Bonko first sought political office in the
1995 municipal election, when he was elected to the Board of
Edmonton Public Schools as trustee for Ward A. He was re-elected in the
1998 and
2001 elections. He did not seek re-election at the conclusion of his third term. Instead, he ran for the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta in
Edmonton Decore in the
2004 provincial election as a
Liberal. He won 44.63% of the vote and defeated his opponents, who included former MLA
Walter Szwender who was running for the
Progressive Conservatives and
Gary Masyk, an incumbent MLA whose riding had been abolished and who had crossed the floor to become the
Alberta Alliance's first MLA after being elected as PC. He did not sponsor any bills during his time in the legislature, and was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate
Janice Sarich in the
2008 election. ==Personal life==