|
Sadly you do still have to keep an eye on them. For example last election one candidate tried to go over budget by sending out campaign leaflets saying how wrong a particular policy of his opponent was, then claiming this was not election campaigning but an attempt to get his opponent to change his policy. Happily Electoral Commission (the body overseeing campaign finances) did not agree, he got fined, a shed load of bad publicity, and lost his seat in Parliament.
It also allows for pettiness between rivals. For example one candidate paid to fill his campaign bus with gas, and forgot to submit the bill. As he was spending his campaign funds nearly to the limit, the gas would have put him over the limit, but only by two or three dollars. His opponent reported him to the Electoral Commission and also made a big thing about it in his speeches, inferring that he was a dishonest crook because of it.
|