By Pepper Parr
August 21, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
James Curran, candidate for the ward 6 council seat, just can’t seem to keep out of trouble.
There have been more than 25 comments on his status as a real estate appraiser – with lots of back and forth and accusation and upgraded explanations.
What should have been a perfectly clear answer to a reasonable question got twisted and turned with people saying they just didn’t believe the man. At this point I’m not sure exactly what his status is as an appraiser.
Jim Curran complained to the city about the amount of time candidates were permitted to put up election signs. Says the rules were not clearly set out in the Candidates Manual.
We advised our readers that we were not taking any more comments on what his status is as an appraiser.
People in the community are bothered by the way that part of the Curran background played out but the issue seems to have ground down to he said – she said. At that point we stopped taking comments unless there was some really solid information.
Then – just when the heat was off the status issue – we get an email advising us that:
In light of recent events and concerns of citizens of Burlington, including the flooding, I have arranged to hold a town hall this evening at 7:00. I apologize for the short notice.
We got this at 6:30 – and complained to Curran that such short notice was unacceptable
Curran responded with: “I just received media codes less than an hour ago. The team informed me just hours ago that it was even taking place. I am as unprepared as you my friend.”
Is Curran telling us that he wasn’t fully aware that something this critical to his campaign was something he didn’t know that much about?
Setting up a Virtual Meeting takes time – someone has to make the arrangements with the company handling the calls – and someone has to have sent out notices to people advising them of the event.
Is Curran telling us that, if this was done he wasn’t aware of it – and if it was done by others – why wasn’t he on top of it.
Jim Curran has exceptional political contacts and connections and he would have people who knew how to set this kind of thing up. To screw it up the way he has – does not bode well for putting this guy at the horseshoe come October.
Cliff,
Thanks for the information.
I think that using the info for political advantage is not the right thing to do.
There are very strict rules real estate agents must follow when making cold calls. Do the same rules apply to election campaigns?
I wonder if Mr. Curran broke any rules when making robocalls; this is a form of telemarketing which can be quite offensive to some people.
Interesting question to see if other political candidates are calling people in such a fashion. Why would anybody want to receive an annoying phone call from Mr. Curran; a call that one likely cant respond to?
Rosie, the voter list is actually the list from MPAC – the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. All of our information is on this.
I would suspect that every Ontario Real Estate brokerage has this on hand (or has unrestricted access to it) so the broker and his/her agents can offer the market comparables (aka: “appraisals”) on perspective sellers’ homes?
Mr. Curran is a real estate broker, right?
I also received a robocall; it took me several minutes to disconnect.
Initiating annoying phone calls from which there is no escape is a poor political strategy, Mr. Curran.
BTW, who gave you my phone number? I don’t believe that voter lists are published yet.
I received a robo call, but I live in ward 3. I refuse to listen to any recorded calls no matter what source, so I did not listen to the message.
Oh no Hans…I urge you not to go down that ‘is he or isn’t he?’ path.
But do go to the earlier article on this man and you will discern, from the readers’ comments, the answer…and a whole lot more.
Thank you again Mr. Parr for your further insight into this candidate with this latest article.
At this time, I’d like to nominate Mr. Wonderful for the best comment of the year!
If Curran is a real estate appraiser, the Appraisal Institute of Canada should be able to confirm his status.
I received an annoying automated robocall from him today. Any candidate that uses such a system will automatically disqualify themselves from potentially getting my vote.
Hey, just got back from vacation and noticed all the fuss about illegal election signs, unlicensed appraisers, flooding, breach of personal rights to sign placement, and going to war to protect people’s rights to placing signs on lawns?
Wow, this dude is definitely a candidate for a ward, but, not necessarily the political type. We need to get Mr. Curran to a ward real soon, and before the election.