Summerland council issues press release
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Summerland Council issued a press release to area media outlets, late Monday afternoon in reference to allegations that council broke the law. Earlier in the day, council had an in-camera session. The following is the release in its entirety:
Erroneous Media Reports Regarding Campaign Financing Disclosures
Recent media reports have suggested that the council of the District of Summerland may lack validity due to alleged wrongdoings by current Council members with respect to their disclosures of campaign contributions.
Contrary to media reports, no council member has done anything that would result in their disqualification with respect to the filling of their campaign financing disclosure.
In an effort to be open, honest and transparent, and on the advice of the Chief Election Officer, Council members included acknowledgment of ads placed by an anonymous party in their campaign financing disclosure statements for the 2008 Local Government Elections. Legally, there was no requirement to do so. Council members advise that these anonymous ads were placed by a third party without their knowledge, involvement, or consent.
The purpose of this release is to clarify that regardless of careless and erroneous media reports, the members of Council have done nothing wrong and as such, the Council continues to be a legitimate body duly elected to govern the District of Summerland. No Council member has done anything that would result in their disqualification - the two reasons for disqualification under the Local Government Act being:
1. Failure to file the required disclosure (all were filed on time)
2. Filing a false disclosure (which is subject to a provision that a person is not disqualified if they exercised due diligence to ensure that the applicable requirements of the legislation were met.)
The District will be contacting media outlets which have reported erroneous information and will be asking that they provide clarification to the public in this regard. Council members invite any members of the press to contact them directly with regard to their individual disclosures.
For more information, contact Gillian Matthews, Corporate Officer, 250 494-6451
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Printed on page 4 of the December 1, 2009 Penticton Herald
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