Clouding the deception behind good.

The reality is that once you are elected into municipal office, you will automatically be included in all things good for the town. A citizen is recognized… all Council invited. A ribbon cutting… all Council invited. A high profile announcement… all Council invited. A large event with an opening ceremony… Council Invited. Most of the good works completed by Town Staff, Volunteer organizations, businesses or your neighbours will often have some form of Council involvement.

A good political Communications strategist will ensure all of this good content is front and centre. But an important point to remember is that NO MATTER WHO is elected, most of these public relations opportunities will avail themselves to the elected of the day.

If enough publicity can be generated with these good things, the controversial things can (and do) avoid the lime light. This Council has mastered the art of that distraction.

At budget time for instance, they allow a single offended council member to cut a $15,000.00 safety harness for figure skaters. That gets very little recognition, but a $500,000.00 party fund is approved and celebrated around the same time. Hey…. The announcements surrounding the $500,000.00 are exciting news, so the bad decision to cut the safety harness is overshadowed and forgotten.

The same strategy is happening in many of the Social Media groups. They are filled with good things. They are often filled with posts of celebration and that attracts a big audience. Then, once an audience is engaged, the lies can be thrown in. Clouding the lies among good actually encourages more engagement. I say it’s a strategy because it’s obvious some groups have been started just to spread the hurtful posts. They pepper the group with happy announcements to create a wide following and then they follow with praise for their elected idols and criticism and attacks for anyone questioning them.

When you add in the introduction of Fake ID’s, it gets interesting. They praise and pump up the good posts, so they must be real right? Not necessarily. They are simply building false credibility.

But what am I referring to when I say they are clouding the bad stuff? You would think certain discussions would solicit all kinds of Social media interest. But not so when the Council Support team is directed to hush. (The arena temporary floor)Recently a $250,000.00 expense was somehow approved by someone WITHOUT council approval. Council Members knew this, but did nothing. Details of a partnership with a school board don’t make sense…. But not one member questions those aspects. Members of Council and Staff attend a $1000 a plate fundraiser for a politician who is responsible for a very important decision about our high school, but NOBODY hears about this publicly. Why not? Our Council is proud of their contact with Provincial politicians right? The same people attended meetings at a conference and boasted all over social media. Our Council does a whole circus presentation about the previous Council being corrupt, but months later, no charges and no documents released. Normal process for a notice of motion is to table it at the next meeting. But one that is very controversial by Councilor Belanger, gets delayed and delayed.
Why?

Why do these actions simply fade in the shadows? Well, if they can have people forget about these issues, maybe they won’t have to provide proper answers. It’s that simple. The answers would be difficult to shine a positive light on, so let them fade.

On the Towns Facebook page, our Council can control this release of posts. More importantly, in many Facebook groups, the Mayors proudest supporters control the dialogue in those groups. THIS contributes to the divide because you get three separate groups of people. One is those who support and promote your elected Council, another is those who question actions of our Council and the final group is probably the most important.

That group is those who sit back, listen… but don’t want to comment.

This clouding of the uncomfortable stuff behind the fluff is something the public can influence in Social Media. Stay involved. Get involved. Don’t let the bullies silence you.

It is more important than ever today that people feel comfortable discussing these things online. There is very little true media actually looking at these issues and that is a shame. Tomorrow we will discuss the Media part that feeds this divide.

Think about the many items that have been questioned and ask why the issues have been left hanging. I say there are two reasons for this. 1) The issue was never intended to be followed up on. The true intent was to tarnish others with the original action. (ie. The paper shredding scandal that never was) 2) The true answers would prove to be an embarrassment to members of our Council. (ie. The $1000 a plate fund raiser attended by council and staff- who paid? Who attended? Why the big secret?)

Keep asking questions. Until we have a Council willing to answer all questions…, THEY create and feed the divide.