Hinton Mayor Goes to Edmonton

I had promised in the comments of my last posting that I would respond to some questions and comments. I had this lonnnggg post all planned where I was going to give several scenarios about holding two positions (at least one being an elected one) and the ramifications from that. It’s long overdue, ironically due to my working two jobs; a paying one and a volunteer role managing my husband’s campaign.

So this will be shorter than I initially planned and limited to responding to my good friend Rhys; who left these questions:

When does it become unethical to be a party's representative\candidate and a municipal politician at the same time?

Or is that just if you're a party's leader -- not a lowly candidate in a riding, say?

Rhys hits on a key distinction relevant to the Glenn Taylor situation. He has been “elected” to two positions. If he had been a part-time plumber and elected leader of the Alberta Party, likely no one would have cared other than maybe his plumbing customers. As it is he is paid by the taxpayers of Hinton. Will they know or care if his attention is elsewhere? Are they okay with paying him when he might actually be doing work the Party at the time?

More to Rhys’ point though; he is asking at what level of candidacy and at what point does it become unethical. I’ve done some digging and there are indeed a few people who sit on town councils and have been elected as candidates for provincial political parties.

I think we need to examine what the expectations are for those candidates to fulfill their roles. Some may not anticipate doing anything until an election is actually called. Others may do some campaigning on evenings and weekends. If it is the latter; I think they would have to be very cautious of making a crystal clear distinction between their elected duties and their candidacy efforts. For example; if they attend a meeting as a councilor and are selling memberships to their respective party… then yes, that’s out of bounds in my opinion.

To be very open about this, past Alberta Party leaders have held or kept their other jobs and its never been an issue. Partly because their jobs weren’t elected positions. But more importantly there were none of the huge expectations of the current incarnation of the party.

I think Glenn Taylor’s situation boils down to two things:

- What are the expectations of the Alberta Party members
- Can he maintain a crystal clear distinction between his two roles

If the members are happy with a part-time leader then so be it. If they had expected a leader who can do the summer BBQ circuit, fundraising, attend CA formation meetings, attend caucus meetings and much, much more… well then they will be very disappointed.

As fate would have it; Glenn Taylor today provided us with an example of how his two roles conflict.

This picture was posted on Twitter today along with this comment.

@NDPview: #abparty ldr Taylor uses Town of Hinton vehicle to visit MLA Taylor at #ableg all afternoon. Naughty ldr.

Apparently Glenn Taylor went to the Alberta Legislature today to meet with Dave Taylor. It seems quite obvious he drove a vehicle belonging to the town of Hinton. Now is this a vehicle for his own personal use? Is it shared with other members of council?

Hmmm and there "all afternoon"? I wonder who is going to pick up the cost of the parking ticket?

Seems Mr. Taylor is creating more questions than he is answering.

What exactly are they doing at city hall?

Are they using our money wisely? Are they, “walking the talk?

Without an independent audit and review; we are really only left with the propaganda they dispense to us. This is usually in the form of a multi-page glossy booklet that we pay for and receive in a timely fashion, just prior to our going to the polls.

This week though I received some insight, which is both independent and I will pass along to all taxpayers at zero cost.

Now my blog is but a baby in the blogosphere, I don’t get a huge amount of hits. Typically my visitors are my family, friends and online acquaintances. Occasionally when I am critical of the PC’s I get hits from the Legislature or as was the case during the election hits from my fellow candidates.

Generally these hits occur when I mention the names specific people or issues. Possibly they are googling by chance or more likely have a permanent search set up to find out what is being said about them. From my past (bad) internet experiences; I must agree it is a very good practice; especially for those “in” elected positions. Normally they only stay for a few minutes and move on, having realized I am just another online blogger.

My hope is that come the next civic election at least a few Calgarians are doing some research and that they stumble upon this entry.

If you read my entries on Oct. 30, you will know I made mention of a certain alderman. I posted it at approximately 12:30 PM. I somewhat expected to get a hit from the City of Calgary, especially if said alderman happened to have a google search set up.

Here is a screen shot of what I actually got.

Indeed it is a hit from the City of Calgary; but look at the visit length. This is truly a record for my blog. Over 23 hours!!

There is not enough information on this blog to take anyone nearly 24 hours to read it, nor is there anything that would keep anyone’s attention for that long. They did not come and go; as that would show as multiple visits. Also they only visited one page; the path does not show any other pages being viewed during that visit.

The only explanation is that they opened it, read it and didn’t close it until the following day. Specifically they opened it at 3:20 PM on Oct 30 (Thursday) and closed it at 2:30 PM on Oct 31. (Friday)

I find it very odd to keep a screen you have already read, open this long. Surely you would notice after a while and close it. Certainly you would notice it at days end or in the morning when you start your work day.

Which really brings us to the critically question; why is a computer at the City of Calgary being left to run for 24 hrs?

Aren’t they the ones telling us to turn off the lights, turn down the heat, use appliances during off peak hours, etc, etc.

This is truly the height of hypocrisy, from the City of Calgary’s own website under the Energy Challenge:

10 Things You Should Never Do!
LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER ON OVERNIGHT

Turning computers off at night when you leave produces an energy savings of 25%! Hard drives built in the early 1980's may have been sensitive to on/off switching, but today's models are not. In fact, it is best to turn off your computer if you will not be using it for more than half an hour.

That’s right the #1 thing we should never do; that wastes energy….
The City is DOING!!!

I don’t know about you, but I think it is time for the extremists in City Hall to get off their high horses about how the rest of us are managing our households and clean up their own FIRST.

To put it plain and simple start spending my tax dollars wisely before you come and ask me for more.