Mayoral field could grow again, donation declarations divide candidates

Friday, 25 July 2025

Wellington City councillor John Apanowicz is considering running for the mayoralty - if he is allowed.

Another candidate is considering a run for Wellington’s rapidly crowding mayoral race and appears willing to to join the list of those volunteering to reveal large donations before voting starts.

Takapū/Northern ward councillor John Apanowicz, a National Party member, confirmed he wanted to run for the mayoralty but needed the permission of a close family member to do so. This would include that family member letting him spend sufficient money to make a proper run for the job.

He recently confirmed he would run for a ward seat. He planned to fund his own candidate for a council seat but would likely fundraise if he made a bid for mayor. He would, with donors’ permission, publicly release declarable donations before voting started.

The issue of declared donations is vexed. Last election, leading candidates Tory Whanau, Paul Eagle and Andy Foster all promised to release donations above the $1500 declarable limit before voting began but Foster failed to do this. When he did release donations, after losing the election, it was revealed that he got $20,000 from the Chow brothers’ property investment company.

Mayoral candidates Ray Chung and Diane Calvert will not reveal large donors prior to voting.

This mayoral race is already shaping up to be high-spending with candidate Ray Chung, seemingly the most cashed-up, in May boasting of a $200,000 war chest for him and his Independent Together group of candidates. However, the group lost a big backer after a series of damaging revelations including claims of dirty politics.

A spokesperson for Ray Chung said he would “comply with legal requirements” – which are to declare large donations and expenses well after the election.

Independent Together has already spent up large with billboards all over town – many put up before the official election period started on July 11. Mayoral candidates have a $60,000 spending cap in the three months to the October election.

Electoral officer Warwick Lampp said spending before July 11 was not included in the spending cap but any billboards, or similar, up after the date, were included. This included the cost of creating billboards paid pro-rata for the amount of time the billboards stayed up during the three-month period.

Wellington mayoral candidates Alex Baker, Andrew Little and Kelvin Hastie have all pledged to reveal large donations prior to voting.

A spokesperson for Andrew Little’s campaign said the campaign planned to spend near or to the cap. Little has previously committed to sharing declarable donations before voting started.

Alex Baker, an independent, was self-funding his campaign so far and had already budgeted to spend $20,000 on physical advertising such as billboards and posters, $10,000 on letter drops and hoardings and $10,000 on digital marketing. He pledged to declare any large donations before prior to voting.

“$40,000 is a big commitment, but my family is prepared to make the sacrifice in order to secure a better future for our city,” he said.

Diane Calvert promised to declare after the election “according to the rules”. She had received some donations below the $1500 declarable limit. She planned a “no frills” campaign – in the same way she said she planned to run a council budget.

Kelvin Hastie previously pledged to release declarable donations prior to voting while Karl Tiefenbacher only committed to following the rules – releasing them after voting.

Graham Bloxham said he was not seeking political donations. Josh Harford, of the Silly Hat Party, had not taken any donations and was happy to declare any he did get prior to people voting.