The chamber of commerce all-candidates forum, held Oct. 12, saw one of the first “dirty politics” attempts to discredit a candidate for council in the municipal election. Why? Simply, because at one point they had been the treasurer of the St. Albert Taxpayers’ Association (SATA). This individual resigned this position to run for council.
The unsigned, unattributed leaflet was also designed to smear the non-partisan stance that SATA has taken during the campaign. SATA has taken the position and states on our website, and at our meetings, that we are not affiliated with any political movements or organizations and do not promote any candidates running for public office in St. Albert. The leaflet suggested the fact this candidate had been part of SATA, that this somehow that meant that SATA was biased towards this candidate.
However, I think our actions during this campaign speak much louder than innuendo. During the campaign, SATA has provided forums for candidates to speak to the public. Our advertising has spoken to the record of current and past councils and has printed all the responses we received to our questionnaire.
It was disappointing to members of the St. Albert Taxpayers’ Association that no one from the chamber saw fit to notice and stop the distribution of the document and eject those responsible from the forum. Certainly at the SATA forum, there was none of this type of dirty politicking.
Lynda Flannery, St. Albert Taxpayers’ Association
