Incumbent Coun. Uses City Email for Campaign, FOIP Reveals Link Removal Reason

Council candidate Kelly Allard remarking on the city’s flip-flop on its decision to post links to candidate information on its website.

Editor’s note: Council candidate Kelly Allard is a contributor to Owl News. She was not consulted on this article outside the interview and background documents she provided.

While the city has flip-flopped on the decision to post candidate contact links and the the reasons to or not to, there are no issues with an incumbent. councillor utilizing his city email for campaign purposes.

The city went from posting links to civic election candidate’s websites, social media accounts and contact information to reversing course earlier this month and then reversing that decision.

The issue has been a thorny one for council candidate Kelly Allard as she’s been at the centre of the decision to remove all candidate links.

“It was Sept. 3 when I realized my link, and only my link, was removed from the city candidate list,” she said.

A screenshot of the City of Medicine Hat’s candidate contacts revealing incumbent Coun. Robert Dumanowski utilizing his city email account for his election campaign.

After seeking information regarding the removal on the same day, Allard said, “they removed all of the links which I thought was really weird. They said they had a complaint about my website, that’s why they took down my link.”

Allard subsequently raised concerns regarding incumbent Coun. Robert Dumanowski utilizing his City of Medicine Hat work email account as his election contact.

“In the absence of the Code of Conduct Bylaw (repealed by Bill 50), the City does not have any specific provisions that would preclude this activity,” stated Andres Cardona Arias, city chief electoral officer, in response to questions regarding that activity.

Several other candidates also raised concern regarding the decision to remove candidate links, including mayoral candidate Drew Barnes, who labelled it “non-sensical” in a Sept. 4 statement.

In a response to Allard’s access to information request concerning the decision, emails on the topic from public school trustee Wesley Paterson, councillor candidate Kaleb Orge and incumbent Coun. Shila Sharps were provided.

Allard’s access to information request also revealed internal emails that appeared to counter the narrative in the city’s initial Sept. 3 release announcing the reasons for the removal of candidate links.

In a redacted email to incumbent council candidate Shila Sharps from acting city manager Tarolyn Aaserud, it indicates a different reason for removal of candidate links.

In Aaserud’s Sept. 5 email to Sharps, she stated the decision was due to a complaint about Allard.

A Sept. 5 email from acting city manager Tarolyn Aaserud to incumbent council candidate Shila Sharps explaining a different reason for removal of candidate information from the city’s website than that publicly stated in a release.

“On Saturday Aug. 30 (and again on Monday Sept. 1), the Chief Electoral Officer received an email from a resident concerned [REDACTED] on Kelly Allard’s campaign website [REDACTED],” read Aaserud’s email to Sharps. “On Wednesday morning, it was decided that it was inequitable that one link be removed [REDACTED] and that [REDACTED] so the decision was made to remove links to all candidate sites.”

The Sept. 3 city release stated its decision was guided by two principles; “Avoiding perceived endorsement” as well as “jurisdictional best practices.”

The day prior to the Aaserud email on Sept. 4, the city acknowledged a jurisdictional scan which was conducted by the city to back its decision to remove candidate links was faulty.

 “I did a little jurisdictional scan of my own,” stated Allard. “Out of 13 communities, 12 of them posted links and some of them went a lot further than Medicine Hat did.”

When she inquired about the city’s jurisdictional scan, Allard said she was told, “we can’t tell you anything about that.”

The city announced it was reversing its decision on Sept. 23 in a release.

It stated the initial reason for the decision occurred, “after hearing concern from the community that linking to candidate information could be perceived as an endorsement of viewpoints.”

As of Monday morning, Coun. Dumanowski continues to utilize his City of Medicine Hat as his listed election campaign contact.