Unexpected expenses caused ballooning campaign expenses during the final days of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) campaign, his staff said yesterday.
Full details of Ko’s campaign finances for November and last month were released by former campaign manager Yao Li-ming (姚立明), who was accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and accountant Chou Yin (周銀). Ko was not present at the event, which was held at a rented space in the former Taipei mayoral residence to avoid using city resources.
“We both underestimated expenses and overspent,” Yao said, adding that the production of the campaign’s first and only television advertisement was the largest unexpected expense.
“We originally thought we had funds to produce a [television] advertisement, but did not expect it to cost more than NT$10 million [US$316,000],” he said.
Lee, who also served on Ko’s campaign team, said that the campaign spent larger amounts in campaign rallies during the final weeks of the election race.
The campaign team provided documents showing that NT$85.86 million was spent on batteries, tape and taxi rides.
Although the election concluded on Nov. 29 last year, many members of Ko’s campaign office continued to work throughout last month until he took office, with a month’s salary being paid to former staff members while they looked for new jobs.
The documents included a summary of funds received before Ko stopped accepting donations in mid-November and follow a series of similar disclosures throughout his campaign.
Taking into account funds previously reported, the disclosures bring the total funds raised by Ko’s campaign team to NT$138 million, with expenses of NT$141 million.
In addition, Ko received NT$25 million in campaign subsidies following the election, with Yao adding that Ko is still considering how to donate excess funds.
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