The party of the president of , (), elected 5 of the 9 councilors of São José da Laje, a municipality with around 24 thousand inhabitants 100 km from . They all received resources from São Paulo businessman Rubens Ometto.
in the country for the last four years, Ometto also helped to elect a majority in the Chamber of another municipality in Alagoas, Igreja Nova, 150 km from the capital. This time, with support for candidates from the senator and the PSB.
The election of majorities in Municipal Chambers is not Ometto’s privilege. Businessman Erasmo Batistella, for example, financially supported 14 of the 21 councilors elected in Passo Fundo (RS), 300 km from Porto Alegre.
According to data from the (Superior Electoral Court) analyzed by Sheetat least eight other Brazilian cities ended the election with “their own benches” of business donors.
The survey takes into account donations that were made by individuals directly to candidates for the position of councilor.
Donating from individuals is legal and has emerged as an alternative for campaign financing. It is limited to 10% of the income declared by the donor to the IRS, which allows million-dollar donations like Ometto’s.
In the 2024 election, according to the TSE, 25 people donated more than R$1 million — three more than in 2020, in amounts adjusted for inflation. The value of super donations, however, soared: the 20 largest totaled R$71.2 million, almost double the previous municipal election.
Marco Antônio Teixeira, coordinator of the master’s degree in management and public policies at FGV, says that the disparity in the value of donations —Ometto, for example, invested more than R$19 million— makes the competition unequal.
“In reality, the rule allows those who have more money to have more capacity to build support and form their benches”, he states. “As money is fundamental to doing politics, those who donate have privileged access to those who were elected.”
Ometto, for example, in addition to electing councilors in São José da Laje, donated R$114,000 to the campaign of the elected mayor, Vanessa (MDB), equivalent to a third of everything the candidate could spend on the election.
For the elected councilors, he donated R$15,000, two thirds of the spending ceiling stipulated by the . When contacted, the businessman limited himself to saying, through his consultancy, that the donations comply with current legislation.
“The municipality regulates the use and occupation of land. This is essential to define whether a businessman will be able to have or not have property, have or not have a business, build or not build to a certain standard”, says Marco Antônio Teixeira.
with operations in the mining, transportation and fuel and natural gas industries, which does not have direct operations in either São José da Laje or Igreja Nova. Both cities, however, are home to sugar and ethanol plants.
Batistella, on the other hand, has operations based in Passo Fundo. His company, Be8, is headquartered in the municipality, with an industrial unit in operation and.
Through his advisor, he only said that he made electoral donations “in accordance with current legislation” in the country and that the transfers are public, have been declared and can be consulted.
With direct interests in construction potential and city master plans, two other businessmen who helped elect councilors in cities where they have businesses are Alex Veríssimo Mendes, in Santos (SP), and Rogério Chor, in Rio de Janeiro — both from the real estate sector.
Owner of Grupo Mendes, the first donated resources to 7 of the 21 elected to the Santos City Council. The second, from TGB Imóveis, helped to elect 8 of the 51 councilors who will take office in the Rio City Council in 2025.
Mendes declined to comment on the matter. Chor said he does not expect direct benefits from the candidates he supported — chosen, according to him, for prioritizing the city’s economic development.
He agrees that business donors may have greater access to elected officials than ordinary citizens, but says it’s natural for prominent people in their fields to be closer to decision-making power. “A councilor who deals with culture, for example, will receive the owner of a theater.”
“When the municipality encourages entrepreneurs, it is benefiting ordinary citizens. Because they are the ones who provide jobs”, he argued, citing the boom in the real estate sector in Rio after changes in restrictions on construction in the center of the city’s south zone. “Today there is a lack of labor, with so much employment created.”
Also an agribusiness entrepreneur, Odílio Balbinotti Filho donated R$3.7 million to candidates and party committees in Rondonópolis (MT), 220 km from Cuiabá, and helped elect the mayor, Cláudio Ferreira de Souza (PL), to whom he allocated R$ 540 thousand, and 4 of the 21 councilors elected in the municipality.
The city is home to his seed company, Atto. Balbinotti was also contacted and had not responded until the publication of the text.
