Karwacki was able to fund the party, in part, out of his own pocket. Funding a third party political movement is difficult, unless youre well heeled, he said.<\/p>\n
He was able to rely on a network of personal contacts to build his organization. He couldnt match the money flowing into NDP and Saskatchewan Party coffers, but his efforts brought in $601,510 for the Liberals in 2007.<\/p>\n
We were forced as a political party, the Liberal Party, to be fairly leader-centric through my tenure, and thats a dangerous way to build an organization because when the leader leaves, the organization also leaves, he said.<\/p>\n
The money left too. The Liberals reported just $80,297 in contributions in the year of the 2011 election.<\/p>\n
Given those challenges, its little surprise the party tried to focus its energies. It nominated just nine candidates. Bater targeted his own seat in the Battlefords.<\/p>\n
Karwacki views that individual riding strategy as a mistake.<\/p>\n
Running a limited number of candidates is just a loser, he said. You need to be in the full game.<\/p>\n
People just say, well, youre not really going to form a government so why should I vote for you?<\/p>\n
But he knows the odds were stacked against his successors, whatever they did.<\/p>\n
The folks that took over after me did the best they could, Karwacki said. I would say that it shows how fragile political parties are.<\/p>\n
Lamoureux learned those lessons when he took over in 2013. He ran a full slate of candidates, partly in the hopes that it would win him a place in the 2016 leaders debate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More:<\/p>\n
From Power to Pitiful: An autopsy of the Saskatchewan Liberals - Regina Leader-Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Karwacki was able to fund the party, in part, out of his own pocket. Funding a third party political movement is difficult, unless youre well heeled, he said Continue reading