By Pepper Parr
October 18th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
Is this the only way abuses of the electoral process can be managed?
The complaint Shawna Stolte sent to the City Clerk/Returning Officer about Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison using city resources (mailing lists) to advance his election campaign is not the first the city has received.
The Stolte complaint against Councillor Dennison.
On September the 20th, Krista Richards sent a note to Lisa Palermo, a city staff member involved in the administration of the election.
It is my understanding from the “Use of Corporate Resources Policy” that “Distribution lists or contact lists developed utilizing corporate resources or through contact in a Member of Council’s role shall not be utilized for election purposes.”
For a sitting Councillor to knowingly contravene the Use of Corporate Resources Policy as well as breach of Privacy Policy in order to achieve an unfair advantage in the election is very disturbing.
I find it also very disturbing that your office chose not to respond to this complaint sent more that 3 weeks ago.
I want everyone on the distribution list used by Blair Lancaster to get an immediate apology using the following criteria.
1. Sent no later than 4 pm. September 17th.
2. No reprinting the objectionable email.
3. It is to contain an apology and admission of knowing the misuse of Corporate Resources.
4. An acknowledgment that this email was indeed sent to recipients who did not sign up for emails from her campaign and was based on the Ward 6 email addresses gained while in office.
5. She is to promise that no further emails will be sent to any recipient who did not specifically sign up through her website or a signup sheep
6. She is to provide a copy of the recipients List of both the email below and the new email to assure all recipients received it.
7. She is to add her competitors to the email for their information.
I look forward to you handling this in the unbiased nature your office is supposed to serve and giving this the immediate attention it was due 3 weeks ago.
Krista M. Richards
The Clerk’s office responded:
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. I will be advising Blair Lancaster of your concerns. If you would like to pursue it further, you can utilize the compliance audit process following the election. Information on the process will be posted by early November.
City Clerk/Returning Officer Angela Morgan later told Ms Richards that she ”Has no authority to require that action. If you have any concerns with the administration of the election from my office, please contact the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. They are the administrators of election legislation and can provide you with information on the authority of the Clerk.
Does this mean that an incumbent can do whatever they like with city resources during the election and face the consequences after the election?
Could the Clerk/Returning Officer investigate and issue at least a statement that the culprit has been reprimanded and publish that notice and also send that notice to all the names on the mailing list that was mis-used. At least make it very uncomfortable for those who choose to abuse the rules and then enact fines – substantial fines and take it out of their pay cheques.
What the public is seeing now is a procedure that lets the sinner’s sin and meet St. Peter a couple of months later.
Ward 4 candidate Shawna Stolte filed her complaint against Councillor Dennison with the city and asked for a decision by 4:00 pm of the following day. She did not get a response.
The process seems to ignore all infractions until after an election which isn’t very satisfying to the voters with complaints.
The Clerk has to work within the rules she is given, however, the Clerk could ask Council to petition the provincial government to change the rules.
And the new council members could beef up the Code of Good Governance and allow for some action to be taken during an election.
If the City Clerk has her hands ‘tied’ and cannot effectively deal with illegal / inappropriate election behavior in a timely manner then what use is such an impotent position (although this may be one of the defining characteristics of City Hall) – I am sure the City Clerk hands are not ‘tied’ when it comes to payday.
It appears whenever a hard decision has to be made by many of the members of City Council their standard response is to put the blame elsewhere (be it the provincial government or an obscure rule, that can be changed, BUT remains because it suits their purpose).
This ‘deflection’ of issues has been the ‘swan song’ of Dennison and Lancaster for years and it is NOT surprising that it EVEN continues in the election process and will UNDOUBTEDLY continue until they are NOT elected.
We need to get rid of this self-serving mentality and bring some integrity to the Council – a GREAT start would be to NOT elect Dennison and Lancaster.
What power does the Clerk have?!?
They have the power to at least acknowledge receipt of the complaint – which wasn’t done either.
That’s just lazy.
Investigation and “policing” of election issues is an expensive and time consuming challenge. It would be eye opening to see what stats the Election Officer was dealing with regarding Election Rule breaches. I can safely say that electioneering in Burlington is pretty much the Wild West. In looking at the World Corruption Index Canada is ranked 9th World Wide with a score of 82 out of 100. Denmark is first with 90. Canada ranks ahead of the Germany and the US is 18th. What’s indicative, I feel is that Botswana is only 20 points behind us.(61)
DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER. I don’t think that the City Clerk should be the person anger should be directed at. How much power do they have? At this point in time they are information takers and givers. After the election, unless one can lose their seat on Council for circumventing the system why would they not do this the next time around. The penalty has to be greater than a slap on the wrist, and a “don’t do this again” message.
People – get out and vote. Help those who need a ride to the polls – ask the candidate of your choice if you can help out on the 22nd if residents are having difficulty getting to the polls. If you want change you have to participate to make it happen. Don’t sit back and wait for others to do it.
Completely agree, we can complain about the process and get nothing in return. The scofflaws and trolls can only be beaten at the polls. If you buy into the notion that big money is behind this, pay close attention to who supports certain candidates, to the locations of signs, to candidates who used the red-herring of an excuse that ECoB was biased so as to not participate and be held accountable for their record, or to the well-attended debates, or to the false messages they are spewing forth on intensification versus the real issue over-intensification and you will know who to vote for.
Does this mean that an incumbent can do whatever they like with city resources during the election and face the consequences after the election? Apparently so and get away with the infraction without any effective apparent consequence. The survey on apathy was taken some time ago but no one bothered to fill it in.
Wow, so our rules are pretty much useless. Why even bother?
And clearly Dennison and Lancaster are well aware of this fact, and using it to their advantage. What weasely behaviour!
Also filed a complaint, and received a similar response, and called the Province, and emailed my MP.P. The process is severely lacking and requires a complete review, another reason why so many people feel disenfranchised and don’t bother to vote.
Clearly there are NO rules and all candidates might as well do whatever they think can help them win. It makes a mockery of the election process.
Very clearly this nasty election campaign has shown clear inadequacies in the current process and possibly with the City Clerk (although I am willing to concede on this latter point that she may have her hands tied by the current rules). As you have noted, consequences taking place AFTER the election are hardly sufficient deterrent. Significant penalties, both by way of financial impacts and highly-publicized censure, are needed. This election has illustrated some important changes that are needed to deal with so-called “third party” advertising unless we want a repeat of the vitriol that has characterized this election.
If there is any miss use of private information by anyone, it should be reported to the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, not the clerk.