2013 Calgary Municipal Election Thread

[JobHopper]

Originally Posted by Slava

Really? I took a picture of my ballot in 2010. Frankly that picture is awesome. How often in life will I have a picture of the ballot where I get to vote for myself?

I get that its a secret ballot....but honest question, what's the difference if I tweet a photo of my marked ballot or the same tweet that says "I just voted for Jesse Jackson!" ?

It's one thing if you're a voter and another if you're a candidate. I was thinking for voting for myself as well. I just can't bring myself to throw away my vote so to speak, not yet anyway.

I just don't think he should have done it but he's not in my ward and I don't really know a lot about him.

[Muta]

Honestly, who cares if people take a picture of their ballot? What's the big deal? It's no different than telling anyone who will listen who you voted for.

More picture-worthy is writing in your friend's name on the ballot and putting three 'checks' beside it, along with a drunk sketch of a rocket ship. I've done that numerous times over the last 10 years in federal, provincial and municipal elections, always putting my same friend's name down each time.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by JobHopper

It's one thing if you're a voter and another if you're a candidate. I was thinking for voting for myself as well. I just can't bring myself to throw away my vote so to speak, not yet anyway.

I just don't think he should have done it but he's not in my ward and I don't really know a lot about him.

I was a candidate. That's why I took the picture.

[JobHopper]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Agree 100%. This does not cast Carra into Monster status not worthy of votes.

It does raise a question of ethic and character. I believe He did remove his tweet so that says something. I would just think someone running for council would be aware of the rules. We are looking for leadership here.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by JobHopper

It does raise a question of ethic and character. I believe He did remove his tweet so that says something. I would just think someone running for council would be aware of the rules. We are looking for leadership here.

Honestly, we can assume that candidates are voting for themselves, so it's not a big issue.

There are reasons why it's a secret ballot, but a candidate posting a picture of their ballot isn't really worrisome at all.

If thousands of people started taking pictures of their completed ballot, you would have more of an issue.

[Mazrim]

Apparently Serena's Dad (Ward 12/14 Trustee Candidate) has some good money to throw around, because his signs along Canyon Meadows Drive are are bigger than anyone else's (Councilor or Mayoral Candidate included), and there's a TON of them.

I didn't realize it was such a contentious race that trustees needed to put huge advertisements out.

[First Lady]

I asked this on Twitter, but no one seems to know. So will give it a shot here.

At the provincial level elections third parties who advertise or spend money during campaign need to register and file financials.

Like this:

http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/Pu...bsite/1764.htm

I've looked for and can't find a similar requirement at the municipal level.

Any idea if this is a requirement?

[Bigtime]

So First Lady, what are you and your husband up to with this website?

http://civiccamp.net/

http://civiccamp.net/?page_id=10

The name being legally available and all is one thing, taking all of the hard work of VOLUNTEERS since 2009 or so and trashing them with this display of politics at its worst is quite something else.

[bizaro86]

So, after numerous requests in this thread for someone to research the ward 2 candidates and report back (with no results, thanks a lot guys), I decided I'd have to actually research them myself. I've attached my summary notes on each candidate below, in order of how many lawn signs I've seen. All the research was done from the candidates websites and online news sources (Herald, etc).

Joe Maglioca
I see his giant face on signs every day, and thought his comments reported from the forum regarding trains to outlying communities were foolish and demonstrated a lack of understanding. He has the most fiscally conservative rhetoric on his website, but his platform is generally short on detail and of low quality. He lives in the ward, and was endorsed by TJ Galiardi. He sells charter flights for a living. Although I'm generally a fiscal conservative, his platform and background don't engender any confidence. Don't recommend. http://www.ward2.ca/site/

Shawn Ripley
He works as a consultant for land developers, and has been on the Calgary Planning Commission. This suggests he is knowledgeable about land use issues, but may find it hard to say no to former developer clients if elected. He seems qualified to be a councillor, but doesn't live in or have any connection to ward 2. He strikes me as an opportunist who only selected this riding because of no incumbent, and I don't think he'd be an effective representative for ward issues. His website is the most professionally designed aesthetically speaking, but some of the links don't work. Never contacted me back when I phoned the campaign about it. Platform is short on detail and long on platitudes.
Don't recommend. http://shawnripley.ca/

Terry Wong
Works for the city, has held various operations management roles for decades. Consummate city insider, probably would be successful in dealing with administration representing ward issues. Doesn't live in the ward, but does live nearby in Edgemont. Has a reasonably detailed platform, including things that are highly specific (eg community centre for Hawkwood). http://vote4terrywong.com/

Bernie Dowhan
A teacher who lives in the Ward, Dowhan has the most detailed platform, down to specific traffic improvements. He is also a daily transit user, and had the best comments regarding Crowchild Trail. He was also the most balanced of the candidates, with reasonable and measured approaches to both taxes and secondary suites. http://berniedowhan.ca/ (Much of the information is linked through his blog)

Richard Poon
Works in IT, has a website with reasonable detail. Is opposed to city regulation (bans of pestisides/shark fin soup) but doesn't want secondary suites. I couldn't find any indication of where he lives, may be from outside the ward. http://74.123.69.19/PoonWeb/meet.aspx

After spending a good bit of the morning reading everything I could find on all the ward 2 candidates, Bernie Dowhan seems like the most reasonable, thoughful, and is likely to best represent the ward. I'll be voting for him, and suggest others do the same. My second choice would be Terry Wong.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

So First Lady, what are you and your husband up to with this website?

http://civiccamp.net/

http://civiccamp.net/?page_id=10

The name being legally available and all is on thing, taking all of the hard work of VOLUNTEERS since 2009 or so and trashing them with this display of politics at its worst is quite something else.

For anyone wondering what's going on with this post, the civiccamp.net domain is registered to Cory Morgan, aka First Lady's husband.

http://whois.net/whois/civiccamp.net

[getbak]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

For anyone wondering what's going on with this post, the civiccamp.net domain is registered to Cory Morgan, aka First Lady's husband.

http://whois.net/whois/civiccamp.net

Not to be confused with http://www.civiccamp.org/.

[malcolmk14]

Yeah, I'd like to hear a response... I'd love to know what's going on there.

[First Lady]

There will be more posted on the website in the coming days. Cory is the President and spokesperson and is on phone right now with Markusoff, so he may or may not report on it.

[Bigtime]

That is a terrible response to a terrible idea you and the hubby cooked up.

Once again, you are in essence taking all the hard work, goodwill, and effort of people that have worked on the real Civic Camp since 2009 and take a big sh*t on it. It's pathetic, nothing more, nothing less.

[Bunk]

DJ Kelly explains what the heck CivicCamp is: essentially "a pencil"

http://djkelly.ca/2013/10/what-the-h...source=twitter

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by First Lady

There will be more posted on the website in the coming days. Cory is the President and spokesperson and is on phone right now with Markusoff, so he may or may not report on it.

You are stealing the hard work of volunteers and deliberately misleading people. End of story. It doesn't matter how tight you plug your ears or how loud you say "la la la la la I can't hear you!" that's what is happening here.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by First Lady

There will be more posted on the website in the coming days. Cory is the President and spokesperson and is on phone right now with Markusoff, so he may or may not report on it.

Can you explain your intentions with running a site like this? Looks to me like you're just going to be grading candidates. How is your evaluation criteria selected? The fact that you have Mar, Farrell and Carra (all well-known inner city supporters) all with abysmal grades suggests to me that you're taking a particular approach to grading. Not saying I support / don't support them, just curious to know what the story is.

Are you at all associated with CivicCamp.org?

[Bigtime]

They are most definitely NOT associated with CivicCamp.org

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Can you explain your intentions with running a site like this? Looks to me like you're just going to be grading candidates. How is your evaluation criteria selected? The fact that you have Mar, Farrell and Carra (all well-known inner city supporters) all with abysmal grades suggests to me that you're taking a particular approach to grading. Not saying I support / don't support them, just curious to know what the story is.

Are you at all associated with CivicCamp.org?

I think the thing that's trying to be done is to 'expose', through some sort of parody, the actual Civic Camp as some kind of nefarious partisan political organization with grand social engineering agenda led by Cheri Macaulay to make us all ride bicycles and wear hipster peacoats.

I think they also may be suggesting by not being registered they are not being transparent about their supposed backing, structure or intentions. But to suggest so would be a fundamental misunderstanding of what CivicCamp actually is.

I think DJ Kelly does a good job explaining what the actual CivicCamp is, who's involved and so forth.

http://djkelly.ca/2013/10/what-the-h...source=twitter

It amazes me that this "organization", which in the context of this election has been doing pretty much nothing other than running election forums in each Ward, and provide a platform for candidates to disclose campaign donations, is a foil for certain folks. There was that advertorial style ad that ran in the Sun a couple weeks ago suggesting Cheri Macaulay was the "leader" of this mysterious group of citizens. It also suggested a bunch of Councillors were "affiliated" with CivicCamp because they attended a CivicCamp event.

[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Apparently Serena's Dad (Ward 12/14 Trustee Candidate) has some good money to throw around, because his signs along Canyon Meadows Drive are are bigger than anyone else's (Councilor or Mayoral Candidate included), and there's a TON of them.

I didn't realize it was such a contentious race that trustees needed to put huge advertisements out.

Those signs are hilarious. I don't know who I'm going to vote for, but definitely not that guy. I have to question his judgement based on those signs.