10 replies to this topic

[think local]

We invite you to join in the effort to request three BC Provincial Government Ministers to reinstate Catherine Alpha as Trustee of School District 61 (Greater Victoria). The Ministers with authority in this regard are the Minister of Education, the Minister of Community Development, and the Attorney General.

Since being elected to the School Board last November, Catherine has been one of the most active and outspoken School Trustees for fully-funded, quality public education.

As you may be aware, the Secretary-Treasurer of SD 61 did not advise Catherine that she provided election financing disclosure information on the incorrect forms until after the late filing deadline passed. Now, as a result of a simple paperwork error, provincial legislation disqualifies Catharine as Trustee and she is also prohibited from running for office again until 2014. However, the Cabinet Ministers mentioned above have the authority to intervene.

More background details are available online at: vpec.org.

We are urging every public education advocate in BC to write to these Ministers and request that they act to prevent this unfair application of the legislation, allow Catherine to resubmit her financial disclosure information, and reinstate her as Trustee. Contact details and an outline follow.

There is some urgency to this appeal. The majority of the other Trustees, acting with unnecessary haste, have already called a by-election for June 27th in order to replace Catherine. If Catherine is reinstated there won't be a by-election.

Please forward this email to other public education activists you know in BC. Thank you very much for your support.

Patrick Schreck
Co-Chair, Victoria Public Education Coalition

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The following is a suggested outline for your letters:

The Honorable Kevin Krueger, MLA
Minister of Community Development
Province of British Columbia
Rm 124
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9E2
kevin.krueger.mla@leg.bc.ca

Dear Mr. Krueger,

Re: Disqualification of Catharine Alpha as a SD61 trustee due to a clerical error in financial disclosure

In the Greater Victoria School District almost 11,000 electors had their elected trustee disqualified as a result of a simple, honest clerical error. Now the School District must conduct an expensive by-election that nobody wants or needs. This is a travesty and completely irresponsible.

I understand you have the authority to allow Catherine Alpha to resubmit her financial disclosure documents and reinstate her as Trustee. I would implore you to do so.

By intervening, you can prevent school district funds being diverted from classrooms into an unnecessary by-election. Moreover, you can prevent the votes of 11,000 citizens from being discounted due to a clerical error.

I trust you appreciate the urgency of acting on this matter.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Sincerely,

(name and contact information)
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Other Ministers to receive your letter:

The Honorable Shirley Bond, MLA
Minister of Education
Province of British Columbia
Rm 248
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, B.C., V8V 1X
shirley.bond.mla@leg.bc.ca


The Honorable Wally Oppal, MLA, QC
Attorney General
Province of British Columbia
Rm 234
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, B.C., V8V 1X4
wally.oppal.mla@leg.bc.ca

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Recent articles:
http://communities.canada.com/vancouver ... fault.aspx

http://victoriavision.blogspot.com/2009 ... ustee.html

[Rob Randall]

I ran an unsuccessful campaign for Victoria Council in the 2008 Civic elections and filled out the same disclosure statement Alpha did. The forms are relatively straightforward but the form dealing with third party support was more challenging to interpret. I wasn't backed by any party or group so I didn't have to fill it out; I filled out a different version of it.

It's difficult for me to determine exactly what went wrong here. What I've been able to glean from the various sketchy media reports is that she has a little paranoid about making sure people knew she was wholly supported by VPEC and so filled out the third party disclosure but not the individual disclosure form, when in fact she should have filled out and signed both. Again, I'm not sure this happened; it's just a guess. The media only said she put the correct information on the wrong form.

Third party rules were changed this election so there were no prior election forms to compare her form with.

It doesn't appear that the mistake was intended to defraud. From all appearances (and I'm not an expert) it looks like an honest mistake. The huge delay between the submission and the news of the error was unnecessary and costly.

Trustee Tom Ferris disagreed, saying:

Nonetheless the secretary-treasurer of the Greater Victoria school district reminded all candidates to file their materials on several occasions and before the deadline reminded Alpha that she needed to file the Campaign Financing Disclosure form and sent to her a template of the form for her to sign and submit. She did not submit this form.

A further reminder was also sent out by Judith Clark of the B.C. School Trustees Association before the final deadline. These are pre-printed materials prepared for candidates by the province.

When candidates asked for assistance it was provided. It is completely unfair for anyone to attempt to blame someone else for their failure to file materials clearly required under the Local Government Act. Further, the board has no power at its disposal to reinstate her.

But if Alpha honestly thought her forms were correctly and accurately submitted and she wasn't alerted to the error, why would she seek assistance?

Since the forms were submitted well before the deadline the right thing to do would have been for the people examining the disclosure statements to call Alpha as soon as the discrepancy was discovered in order to give her one last chance to get things in order.

I don't know Alpha, and don't know her platform or views so I'm trying to look at this from an objective standpoint.

All I know is that this is a big, wasteful mess that could have been avoided.

[Newlywednotnearlydead]

Doesn't sound like she had any excuses, I didn't hear of anyone else not submitting the proper paperwork. It sounds as if every effort was made to inform candidates of their obligations.

[spanky123]

With all of the issues the school boards face with budget cutbacks and funding shortfalls, I think the last thing we want to do is elect a trustee who cannot complete basic paperwork. Let's face it, 300 odd other trustees across the Province managed to figure it out.

If it were up to me, Alpha would be paying for the by-election.

[VicDuck]

If she really was an advocate for public education then she would have submitted the forms on time.

[phx]

She lost some credibility by her reluctance to accept responsibility for the mistake.

[Rob Randall]

If she really was an advocate for public education then she would have submitted the forms on time.

As mentioned, the forms were submitted with plenty of time to spare.

Let's face it, 300 odd other trustees across the Province managed to figure it out.

True, but we don't know how many of those 300 made errors that were caught in time by staff and if they were given time to fix them. Monday Magazine implied that errors on disclosure documents were common, even at the Provincial level and things were worked out.

My experience with the City of Victoria staff was that they made sure everything was done by the book but they bent over backward to make sure it was done properly and on time.

[think local]

Rob, your posts (in my opinion) are spot on. As we see in the Duncan City Counsel situation this isn't so uncommon and as you've pointed out normally officials bend over backwards to ensure everyone has dotted all their eyes and crossed their t's.

The decision to run a by-election has been unnecessary and a huge waste of money that will cost students directly.

Have you read Janet Steffenhagen's Blog today - Voting starts before court rules on Catherine Alpha? www.vancouversun/reportcard (06-14-2009)

[spanky123]

As mentioned, the forms were submitted with plenty of time to spare.



True, but we don't know how many of those 300 made errors that were caught in time by staff and if they were given time to fix them. Monday Magazine implied that errors on disclosure documents were common, even at the Provincial level and things were worked out.

My experience with the City of Victoria staff was that they made sure everything was done by the book but they bent over backward to make sure it was done properly and on time.

Rob,

Reading the article by Tom Ferris is states:

It is not that she made an error on a form that she submitted. Rather it is that she did not submit any of the required forms.

This seems to suggest that either you or Mr. Ferris has some facts wrong. It is one thing to submit the wrong paperwork as you suggest and another to not submit anything at all.

[Rob Randall]

Rob,

Reading the article by Tom Ferris is states:

It is not that she made an error on a form that she submitted. Rather it is that she did not submit any of the required forms.

This seems to suggest that either you or Mr. Ferris has some facts wrong. It is one thing to submit the wrong paperwork as you suggest and another to not submit anything at all.

Ferris knows Alpha submitted the correct data on the wrong form but maintains that because there was an error, the forms become disqualified and therefore do not exist.

We should be thankful Revenue Canada doesn't have that policy when it comes to our tax returns.

The form says that if you make a mistake or something changes (ie: someone pays off your debt) you have 30 days after the deadline to file an amendment, no penalty.

I think both sides screwed up. Alpha missed the paragraph in the book saying supported candidates still have to submit the individual form, and the city screwed up by waiting until well after both deadlines to go over the form and find the rather obvious error.

[Jill]

I agree with Rob. To me the issue isn't that Alpha made a mistake -- having made a few myself, I don't expect perfection in anyone, and it isn't as though Alpha has committed some crime that makes her unfit to occupy elected office -- but whether or not the Victoria board needed to respond as hastily as it did. From everything I've read on this issue, it did not, and the case in Duncan demonstrates that the board did have a choice.