Sometimes when you're on your honeymoon one of your cheques bounce.
This blogger was advised by two of the recent campaigns, one Aldermanic and one Public School Trustee that one or more of the Mayor's campaigns interfered in their campaigns. I question the involvement on Legal, Moral or just plain Ethical grounds. You be the judge.
The first information comes from the Brian Pincott campaign. They claim that the Ric McIver campaign supported James Maxim for the Ward 11 seat and on the day of the election, the phone out from the McIver campaign encouraged their supporters to vote for Maxim. This comes from a very reliable source close to the Pincott campaign. Names and numbers available on request.
The second campaign impacted was the Laura Shutiak campaign for Public School Trustee in the Ward 8 & 9 race. A race that was very tight and decided by only a few hundred votes. She claims that the Naheed Nenshi campaign supported Pat Cochrane for the Ward 8 & 9 seat and on the day of the election, the phone out from the Nenshi campaign encouraged their supporters to vote for Cochrane. She tells me when she complained to Stephen Carter she was given a rude and explicit send-off.
So the question is; Should a Mayor's campaign interfere with Aldermanic and/or Trustee campaigns that run concurrently?
Please respond to the poll.
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Donn
ReplyDeleteI am surprised to hear this and I don't doubt your source.
I think it is Ok for a mayoral campaign to endorse another campaign if they do so openly . This seems likea a little underhand. Maybe they were pooling demon dialer dollars.
However it is the general understanding of the voter that each campaign is run as a seperate entity and unless otherwisw stated each campaign stands on their own two legs.
This raises the issue of effectiveness. Does this sort of thing work? Well if your figures are right Donn the answer is Yes 50% of the time.
Good blog
Michael
Now in Oman, more to come.
ReplyDeleteHi Donn;
ReplyDeleteJust to correct the facts. I don't know that Nenshi's campaign did any call outs for Pat on election day, or any other day.
What I do know is that I talked to a voter at the Acadia Meet the Candidates event who asked why, when he got a call from the Nenshi campaign they suggested he vote for Pat Cochrane "In case you're looking for someone to vote for for school board trustee." I also heard from some aldermanic campaigns in Ward 9 that they saw the purple army actively campaigning for her.
When I called Mr. Carter, he said " officially, the campaign doesn't support a candidate, but we can't help what volunteers do. "Our campaigns are intertwined. Any volunteer who has been around for more than three weeks has met Pat because she is on our executive committee." He also stressed that in the final days of the campaign, they would be focussed almost exclusively on my wards (8 and 9.) Don't forget, her family donated $15,000 to his campaign.
I don't know that Nenshi knew that is volunteers were doing this, condoned it, or actively encouraged it. But I do know it hurt me. (I asked to speak to the campaign manager, but never got a call back.)
The irony is that Nenshi's big vision for the city, more transparency, giving people a voice in the system, better use of tax payer dollars are the same issues that I campaigned on. (I thought I showed pretty effectively that the CBE fails miserably in each area.)
When Nenshi gave his acceptance speech, Pat Cochrane was right beside him.
Laura
Thanks for the clarification
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