Was Paul Hinman campaigning outside a polling station today?

[octothorp]

Yup, I think the WRA deserves a big congrats on this win; while I'm not anywhere close to being a supporter of the party, I do think that another political voice is always a good thing, especially at the provincial level. It was great to see the Tories finish a distant third. Hopefully that's a sign of more things to come in Calgary next time around.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

The best part of this is we might get some elated drunken posting tonight from First Lady and Firefly.

LOL I was drunk, but still smart enough not to post.

And since I have one arm in sling, it will be sometime before I am typing long responses.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Every single party had people AT polling stations greeting people today at some point. In fact, the Liberals? have an OFFICE attached to a polling station... I think it was the liberals anyway. But it's okay because they say the community centre isn't a part of the school it's attached to, right?

Legally they have 100 feet. And it's not douchy to use it, it's SMART.



Yes indeedy. I think I've fixed all my spelling mistakes, but we'll see more clearly in the AM.



WOOT! I'd just like to say to all the nay-sayers... We're too rural, what? Perhaps it's that we have SMART fiscal policy. When it boils down to "what do you want from your government?" the answer is usually "SMART fiscal policy" or something related. (Better health, better education all fall under that, no?)

I'd just like to say, that's one. Join the movement, join the party, vote for a leader and vote for which direction you'd like to see our party head. Our fiscal policies are sound. Picking a new leader is amost more important than this by-election. Help us make the right choice.

Really? I've worked on many campaigns, and voted I don't know how many times and never been greeted by anyone from a political party at a polling station? Something doesn't sit right with that idea...maybe you're confusing the scrutineers? Call it what you like though...its douchy. I don't care which party does it and would feel the exact same about this if it were any other party. By the time e-day rolls around you've had the chance to woo the voters and for the good of the democratic process the parties and their candidates should at least respect the neutrality of the polling stations. Frankly there is nothing good that can come of allowing candidates to campaign 101 feet from the entrance.

On your second points its good to see that you don't count your chickens before they hatch! One riding in a by election doesn't validate your policies in my eyes. I still would never trust your party with our healthcare or education system. I don't think that because you won a seat that this identifies your fiscal policy as being sound at all. I think that most people have no idea what your fiscal policy is, but they know that is different from the Tories. It means that you captured the pent-up sentiment against the Tories in a by election. Whether that one fades off into the sunset (as Hinman did before) or this turns into something more remains to be seen.

[Resolute 14]

Is it any more douchy than Roberts setting her campaign office up right beside a polling station? Kinda hard to miss all those "Vote Liberal" signs on the way in the door. And I've seen more than one commenter pointing out the PC campaign tank was strategically placed at a polling station as well.

Muchado about nothing by a party of losers bitter that even when the PC's tank, they still can't win.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Is it any more douchy than Roberts setting her campaign office up right beside a polling station? Kinda hard to miss all those "Vote Liberal" signs on the way in the door. And I've seen more than one commenter pointing out the PC campaign tank was strategically placed at a polling station as well.

Muchado about nothing by a party of losers bitter that even when the PC's tank, they still can't win.

Its very different actually, but thanks for the valuable input at the end. That campaign office was there for the entire campaign period. Surely any complaints about that could've been levied weeks in advance.

You might think that it has no impact on the voters walking into the polling station, to which I would ask, "then why do it?" Its pretty clear what was going on here. This is not a partisan issue in my eyes at all and if this were the Liberal or NDP candidate (or anyone else) I would have the same feelings.

Honestly part of the problem is that there are all kinds of shenanigans that take place on election day and there don't seem to be any stiff penalties to dissuade the candidates from trying them. If a guy does something that may be borderline and it increases his vote the damage is done, but there are no reprecussions. I'm not sure how you fix that exactly, but that is something that all political supporters ought to be concerned about.

[Resolute 14]

Obviously Hinman was there because he was trying to help his cause.

But you don't honestly think Kent Hehr was just out for a leisurely stroll, do you? As one of the commentors in the blog entry that started this thread asked: What the hell was a Liberal MLA doing there?

I'm sorry if I don't find the complaints of a hypocrite to be a serious issue like you do.

And yes, this is nothing but bitter complaining by the Liberals. They had a golden opportunity last night, and virtually nobody moved into their ranks. Their change in support was flat.

The Herald put it well: Both the PCs and Liberals lost to a party without a leader. If that isn't a damning statement on the public opinion of both Stelmach and Swann, I don't know what is.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

But you don't honestly think Kent Hehr was just out for a leisurely stroll, do you? As one of the commentors in the blog entry that started this thread asked: What the hell was a Liberal MLA doing there?

Ugh.

You've never met Kent Hehr, have you?


This is Kent Hehr:

[Resolute 14]

Obviously I hadn't.

Doesn't invalidate the point: He wasn't there by accident.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Obviously I hadn't.

Doesn't invalidate the point: He wasn't there by accident.

Pun not intended

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Pun not intended

...

lol, indeed.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Ugh.

You've never met Kent Hehr, have you?


This is Kent Hehr:

He meant leisurely roll.

[transplant99]

Libs sound bitter...

The video, shot by a Liberal volunteer, has been sent to Elections Alberta

Donn Lovett, campaign manager for Roberts, charges Hinman’s actions are not fair to voters or other candidates in the race

“It’s not democratic. It’s unfair and it’s in contravention of the Election Act,” Lovett alleged

Not "democratic"??? By what stretch of what imagination could he possibly conclude that?

“You cannot talk to electors at the poll in any circumstance, whether they’re lined up inside or outside the school or wherever it is located,” Westwater said, adding that campaigning is also not allowed at entranceways or parking lots outside polling stations.

Candidates, however, can campaign at nearby public street corners or sidewalks on election day, Westwater said

Sounds like he was sure pushing the enevelope on this though. However, if he is not found to of broken the by-law, my question would be why were the other candidates not there? And beyond that...does anyone realthink that his appearance there yesterday was the tipping point?

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/El...492/story.html

[Azure]

LOL...

Talk about being a bunch of sore losers. The quote the Herald had about the Liberals and the PCs losing to a party without a leader is awesome.

The funny thing in all of this is nobody knows which direction the WRA will go socially. We just know what their fiscal policies are, and based on THAT, and the fact that people are upset with Farmer Ed, Hinman got elected.

I say its awesome.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Libs sound bitter...



Not "democratic"??? By what stretch of what imagination could he possibly conclude that?



Sounds like he was sure pushing the enevelope on this though. However, if he is not found to of broken the by-law, my question would be why were the other candidates not there? And beyond that...does anyone realthink that his appearance there yesterday was the tipping point?

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/El...492/story.html

The penalty for this is a 500 dollar fine. We're not talking fate-of-our-democracy stuff here.

However, I'll agree with those who've said that campaigning outside a polling place, even if you're technically 101 feet away, is tacky. I don't care what party you're with. It's in poor taste.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Not "democratic"??? By what stretch of what imagination could he possibly conclude that?

If you go by the standards of the federal party, anything that does not see a Liberal elected is "not democratic".

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by peter12

He meant leisurely roll.

I'm going to hell. Because I laughed.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Obviously Hinman was there because he was trying to help his cause.

But you don't honestly think Kent Hehr was just out for a leisurely stroll, do you? As one of the commentors in the blog entry that started this thread asked: What the hell was a Liberal MLA doing there?

I'm sorry if I don't find the complaints of a hypocrite to be a serious issue like you do.

And yes, this is nothing but bitter complaining by the Liberals. They had a golden opportunity last night, and virtually nobody moved into their ranks. Their change in support was flat.

The Herald put it well: Both the PCs and Liberals lost to a party without a leader. If that isn't a damning statement on the public opinion of both Stelmach and Swann, I don't know what is.

You don't think that because Hinman was there to further his own cause that there isn't reason to be upset by that? Kent was there to speak to Paul Hinman about this...which is a far cry from campaigning. I fail to see how you draw the line there.

Doesn't it mean anything to you that these complaints were levied before the results were known? Even you in your infinite wisdom to read peoples minds here didn't know that Hinman was going to win. Clearly Hinman didn't know that he was going to win either, otherwise he would've not bothered with this tactic.

I'm not taking anything away from the WRA and their win. Full credit to them for capturing that sentiment and capitalising on this. It is definitely interesting that they won without a leader and a blow to the Liberals and PC's in that regard. That in and of itself though doesn't mean that this doesn't bother me.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Obviously I hadn't.

Doesn't invalidate the point: He wasn't there by accident.

I can't believe that I'm wasting my time in discussing this with you when you clearly didn't even watch the video that started this whole thread.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Slava

I'm not taking anything away from the WRA and their win. Full credit to them for capturing that sentiment and capitalising on this. It is definitely interesting that they won without a leader and a blow to the Liberals and PC's in that regard. That in and of itself though doesn't mean that this doesn't bother me.

Well, except for the part where you want to vote for a WRA leader that you think will marginalize the party from most Albertans.

Sure, you're not taking anything away from them at ALL.

I mean, if you want to talk about distasteful politics and all....

[transplant99]

However, I'll agree with those who've said that campaigning outside a polling place, even if you're technically 101 feet away, is tacky. I don't care what party you're with. It's in poor taste.

See...im not sure i understand why though. I agree that I wouldnt want someone coming up to me while in line to vote...but if someone is outside trying to get their message across to me in person before i enter/get inline, I wouldnt have a single problem with it.

If this is just some longtime honored tradition he broke, then yeah i get why some are upset. But to call it undemocratic and to lodge a complaint about it? reeks of pure bitterness to me.