Here's a question that didn't come up at any of the municipal election forums held in St. Albert — "Can council stop being out of touch and indifferent?"
This is one of several messages contained in an advertising campaign that's appeared in numerous local media outlets, including the Gazette, in recent weeks. The ads state that they've been paid for by "Wise Choice, a group of like-minded St. Albert citizens."
"Just a bunch of concerned residents saying that they wanted to make sure people are informed, that people go out to vote, that people vote with knowledge," said Blaine Emmons, the group's spokesman.
Emmons said he's being paid to be speak on behalf of the group. He wouldn't say how many members were in the group but that they come from all over St. Albert.
"There's a fair amount. At this present time they don't wish to divulge any information about [themselves]," he said.
Group members are remaining anonymous because they don't want to expose themselves to attack letters, he said.
The ads have suggested that council's only accomplishment in the last term has been raising property taxes and have criticized council for how it decided to allow an affordable housing project to proceed at 70 Arlington Dr. But Emmons insisted the ads aren't bent on taking down incumbent candidates.
"We just want to get a message out," he said. "We're not trying to affect what people think … we just want you to go out and find out the truth."
Emmons is an Akinsdale resident who is among the group of 14 residents suing the city over council's decision to allow an affordable housing project at 70 Arlington Dr.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said the ads represent people exercising their democratic right but they are also spreading misinformation and being disrespectful, he added. He also isn't impressed with the anonymity.
"Who are you? Are you a society, are you a group [that does] not want to put your names [out there]?" Crouse said. "I would love to know who everybody is so that we can be open and transparent," he continued.
"There's obviously an accusation that council's not open and transparent. The flip side is also true. If you have something to say, be open and transparent about it," Crouse said.
He said he's not doing anything specific in his campaign to counter the ads but he'll be looking to speak to those involved directly.
"I'll worry about that on Tuesday if I'm the mayor," Crouse said. "I will deal with disrespect in a face-to-face approach as opposed to mass media communications."
Flyers, endorsements
Another grassroots initiative under way is a flyer campaign in Akinsdale that says council has ignored the neighbourhood with its Arlington Drive decision. The flyer has appeared in mailboxes throughout Akinsdale and endorses four candidates: Shelley Biermanski, Cam MacKay, Norm Harley and Stanley Haroun.
"We just feel that those candidates, if they were on council, would represent the city well as opposed to some of the others," said Gerry Kress, a member of the "The Akinsdale Group," which is behind the circulars.
There's about a dozen people working on the flyer and roughly 80 in the group altogether, Kress said.
"We're just trying to keep people informed about the importance [of voting,]" he said.
Kress is also one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the city.
Mayoral challenger Biermanski said these grassroots campaigns are all part of a healthy democracy.
"Everybody wants support but nobody wants things getting nasty," she said. "It's great that people are getting involved."
History
Third-party ad campaigns aren't new in St. Albert, said former mayor Richard Plain, who recalled a particularly nasty campaign in 2004 over the previous council's decision to ban smoking in public places.
The St. Albert electorate is fairly sophisticated and tends to form an opinion about council performance over a period of time, Plain said. The voters don't necessarily need ad campaigns to "clean out their councils" every once in a while, he said.
"If it's close then this type of advertising can be effective," he said. "In terms of completely changing a vote from night to day, I'd be a lot more skeptical about that."
Dirty pool
The St. Albert Taxpayers' Association (SATA) and chamber of commerce are pointing to an incident at Tuesday's candidates forum as an example of dirty politics infecting the campaign.
A sheet circulated in the room pointed out that council candidate MacKay had been the treasurer of the taxpayers' association. It also highlighted the association's policy to not promote specific candidates.
The anonymous sheet was among campaign literature left on chairs for forum attendees, which is a tradition at chamber forums, said president and CEO Lynda Moffat.
"It's just a terrible shame that a process like that has to be abused. I'm just disgusted that this took place," she said.
Moffat only learned of the incident the day after the forum. At future forums, the chamber will scrutinize and approve all information before it's circulated, she said.
"We never ever in a million years would have allowed [the document] to be distributed there had we known," Moffat said.
MacKay himself said he's never denied that he served on the SATA board and stepped down when he decided to run for council. He doesn't think the anonymous paper will hurt his campaign.
"The only thing I thought was in poor taste is they didn't identify who they were," he said.
SATA has been very careful to restrict its activities to providing information about candidates' views on various issues and has steered clear of endorsing any candidate, said president Lynda Flannery.
"They're using innuendo, I think, to try to discredit both SATA and one of the candidates who is running," she said. "I just view that as being dirty politics."
