Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

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fluffy
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by fluffy »

And his unswerving support of Summerland Council in the midst of all the evidence of deception and cover-up makes him a pretty easy mark. So to speak.
“We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective.” – Kurt Vonnegut
grizzley
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by grizzley »

I also suspected that this is just a reincarnated Ventura, sneaking in under another name. But he just can't disguise those same old 'rose-coloured glasses' opinions about Summerland Council. This time it's you that's outed, Ventura. Course you're gonna deny it.....with wide-eyed innocence and galloping paranoia...spare me
Logitack
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Logitack »

:offtopic: you all know you gonna get this thread locked, right?
Pure Canadian
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Pure Canadian »

-fluffy- wrote:Perrino is still singing the same 'smear campaign' tune, but not answering any of the tough questions. They're counting the RCMP refusal to investigate as a victory, and it's not.


I wonder if 100 residents in S'land would be willing to donate $500 to cover legal costs? I would be willing to send my contribution to the Penticton Herald in trust. What if there was no time limit, would the RCMP have recommended charges? If the Council had to really defend their actions before a judge, could they do it? Would the judge believe them?

Even if the RCMP are stopped from investigating due to time constraints, an ordinary citizen can still go to the BC Supreme Court. This should not be the case, as I believe BC Elections should be required to investigate. However, they have no authority under the law.

I am also not confident that the Liberal dominated "task force" will really develop effective solutions to ensure democracy is alive and well.
shakeman
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by shakeman »

Has anyone considered the fact that the two reporters who initially launched this story have long since abandoned it? James Miller got a great start on Nov 9 when he ask the first questions at the council meeting. His story was picked up throughout the valley and by the Vancouver Sun. He got interviewed on ‘As It Happens’ which surely must be considered an accomplishment of sorts within the journalist community. Sue McIvor, by some accounts, spent considerable time on the story.
But after that first flurry James Miller wrote one or two editorials but left the actual story alone. To the best of my knowledge he didn’t assign another reporter to the story. Sue McIvor wrote a few informational articles but nothing of an investigative nature. There could be a couple of explanations but I think the obvious one is the true one; there is no story, the explanations given have been reasonable and accepted by the media.
If the story had any meat on it’s bones the reporters would be gnawing at it, that’s their job. Uncovering wrongdoing is what moves them up in the world. They gave up on the story shortly after it launched, doesn’t that suggest something?
I would actually go further and suggest that Mr Miller realized early on that he was being ‘played’ by other parties involved with this story and decided he wanted no part of it. His most recent article was well worded and not in the least bit inflammatory which also suggests he has backed off the story.
Also, does anyone but me think it odd that neither reporter contacted the Mayor, Councilors or the city clerk before going public with the story nor have they contacted them since? I find that very odd indeed. Is that what we call ‘investigative’ journalism?
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Nebula
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Nebula »

The investigative part of this journalistic story took place prior to Miller dropping the bombshell at the Summerland council meeting (guess what I found out.) The story that followed and the few after that (plus a few editorials) constituted informing the public what was going on.

I don't see a lack of coverage now as meaning the reporters have given up due to a lack of meat on the bones -- clearly there was meat and they reported it to the public. More likely, the reporters have backed off from the story because there simply is nothing of substance left to report. News is about 'new' things; they aren't going to keep going back to the same old story and reporting the same things.

The story is out there. It's hanging out there. Nothing may be reported about it (much) at the present time, but all it will take is one slip of the tongue, one new document, one quote, one something, for the whole thing to become front page news again.
You cannot reason someone out of a position that they did not use reason to arrive at.
Pure Canadian
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Pure Canadian »

Pure Canadian wrote:Also, does anyone but me think it odd that neither reporter contacted the Mayor, Councilors or the city clerk before going public with the story nor have they contacted them since? I find that very odd indeed. Is that what we call ‘investigative’ journalism?


You need to get your facts straight. James Miller attended a council meeting before the first newspaper article was published, ... and I understood tried to contact the Mayor for comments. I can also tell you that there is a story. S'land Council has NOT been declared innocent and attacking the press for reporting on a story is appropriate, especially when they are printing "balanced" stories. Or is this part of the "smear" campaign? Blaming others, when you the one accepting anonymous donations is being hypocritical!

I suspect they were waiting for the RCMP to do their job. Too bad the RCMP did not read the LGA legislation regarding time lines. IMHO, the "issue of when council became aware" is important. See my previous post.
realagen
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by realagen »

Perhaps I should have let Mr. Finnis put this on this site, but this is today's on line issue of the Summerland Review
Police end investigation of council
Published: January 13, 2010 5:00 PM
Updated: January 13, 2010 5:18 PM
A police investigation into possible violations during the 2008 municipal election is now over as the request was filed several months past the deadline.
Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, an RCMP district representative, said the general statute of limitations is six months, unless a different time frame is set out specifically. He said the investigation is now over.
The complaint was filed in December by a group of 14 Summerlanders concerned about irregularities in the municipal election.
“No one made a complaint until it was too late,” said Mayor Janice Perrino. “Nothing more will be done. The case is closed.”
Perrino, who was one of the subjects of the investigation, was contacted by the RCMP late last week.
She said the deadline for filing a complaint about election irregularities was within six months of the election.
The municipal election took place on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.
In the fall of 2009, questions were raised about a series of anonymous advertisements, some urging voters to choose a council friendly to growth and others endorsing specific candidates.
The result of the election was a decisive win for those endorsed.
Close to 4,000 ballots were cast. Perrino, with 2,183 votes, defeated mayoral candidate Peter Waterman who had 1,651 ballots.
Among the council candidates, the six endorsed in third-party ads were all elected with more than 200 votes separating the sixth place councillor and the seventh of the 13 candidates.
Those questioning the ads had said they were anonymous donations to the candidates which the council candidates should not have received.
Later, Mark Ziebarth, a Summerland businessman, claimed responsibility for some of the third-party ads.
He said the ads were not political donations and did not violate the legislation governing elections.
Perrino is glad the investigation has now ended.
“It was incredibly painful for our community to be smeared right across this province,” Perrino said.
She added that the investigation took up valuable police time and was a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Because the review was requested more than a year after the election, she questions the motives of those who brought it forward.
“It had nothing to do with an election and everything to do with a smear campaign,” she said. “This was because of an issue.”
She said that if the concerns were over the election itself, the complaint would have been filed shortly after the election instead of more than a year later.
But Frank Martens, one of the people behind the request for the police investigation, said the information about the irregularities did not surface until the fall.
Once the stories began to circulate, he said the complainants waited to give the members of council a chance to refute the allegations.
“I thought there would be some sort of charges laid,” Martens said. “I can’t understand why the RCMP would say there’s nothing they can do.”
A provincial task force has been formed to examine the legislation governing municipal elections in B.C.
Perrino has contacted MLA Bill Barisoff and the task force about the incidents in Summerland.
“We know the rules have to be tightened and we are aware there are major problems,” she said.
She would like the rules changed to protect the public, to protect the candidates and to protect elections officials in order to prevent smear campaigns following an election.
Martens also believes the task force is needed.
“That’s the only good thing, in my opinion, that has come out of this,” he said
Pure Canadian
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Pure Canadian »

realagen wrote:Police end investigation of council

....She added that the investigation took up valuable police time and was a waste of taxpayer dollars. Because the review was requested more than a year after the election, she questions the motives of those who brought it forward. “It had nothing to do with an election and everything to do with a smear campaign,” she said. “This was because of an issue.”


Hmmm, the actual time limit is six months after the date the election finance disclosure statement has been submitted. That's September 14th, 2009. I guess the Mayor has not really reviewed the legislation or she would know the date(s). In fact, the legislation allows for the deadline to start once council becomes "aware" of the issue - i.e. November 11, 2009.

Is it possible that the Mayor has difficulty being accountable? The Council members accepted the anonymous donations and that is what caused the problems. IMHO, I think the only way to clear the air is for citizens to take it to court.
Logitack
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Logitack »

Pure Canadian wrote: IMHO, I think the only way to clear the air is for citizens to take it to court.

Do you have deep pockets to take this to court? Have you organized a group of citizens to chip in money to take this to court? If not, please do so, I would love to have this cleared up, in particular how an american can subvert the election with impunity.
realagen
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by realagen »

Back on page 38 of this site Pure Canadian give us the website of the Kamloops Municipality which had posted the electoral expenses of Mayor and Council candidates as well as those running for School Board. I tried doing a Google search of half a dozen BC communities at random but found nothing along that line, even using a number of different inputs. Were you just lucky in your search, PC? Perhaps Mr. Finnis could give us copies of the Summerland candidate expenditures? I don’t think I have seen any along that line. And, if time permits, I’ll take my hidden camera down to Penticton’s City Hall and see what Dan and the boys spent--or am I too late?
The numbers out of Kamloops were very interesting considering the size of that city. I’ve rounded the following figures to the nearest $1000. The 3 mayoral candidates spent $44,000 in total, with the winner, Milobar, spending $27,000. The candidates for Council (an amazing 23 of them) spent a total of $106,000. The big spender, Walsh, spent an unreal $15,000, but he won a place on Council. Next, Marg Spina, $8,000; Wallace, $7,000; Nancy Bepple, $7,000; Tina Langal, $736; DeCicco, $4,000; Harker, $3,000. O’Fee, who topped the poll, spent nearly $3,000.
It would also be very interesting to see the remuneration of all of the winners at the end of their term. I would expect that even the high rollers would get their money back and then some. But, you have to wonder what the contributors expected. It is noteworthy that some of the council candidates and in particular, mayor candidate Murphy (who didn’t win) were backed by the Canadian Labour Council and CUPE. Murphy only declared $6,000 in expenditures so the big backers didn’t spend much cash on the election.
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by realagen »

:ohmygod:
What happened? Electricity go off? I'm out of order? Interest gone?
Actually as a follow-up I was going to suggest that perhaps we might start another post dedicated to the kind of voting rules and regulations "honest" people might want to see in place of the ones we now have. Then "someone" might want to formulate them into a document that can be sent to the Liberal Task Force.
What do you think?
Logitack
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Logitack »

realagen wrote: we might start another post dedicated to the kind of voting rules........ Then "someone" might want to formulate them into a document that can be sent to the Liberal Task Force.
What do you think?


go for it!
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fluffy
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by fluffy »

The rules and regualtions in the Local Government Act are fine, but the act has no teeth when it comes to enforceability. This is evidenced rather obviously in this situation where rules have been broken and no one is being held accountable. This is exactly what those at the center of this issue had hoped for, a tangle of bureaucratic dead-ends leading to the whole thing quietly fading into the past, hopefully to be ancient history by the next election.

It's no so much the actual infringements that bother me, it was what appeared to be the obvious attempts by some council members to conceal relevant facts from the electorate, specifically that the identity of the source of the "anonymous donations" was well known to council at the time of the election. Although this is technically speculation on my part, I don't see how anyone who has viewed the council chamber video and listened to Ms. Perrino's interviews could come to any other conclusion. What started as a little white lie to conceal Mr. Ziebarth's identity soon snowballed into something much larger and more sinister as those involved balked at admitting the original mistake, and has brought us to where we are today. It bothers me that it looks like this will end up being a tempest in a teacup, when in my opinion it calls the integrity of those involved into serious doubt.
“We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective.” – Kurt Vonnegut
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Re: Summerland municipal campaign financial irregularities

Post by Giants Head »

Fluffy....You hit the nail on the head. I couldn't agree more.
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