Dear editor:
Congratulations councillor Morgan Nagel, you’ve once again found an uncanny ability to find a political opportunity to make a point that very few people would argue against, while simultaneously differentiating yourself from the rest of council.
In your article, “Time to end municipal campaign donations” you make the point that political contributions should be “illegal” and rightly point out the risk of self-serving interests when politics and business become intertwined. Even some of the most respected members of our council have unfortunately lost sight of this at times. This province has had such a history of this intertwining of interests, is it any wonder why people are skeptical of all politicians? Thank God the NDP are now poised to take electoral reform to a previously unimaginable level.
I believe that there could be a philosophical debate about the ability of a person to be able to still accept donations without this being a conflict of interest if there were clear rules that forced transparency which were enforced by all members of council, but I have to concede that this is a very slippery slope and the most practical way of ensuring that no conflict of interest exists is simply by banning these donations outright; something I’m 100 per cent in favor of.
You’ll have to forgive my own skepticism about your motivations for this article though. Remember, while I applauded your earlier motion to publicize council expenses, I also challenged you to do more, sadly, I’m still waiting. You say you have tried but have been unable to ban political donations because the province determines Cochrane’s election laws…very true but very misleading.
Here’s my problem with what you are saying; there is plenty you could do but haven’t. You are in a position of power and you can do so much more than you are doing. Why not introduce motions obligating anyone who has received any political donation from a union or business to exclude themselves from voting on any matter associated with that entity? Why not introduce motion(s) defining what criteria must be used by council to justify closed-door meetings? Why not introduce motion(s) asking for all council meetings to be taped and made public? Why not introduce motion(s) asking for funding to have a town sponsored election debate with an independent moderator? Why not…well, I think you get my point.
You’ve shown us that you are energetic, charismatic, well spoken, smart and capable of making change; now show us that you are capable of doing more than just temporary flashes of opportunistic brilliance.
Dan Cunin
The following is a list of campaign contributions in descending order from Cochrane’s 2013 municipal election:
Councillors – Dan Cunin ($4,965); Morgan Nagel ($1,455); Tara McFadden ($1,200); Gaynor Levisky ($1,185); Kaitee Dal Pra ($194); Jim Uffelmann ($20); Jamie Kleinsteuber, Jeff Toews, Ross Watson, Steve Grossick, Marty Lee and Mary Lou Davis did not receive or did not accept any donations to their campaigns.
Mayors – David Smith ($9,910); Joann Churchill ($8,399); Ivan Brooker ($5,700)
