or Woolworths entering Springwood’s shopping precinct.
A spokesperson for council told the Gazette it saw no reason to preclude him from the debate.
“From a council perspective we’re satisfied that Clr Luchetti has lodged his returns in accordance with the requirements,” the spokesperson said.
In the case of political contributions amounting to $1000 or more, candidates are legally required to disclose only the name and address of a donor to the EFA.
Under council’s code of conduct, councillors are to “take all reasonable steps to identify circumstances where political contributions may give rise to a reasonable perception of influence in relation to their vote or support”.
Responding to the Gazette’s questions, Clr Luchetti said he asked Ms Egan if she had any business interests in Springwood before taking the donation in question, and she answered ‘no’.
She told him her husband, Mr Bell, was a “minority share holder” in a Springwood business.
“With my agent, I satisfied all of the requirements of the Electoral Funding Authority with regards to disclosure and I have never attempted to mislead anyone, nor have I ever had anything to hide or acted with impropriety on this issue,” said Clr Luchetti.
“I have consistently reiterated my position on (the Springwood revitalisation) issue before and after (accepting the donation) . . . and there has been no change in my position, nor will there be. If this is a question of integrity, my integrity is intact.”
Clr Luchetti called it a “grave insult to all women” that “in 2009 a woman cannot be financially and cognitively independent of her husband”.
“As such these allegations are not just an attack on me, they are a shameful and lamentable attack on women and specifically Patricia, who sadly became a target when she chose to join the fight to save Springwood,” he said.
No one, including the Gazette, has made this assertion.
In its last term, council began the Springwood revitalisation process, approaching the private sector with a view to building new community facilities in conjunction with commercial development including a supermarket.
Light shed on election returns
Election Funding Authority returns show numerous Blue Mountains City councillors contributed thousands of dollars of their own money to their campaigns last year.
Councillors who declared contributions of their own money included Terri Hamilton ($5,212), Janet Mays ($3,463), Alison McLaren ($4,839), Adam Searle ($5,423), and Chris Van der Kley ($5000).
Greens councillors each declared a $2000 donation from the Greens NSW.
Ward 4 Clr Fiona Creed is the only councillor not to have her declarations available for viewing on the EFA’s website.
Under EFA requirements, candidates must declare political contributions from the same donor that amount to $1000 or more.
Elected members, candidates and groups who receive more than $2500 in political donations or more than $2500 in electoral expenditure are also required to have their EFA declarations audited.
Auditing is not necessary if a return has nil donations.
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