Liberal leadership candidates Christy Clark and Kevin Falcon this afternoon released the lists of donors to their campaigns.

The move is a reversal for Clark who had said in a debate televised Feb. 20 on Shaw Cable that she would not release her list until after the Feb. 26 vote.

Mike de Jong released his list on Feb. 11 and challenged the other candidates to do the same. George Abbott said during the Shaw debate that he would release his list ahead of the vote, which he did this morning.

The Falcon campaign posted on its website a list of 332 donors who had given a total of $708,665.48 (also available here).

Large donors to Falcon include Keg Restaurants ($40,000), Kebet Holdings Ltd. ($30,000), Super Save Disposal Inc. ($30,000), Aquilini Development and Construction Inc. ($25,000), Gordon Estates ($25,000), Great Canadian Railtour Company Ltd. ($10,000), Craftsman Collision Ltd. ($10,000) and Wesbild Holdings Ltd. ($10,000).

Clark's campaign distributed a list to reporters that totaled $519,040.

Among the larger donors are John Redekop Construction ($30,000), Wall Financial ($25,000), Aquilini Development and Construction Inc.($25,000), ITC Management Inc. ($20,000), Anne Millar ($25,000), Progressive Strategies ($20,000), Rennie Marketing Systems ($15,000), Bert's Electric (2001) Ltd. ($15,000), former Encana executive Gwyn Morgan ($10,000) and Wesbild Holdings Ltd. ($10,000).

"There's a big difference between disclosing who's financing your campaign before the decision than after the decision," said de Jong in a phone interview shortly before Falcon and Clark made their releases. "Everyone talks about openness and disclosure, but it's been a lot of talk."

He connected the resistance to campaign disclosures to his push to get MLAs' expenses publicly disclosed, which last week the Legislative Assembly Management Committee acted on. "I've been working on this dating back over a year and all I've heard from everyone is it's a great idea and we should do it, but it never happens," he said. "The only reason anyone would be concerned about this is if they were spending taxpayers' money in a way they couldn't defend."

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.