Comment 48609

By realfreeenterpriser (registered) | Posted October 01, 2010 at 13:57:48

"Is my understanding correct that incumbents can not (sic) campaign on city time?"

To the very best of my knowledge, your understanding is incorrect. The Municipal Act governs Councillors and the only prohibitions of which I'm aware deal with things like pecuniary interest.

I believe the city has rules about using city resources such as stationary and personel for "personal" us but, realistically, who would enforce them and what would the penalty be?

Whether you like Bernie Morelli or not, this sounds a tad petty.

Incumbents undoubtedly have an advantage in municipal politics. The only meaningful solution is term limits and I'm not seeing anyone running on that platform.

Fulltime positions, filled with people many of whom would have difficulty finding better paying employment elsewhere, don't make for good decision making. That's, at least, part of the reason the "suburbs" find amalgamation so distasteful. They were used to parttime politicians who, generally speaking, viewed public office as a calling rather than a job, clearly, weren't in it for the money, did their time and moved on.

I've always been of the opinion that Hamilton Council would function infinitely better if it was twice the size with half (or less) the salary. That, combined with term limits, would go a long way toward a more vibrant, "representative" democracy.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds