| Did Summerland Council really do anything wrong? Friday, December 4, 2009 | |
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When Barry Bonds broke Henry Aaron‘s home run record, Hammering Hank had very little to say. He didn‘t attend any of the games when Bonds was within reach of
baseball‘s hallowed record, unlike Lou Gehrig‘s family that was front and centre
during Cal Ripken Jr.‘s incredible run.
Was Henry Aaron a poor sport?
Absolutely not. Although he didn‘t say it publicly, the fact Bonds took performance enhancing drugs probably didn‘t go over well with Aaron, one of the classiest men in the history of professional sport.
It‘s the same way with those who failed in their bid to win a seat on Summerland Council. Supporters of the present council are dismissing these individuals as poor losers but we don‘t necessarily see it that way. Peter Waterman, who failed in a bid for the mayor‘s chair, has yet to make a statement to the press.
There were rules in place and it appears as though there were violations. This statement of claim was brought to the attention of the media by a top political scientist from Simon Fraser University, not losing candidates.
If the shoe were on the other foot, would these present councillors feel differently?
Completing an election expense form isn‘t that difficult. There are procedures to follow to ensure a fair election.
Mayor Janice Perrino and her council have since said that they were "advised" by the Chief Electoral Officer to write down donations for joint newspaper ads as "anonymous"
because they had no clue where the money came from.
If they were given poor advice, it doesn‘t matter. They still violated the act.
This is like a businessman going to his accountant, receiving inaccurate advice, and then breaking the law and being charged with money laundering. The businessman can‘t use the plea of "I was given poor advice".
Except for Ken Roberge, when The Herald questioned council at last month‘s meeting there was mostly silence. It was only after a Page 1 column in the Vancouver Sun that declarations have been made.
Where council members are wrong is that if they indeed were incapable of finding out who the Citizens for Smart Governance were, they should have immediately disassociated themselves with this group. It would have been as simple as placing a one-line disclaimer at the bottom of any election ad, a letter to the editor, a press conference or a statement at a candidate‘s meeting.
None of this was done and this was council‘s major mistake.
(By comparison, ex-Penticton Mayor Dorothy Tinning assured citizens that she was not part of the Penticton League of Sensible Electors or the Okanagan Skaha Residents Association in a letter to the editor in The Herald when
former Penticton mayors were mentioned in
literature regarding the demolition of the
Pen-Hi auditorium.)
There are still unanswered questions.
How did each councillor know what one-seventh of an advertisement would cost? Newspaper and radio ads vary in price based on several factors, size being one.
A prominent businessman has recently come forward to take responsibility for the Citizens of Smart Governance stating he acted alone. Yet under questioning at a meeting last month, Coun. Gordon Clark admitted that he was part of this group.
Did Summerland Council really do anything
awful? That‘s for the voters to decide.
Some believe their sloppy work was unintentional and at the very worse, careless. Others feel if they broke election rules, it‘s like jaywalking, after all, the vote count was decisive.
Something to consider is that council is in control of millions of dollars of taxpayers‘
money - your money. If individual members were careless on election declarations and
accepted inaccurate advice, do we really want them guiding the ship?
It‘s ironic that the Canadian government has committed billions of dollars to send troops to Afghanistan, in part, to help their country run a fair election when in British Columbia our
system is still far from perfect.
-James M. Miller, managing editor
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