“Section 70 (4) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 prohibits contributions to campaigns by municipalities or local boards.
It further suggests the following:
To conform to this legislation all biographies of Councillors that are currently nominated as a candidate for the 2010 Municipal Election must be deleted from their website.
Finally, it suggested that several councillors still have bios posted on their city web sites. If this is true, and this interpretation of Section 70 (4) is correct, some councillors may want to take appropriate action.
Clr. Merulla , for example, seems to be in compliance and cites the section on his site (see it here) At the time of this posting (11:04pm), many do not seem to be. You can browse the various sites here
The Hamiltonian Staff
The Hamiltonian does not endorse or counter any candidate running in the municiple election. We are nuetral. We operate in a democratic context where free speech is valued. Our focus is to engage Hamiltonians in dialogue with one another on matters concerning our great city. We encourage all Hamiltonians to vote. To get to know other candidates who have registered, click here. For more information or to be a guest here, please email adminhamiltonian@cogeco.ca.
Looks like some changes were made overnight lol.
ReplyDeleteI see some of the bio's have been removed, and few haven't.
ReplyDeleteWhat should also be questioned are the links to the personal websites. www.councillor-name-here.com is a personal site, and not owned (or maintained) by The City of Hamilton. IMHO, personal websites should not be referenced once an incumbent becomes a nominated candidate.
Some have and others have not removed their bio's. After just checking, some have the personal web-site listed as previously stated. Interestingly, others have the bylaw quoted and then a list of the committee's the councillor has served on.
ReplyDeleteMake a note of these folks. Do you not want your councillor to uphold not only the intent of the law, but the spirit as well? If the law is flouted on this, then what other laws will they disregard or bend to their will and/or advantage?
Why does the city give councillors the opportunity to advertise personal websites on the city's site at any time. I can't think of any other employer that permits this.
ReplyDeleteI just checked, Russ Powers still has his Bio up, and he is a registered candidate. Bingo. Screen capturing evidence.
ReplyDeleteThe city should make it easy for the public to find websites for all contenders. But the city must be even handed.
ReplyDelete