SaintJohnShawn.com

Facebook Twitter Gplus LinkedIn RSS

Resign first, then run for MLA

Published on 2010-03-20 by in News, Saint John Politics

After reading the “Two councillors set sights on legislature seats” article in the Telegraph-Journal earlier this week, I decided to write a letter to my local Ward 4 Councillor, Bruce Court, to let him know what I thought.  On a side note, all of the comments for this article were deleted and commenting was disabled after the public started voicing their concerns as well.

I also submitted my letter to the Telegraph-Journal and it was printed in today’s issue, where it is starting a bit of a discussion.

Below is the full letter that I originally sent off:

Councillor Court,

I am writing this letter to express my concerns with you, an elected Councillor in the City of Saint John, declaring your intentions to run in the upcoming provincial election.

As an elected Councillor, you have a responsibility to the citizens in the city, especially our ward, to represent our concerns and champion our issues at Common Council.
Running for provincial office takes an incredible amount of time and energy. It is not something that can be done “on the side”. I don’t see how it will be possible to properly represent the people in the city while you are out knocking on doors and campaigning for months at a time this fall.

To me there is only one fair option to ensure the citizens in this city, and our ward, continue to be represented to the level they deserve – resign first, then run in the provincial election.

Everyone wins in this situation.

You will be provided with plenty of free time to spend campaigning, and the open Council position can be filled as part of a by-election, where the citizens in our ward can elect someone to represent them for the remainder of this Council’s term.

I believe in the democratic systems that we have in place; but, by manipulating them for personal gain, you are only destroying what trust remains. If you want to be an MLA – be an MLA. If you want to be a Councillor – be a Councillor. You cannot be both.

I urge you to do the right thing – for our city and our ward!

Thanks,
Shawn Peterson
Saint John – Ward 4 Resident

As an update to the story, Councillor Court did email me back (very quickly) with the following response:

I am retired so I have time to run for MLA as council is only a part time job.

So that is what I think – what is your opinion on the matter?

 
2 Comments  comments 
  • Mark LeBlanc

    Funny how I wrote an email to all common council members advising of my thoughts on this matter also and received the same response from Bruce Court. He must have an auto reply button for any Emails regarding this matter. I was impressed however with the response I received from Carl Killen as he stated that if he is nominated he would consider resigning his position on council. Bruce Court is a joke and hopefully people will see that he is not really for the people, he is for Bruce Court only. He still lives in the limelight of his brother and it drives him crazy.

  • http://www.whataboutstephen.com Stephen

    Very well written. I don’t live within the city limits, so I can’t really comment specifically about this instance, but I’ve been disgusted with the practice, in general, for a long time. Whenever I hear about a politician attempting to “trade up”, I keep thinking the same thing… RESIGN! If they feel that they can better serve the people in another political office, fine. But once they’ve made that decision, I think that they need to commit fully to it, not use their current seat as a fall-back or safety net in the event that they’re unsuccessful in their election bid.

© SaintJohnShawn.com