$200k of Tomlinson donations revealed
(CNS): Records held by the Elections Office of the full expense returns for all candidates have revealed that during the eight weeks before the May poll, former hospital boss and surgeon Dr Steve Tomlinson gave almost $200,000 in donations to ten independent candidates running in the election. This is over and above the money Tomlinson spent directly on generic signs calling on people not to vote on party lines, as well as other sponsorship or donations he gave to candidates before the official start of the campaign.
Out of the ten candidates who acknowledged donations from Tomlinson on their expense returns, only two candidates were successful. Kenneth Bryan, who said he received $20,000 for his George Town Central campaign from the doctor, secured his seat and sits in opposition.
When CNS asked Austin Harris on 31 March if he was part of the Tomlinson group of candidates, he denied being sponsored by the doctor, but his expense return shows he received $10,000 for his Prospect campaign. He was successful and is the only candidate who was backed by Tomlinson to make it to the government benches.
Tomlinson’s single largest donation went to Ellio Solomon, who received $30,000 for his George Town West campaign, where he secured 93 votes — less than 11% of the turnout. The second largest amount was for $25,000, which went to Catherine Tyson, who lost her deposit after receiving just 78 votes, or 8.4% of the vote in George Town South.
Burns Rankin, who ran unsuccessfully in West Bay South, also received $25,000 from Tomlinson, according to the expense records. Although Rankin proved to be another poor return for the doctor, as he won just 56 votes (less than 5.7% of the turnout) and lost his deposit, he did not come last in the constituency; Laura Young, who received $12,000 from Tomlinson, also lost her deposit after she polled 5.24% of the ballot, or just 52 votes.
But Tomlinson’s worst investment in a candidate was the $20,000 he donated to BTE candidate Arnold Berry, who received only 41 votes, or just over 3.6% of the entire poll in that constituency.
Tomlinson also donated over $12,600 to Sarah Orrett in WBN, another $20,000 to Kenrick Webster in GTE and $20,000 to Raul Gonzalez in Newlands. All three retained their deposits but fell far short of the numbers needed to be in contention for the respective seats.
Exactly how much Tomlinson spent on the election is not easy to calculate. While the election records show he spent almost $200,000 during the official eight week campaign period on the ten candidates who revealed the sponsorship, there is no obligation for Tomlinson to reveal how much he spent on the generic anti-political party promotion. Also, donations made and spent before the campaign started do not have to be declared in the expense returns and no candidate is required to reveal donations under $5,000.
Check back to CNS later for more on the donations and spending of other candidates and the parties following our visit to the Elections Office.
See related story: Seymour tops election expenses
Category: 2017 General Elections, Elections, Politics
The chameleon exposed here has to be Austin Harris. He lied when he said the was not being financed by Dr T.
He obviously lied to the voters when he said that he was an Independent candidate. as once he was elected he was immediately ready to partner with PPM or CDP in order to get himself promoted. He also had no problem getting on TV and throwing the Independents, who supported him and helped him get elected, under the bus.
Once a convicted woman beater always a woman beater.
So sorry I voted for him, I might as well have voted for Ms. Lucille, at least she was truthful about her allegiance.
Do we see what the Dr has caused by the way of which he has interfered in the Election to get so many candidates elected ?
Just look at what someone said in a comment, that Dr payed average of $300. Per vote , when the going rate to pay for a vote is $25 ..
But just look at what if he had got all of his candidates elected , what kind of Government would we have ? Not knowing the Dr intentions why he wanted so many candidates elected raises allot of questions that he has not honestly answered yet I think .
My grandmother always said a fool and his money soon parts. She always observed that education was no indication of common sense.
7:24 am you’re ever so right , I have seen a lot of educated and no common sense in my life too .
So, money can’t buy you everything Dr. Steve! Best to leave the politricks to the pros. No puppet mastering for you … at least not for 4 years.
What about Justine ebanks in North side another poor choice for the doc.
Who’s Justin Ebanks? We never saw him in North Side anyways…never came to see me. Stick to fishing
You wouldn’t have seen him he was only a political interference to keep ezzard miller in.
(Lodge looks out for lodge)
At least Dr. T and/or his independents declared the amounts.
How much more money was spent, distributed, or otherwise deployed without being declared??? There are many contributors in the shadows with evil intentions.
It’s a shame 2 months later and nothing has changed on the cayman scenery. Caymanians still suffering!!
Still suffering because you did not take education seriously.
Those Who are not suffering chased schooling and hard work ethic , not bling.
It’s a lesson to teach our youth.
All of us still suffering for real but the tourism will pay for it hard.
Has the PPM (Progressives ) divulged the sources of its funding?
In 2013 it was reported that Wayne Panton contributed $250,000 to the Progressives campaign; I don’t recall hearing much hoopla over that. Let the doctor spend HIS money however he wishes. It’s none of your business.
Lomart , did the Dr tell you what his intentions were , why he invested in getting so many candidates elected ‘? Now that would be something to tell everyone about .
Can you imagine all that money gone down the drain and poor ppl like me struggling to live on $300 a month…..
And $90 of that must be for internet so you can read up on CNS!
So what about the amount he spent on Rudy Dixon to run in the Brac?
Rudy came close to winning…..
That’s a lot of dependent “independents”.
I just ever so happy that he got such a negative return on his money , and he should keep investing like that , so pretty soon he would be broke .
Dr. Steve needs to bring in a forensic auditor if each vote cost him $300+ while the going rate for paid voters is only $25 per vote.
Lawddddd ? Talk about poor choices! Obviously the Doc needs to forget about politics! Imagine if that gang he sponsored had actually won and formed the Government!
Arnold Berry im surprised at you!! I thought you were CDP ta da bone?! Serves you right for going against the party.
200k just doesn’t buy what it used to eh ? On a related note Chrissy Tomlinson hospital spent 3 years harassing me for money from the birth of my child because they applied to the wrong insurance company and then realised their mistake 18 months later and when the correct insurance company told them to go whistle they aggressively came after me claiming it was my responsibility . Now that I know where that money would have gone I’m glad they screwed up !
They tried the same crap with me. I’ve stored that hospital’s number as “DO NOT ANSWER”!
Well the good Doctor has played some cards now.
Interesting and at the end of the day we should be hearing of how much foreign interests donated to the candidates. It it much more of a concern that candidates are being supported directly by foreign sources.
Foreign meaning Jamaican…?
How much did the Chamber of Commerce spend on their “debate hosting” and multi-media propaganda blitz?
I trust those that attack Dr T also consider the above.
Invisible, nameless and rich puppet-master(s) are much more insidious than a local doctor on my TV and radio.
– Whodatis
*Btw, in case anyone missed it – the insidious financial backers won the Cayman 2017 election.
Feel better?
Put down the crack pipe son.
But 4:46am does have a point about their ‘propaganda’ as one of their forums I attended started with a recitation of all the jobs etc. Dart’s building of a new hotel on SMB would produce if he were allowed to remove the beach ledges, and then asked whether the candidates would back that. Note: not just further development of SMB by anyone, a specific developer and project. Then moved on to the GT pier …
Ok, now that thats over with can we also know who backed the ones that did get in? And this is just the start Cayman just found a new way to get investors going! We knew Steve was up to something but I ask again in the same post, who backed the winners and who was the largest donation for the winners! That is what is important here today!
He was just trying to split votes to keep the parties out. He couldn’t actually expect these candidates to win seats.
Easily like Sunday morning payday for some of thecandidares?
Thanks Doc for showing us what not to do with our money. I suggest you stick to giving flu shots.
‘a fool and his money are soon parted’ says the old adage
Steve lost lots of money. Cayman lost Marco Archer through Steve’s foolishness. Loosing Marco as our F S and and a decent honourable and honest representative to that sorry lot was the worse loss of all in my opinion.