Election signs belonging to various Rocky View County (RVC) council candidates have been stolen or damaged in recent days, resulting in some candidates pointing the finger at their competition.
According to multiple candidates and RVC-related Facebook pages, there are numerous candidates across the county whose signs have been stolen or subject to vandalism. Some of the individuals mentioned include Jeremy Stinson, Jerry Gautreau, and Sunny Samra in Division 6, Dan Henn and Samanntha Wright in Division 4, Crystal Kissel in Division 3, and Don Kochan in Division 2.
“It’s disheartening. We’ll just keep picking it up and fixing our signs if that’s possible,” Division 6 candidate Jerry Gautreau said. “But I think we need to be better as candidates if we’re going to represent our constituents in a positive manner.”
As signs come down or get damaged across the county, multiple candidates have taken the opportunity to point fingers at their competitors for running dirty campaigns.
“I’m running an honest campaign here, and my opponent, or her campaign team, elect to use some unethical practices of removing signs and placing them in locations that violate the sign bylaw,” said Springbank resident Don Kochan, who is running in Division 2 against incumbent Kim McKylor.
“And once they re-locate them, they phone bylaw and report them as being in public places, resulting in me facing a fine,” he continued.
McKylor addressed the allegations on her Facebook page, writing in part, “There is no one on my team that has any interest in removing signs.”
“My ask is to residents that hear from some that their signs have been removed, rather than think the [worst] of the other candidate, perhaps first ask if they’ve checked with bylaw enforcement,” her post continued. “That would be my starting point.”
Division 2 isn’t the only race that has seen candidates caught up in verbal sparring over the issue. Division 6 – which is tied at four for the most candidates along with Division 5 – has also had its share of sign-related disputes.
“The way that dirty politics is, and the current [state] of Division 6, I guess it’s expected,” Gautreau said.
He added the sign-stealing issue has motivated him to change his strategy for campaigning. His focus instead has been getting his name out to the public and chatting with people in the community.
“Instead of cluttering up the community like some of our competitors, we’re just trying to run a clean campaign and a positive campaign for everyone,” Gautreau said.
Tensions have risen in particular between the incumbent Gautreau and candidate Sunny Samra – two individuals who have opposing views on a contentious Conrich development approved by RVC council in the last term.
In an interview with the Rocky View Weekly, Gautreau never mentioned Samra by name when discussing the removal of his campaign signs, but did identify the candidate based on other known facts. Gautreau claimed people in the community have witnessed people associated with his competitors removing his signs.
Gautreau was even sent video from security cameras that captured two kids removing his signs and discarding them, even taking them away while riding on a scooter.
When reached, Samra disputed involvement. He said that he is aware of the videos referenced by Gautreau, explaining that Gautreau had sent the clips to him.
“It was not me. It was not my people, as I would say, the volunteers that work with me,” he said, adding he does not know the identity of the individuals in the video.
“We are totally against it,” he added. “I do not support sign vandalism of any kind.
“We put a message across in the community that vandalism is not correct and should not be encouraged or supported by anyone, no matter who is running and who you are with or against. The campaign should be run on a positive note [and on] what you want to do as a councillor. Not by breaking signs and all these things, it just doesn’t help, and it’s not the right approach.”
RCMP remind that it is a criminal offence to remove or tamper with election signs. Individuals who witness vandalism are encouraged to report the incident to their local RCMP detachment as well as [email protected]
The municipal election will be held on Oct. 18.
