Halton District School Board Ward 4 incumbent trustee Kathryn Bateman-Olmstead’s opened a campaign web page seeking contributions before officially registering to run again.
As reported by the Star today, Kathryn Bateman-Olmstead, who represents the Ward 4 district in Oakville, opened a campaign web page seeking contributions before officially registering to run again.
The Ontario Municipal Elections Guide explicitly requires candidates to register before contributions can be collected.
Kathryn Bateman-Olmstead told the Star that it was a mistake noting, “I’m just learning to use WordPress,” she told the Star. “That’s all.” She also told us at Oakville Chit Chat that her lack of technical expertise caused the publishing/timing issue and that no funds had been collected.
Although the page is no longer up on the site, a screen grab was sent to the Star dated Thursday, Sept. 2 at 5:26 p.m. and had a paragraph asking for money.
“An election campaign is an expensive undertaking, and even a small donation to my campaign will help me communicate with voters via this website, signs, literature and advertising,” it read.
The deadline for registering in municipal elections is Sept. 10. Bateman-Olmstead registered Sept. 3.
She said she wanted to spend the summer with her three sons before getting into election mode for the job, which she said pays about $13,000.
“I haven’t done anything yet,” Bateman-Olmstead told the Star. She said she hadn’t received any donations before registering. “I don’t even have an email list.”
The provincial Ministry of Municipal Housing and Affairs investigates accusations of candidate misconduct when asked to by someone eligible to vote, media relations spokesperson Susan Bishop said via email.
Audits are done after the election and candidates who break the rules risk fines of up to $25,000, up to six months in prison, loss of elected office and ineligibility to run again.
There are several issues that the Town of Oakville, Halton District School Board and the Ward 4 trustee herself have to consider:
- Oakville does not want to be seen violating election rules. The last thing we want to see is our Town become known for political wranglings. Cities such as Vaughan are now known for their political corruptions.
- The defense ‘not knowing it was live’ may be difficult to prove. WordPress is ‘real time’ software. We run Oakville Chit Chat using WordPress. Our other website development companies Wordtech Communications Inc. and Website Design Divas develop websites using WordPress. WordPress documentation describes how to publish a post/page, save a draft or publish at a later date. Although the software claims to be useful to novice users to develop websites, it is often better for novice users to have a firm setup the site initially and train on how to maintain the site after all layout/functions have been worked out. Many software companies (including our own mentioned above) specialize in developing sites using this software because it does require work/expertise.
- If the maximum penalties are imposed, the Ward could lose its current trustee or elected trustee (assuming she wins the next election). Is that something that would be good for the Ward because an alternative substitute would have to be appointed?
Note: Our website design companies Wordtech Communications Inc. and Website Design Divas are currently having their sites redesigned to prove the design capabilities of WordPress and designing websites using it. Design work can be requested at wordtech@sympatico.ca.
We would appreciate your thoughts on this.
Good morning! just wanted to speak about White Oaks Secondary! I have been informed that this school is so overcrowded that they are having classes in the cafeteria and the teachers lounge. This is unacceptable. I know that kids have also had to wear gloves in the class room in the winter because it was too cold to hold a pen!! This school is just starting to get new windows which should have been done years ago and the bathrooms are also on the list of neglected items in this school, I cannot being to list the items that I have noticed in this school that are so depressing in a learning enviroment. I have seen that the new high school is being built in 2012 which is a welcome in the community but it is a total shame that a lot of the children that are presently at White Oaks will not benefit from a clean and uncrowed school.
We would love to have an article with details on this school if it is in need of repairs. Email us at chitchat@oakvillechitchat.com and let us know.