Pemberton mayor yanks fight HST sign out of ground, stuffs into car, demonstrating again how politicians are above the law – and democracy.

Posted on by Laila

** UPDATED BELOW with Mayors response**

Mayor Jordan Sturdy admits to removing sign from public property

PEMBERTON – (Wednesday, July 13, 2011) – In a stunning revelation today Fight HST organizers learned that Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy stole a Fight HST lawn sign from public property.

Fight HST organizer for the Sea to Sky corridor, Kelly Carson, was notified of the theft by an undisclosed source who witnessed the mayor driving up, removing the sign and taking it into his vehicle. Carson immediately contacted Sturdy, who admitted to taking the sign.

“I couldn’t believe that a person of his standing, who knows the law and has been involved in previous elections, would lower himself to such a level. We’ve had numerous signs vandalized and stolen, but to see a person of such high standing in the community do such a despicable thing just sickens me,” said Carson.

Carson says Mayor Sturdy told her he removed the sign because although it was on public property, it was close to his home and he didn’t want anyone thinking he opposed the HST. He told Carson he didn’t want to be associated with people opposed to the HST.

“This also demonstrates how close the mayor is with the government. He’s marginalizing the very people who voted for him. I’m sure he didn’t mind being associated with people who oppose the HST during his election. I thought municipal politicians were supposed to represent all the people regardless of their political views,” said Carson.

Carson says she has reported the incident to the RCMP detachment for Squamish, and has requested that charges be laid.

“Mayor Sturdy has admitted to the theft. He has admitted to committing mischief with our signs. Both of those actions are prohibited by the Criminal Code of Canada. We want the RCMP to hold this man to account so that the public can know about his distasteful actions, and to serve as a warning to others who think they can vandalize and steal referendum signs with impunity,” concluded Carson.

** UPDATE** Mayor Sturdy did not reply to a request for a comment by the time of this posting but did return my call to him at 10: 30 am.

We spoke by cell,and I asked Jordon what happened here. I made it clear that I am not in support of the HST, but wanted to hear why he thought he was above the law.

He stated that the signs were immediately adjacent to his farm, which is a public farm and open every day. He does not want to be associated with the anti HST movement and did not want the signs to reflect on his farm business, so he admitted he did take the signs down and put them into his car, however, he claims to have placed them back along the road further down from his farm where they remain today.

I asked if he could understand why people were so angry, and that the signs were legally placed, and Sturdy replied that he does not intend to move any more signs and that he has learned his lesson. In fact, there are a whole new crop of signs in place of where he removed the previous ones -and he promises not to touch them.

(Mr. Sturdy would do well to watch his election signs comes the fall)

 

26 thoughts on “Pemberton mayor yanks fight HST sign out of ground, stuffs into car, demonstrating again how politicians are above the law – and democracy.”

  1. How sad is that, a mayor stealing signs? I guess it should be no surprise to the people. The depth of corruption in this province, is staggering. I doubt Mayor Sturdy will ever be charged. We have yet to see any BC Liberals, charged for their crimes. Mayor Sturdy will be rewarded by the BC Liberals, for assisting them.

    Even if the Mayor is charged, the judge will dismiss the charges. There is a, two tiered judicial system in BC. One for the politicians, and other elite dignitaries. The other law, for the everyday BC citizens who would do time in prison, for the same crimes the elites commit.

    Would you or I be let off, on a drunk driving charge as Thorthwaite was? Or for spousal abuse? For thieving money? How about, vandalizing and stealing, BC Liberals signs? Absolutely not.

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  2. If the mayor does not get charged for theft, AND violation of the right to freedom of speech and expression… then guess what…? : The Law of the Land is a joke; and is also null and void.

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  4. Is the intention of the BCLibs to make the referendum such a joke that it can not possibly be considered valid and they will not have to pull the Tax.

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  6. If he doesn’t want his business to be associated to the anti-HST crowd, he should post a sign at the entrance to the effect that they are not welcome there. In other words, walk the walk, instead of acting like a sneak thief.

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  8. At one time, I also thought municipal politicians and their staff were supposed to represent all the people regardless of their political views. Having performed penance in the municipal field, I know that is not the case. Most councilors and particularly Mayors usually represent only businesses and development interests.

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  9. For shame, Mr. Mayor. You overstepped your bounds. Signs were legally placed and you should NOT have touched them. If you were that concerned, you should have posted your own sign at your farm business saying words to the effect of ” I like the HST. I didn’t place those signs, and I don’t want to associate with anyone who doesn’t like the HST— Including customers.”

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  10. If you intend to press charges – you can ask for the RCMP to forward the file to your local Restorative Justice program (RJ). As you have noticed – many public servants have charges dropped when a criminal charge hits the prosecutor’s office or the court room because no one wants to destroy the future for anyone in society – especially not a public figure who made the wrong decision – what we seek is a healthy community with the moral capacity to resolve conflict and live in peace. The benfit of RJ is that – the perpetrator makes amends for the harm that has been done and the victim finds closure. An RJ file does not result in a criminal record.

    All that is necessary is the evidence that charges can be laid and knowing the name of the victim (the person or people who put up the signs) RJ deals with crime where it is committed – it is a healing process and in my opinion (as a trained RCMP RJ Facilitator) if you are truely upset this is what needs to happen.

    In Canada justice is about creating healthy communities but as long as people want to use the justice system as a measure of punishment – we will see charges dropped because Prosecutors can’t manage the long process of convicting a Mayor of petty theft to punish him when punishment is not the object of our justice system. Other cases are more pressing – so we all lose. I urge you to start the process of re-thinking crime – embrace Restorative Justice whenever possible and take back your community. In that way, no one seems to be above the law – people are part of the law – the process and the outcomes are very healthy.

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  11. A good public shaming goes a long way. Townfolk would gather in a group banging pot and pan lids and generally make a lot of noise outside the home of the perp. Shouting about the crime, acknowledging it and voicing their displeasure. That’s how justice was done when there was no system in place to handle it. Ironically today there is a system, but is incapable of handling this type of crime. Email this link far and wide and expose this mayor for his misdeed. We need to bang those pots and pans.

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  13. Interesting comment here:
    Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis argued, “If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.”

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  15. Shut up you hippies. I would have done the same thing. Keep your garbage away from his yard next time.

    Boo hoo… “He moved a sign!”. Oh no! The world is ending. You are all idiots.

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  16. @”Bill Vandersalami”:

    Your post does a wonderful job of illustrating your intellect. I’m confident everyone here is as impressed as I am with the mature insight you bring to the issue.

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  17. Lew – I think @”Bill Vandersalami” is really an extreme RIGHT WINGER who is trying to make left-wingers, LIEBERALs, look bad. (I have a hard time believing ANYONE is as stupid as ”Bill Vandersalami” made him/her/its-self look immature and STUPID.)

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  18. People such as Bill Vandersalami have nothing intelligent to say….So they resort to playing, silly little games.

    I believe Vandersalami has been banned by other sites, for the same reason. He contributes nothing other than, blatant stupidity. Just ignore Vandersalami. Allow him to play his silly little games, all by himself. Just skip over his comments. That’s what people are doing on other sites. So starting from to-day, let us just pass his comments by.

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  19. I am confused this evening.
    We went to a Mcdonald’s in Newton tonight with the kids for a toddlers birthday treat.
    When we were paying a customer ordering beside us said to the employee taking his order ” I am a Government Employee no tax” then flashed his ID hanging around his neck.
    It looked like a Provincial ID and the employee said “ok “.
    We were in shock. I was too busy to ask the involved people because of juggling kids.
    Does any one know if government employees are exempt as my experience leads me to believe?

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  20. Laila,
    Wow is right! What an insult that would be to all if government employees are exempt!
    I know I was considering a used SUV so I stopped into my ICBC provider to find out what the amount of tax would be. While there I said that maybe I should wait a month or two on hopes the HST would be reversed. The lady told me that the tax on used vehicles is now called the TDP {taxable designated tax} and even if the HST is reversed this tax will probably stay. Makes one wonder what else this has been done to and what kinds of shenanigans they are up to now.
    I don’t think this referendum vote will be the end of our woes.
    Don

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    1. Its interesting to read the actual agreements posted in todays blog. Christy and Falcon made such a big fuss over the 10% reduction, as if they were doing us a huge favour, when in reality that ability to reduce the tax was written right into the agreement – as is the ability to raise it as well.

      A dire warning to all. Beware what promises are made now, that reduction will disappear, if in fact it occurs at all. They can turn around and raise that HST even higher than it is right now. Read the agreement.

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  22. But, many of us knew that laila. Campbell would have never agreed to the referendum, if there weren’t dirty tactics set in place to cheat. That’s Campbell’s true nature. Why would anyone trust the likes of Campbell? Didn’t anyone see, Campbell was working for Harper? Campbell, Hansen and Harper colluded on the HST, long before the election. Hansen caught in a lie, finally had to admit it.

    The referendum is useless, a lot of people wanted a general strike. This fooling around, trying to do the decent thing, is an exercise in futility, when it comes to the Liberals. When have we ever seen a BC Liberal, that ever did even one decent and honest endeavor, towards the people? The fact the referendum, goes through Craig James of Elections BC, should have been enough to show everyone…What a farce the referendum really is.

    Look at the mess with the ballots. Many households only got one ballot, with both man and wife in the home. Many ballots, were missing inside envelopes. Some got blank pages. There were stacks of ballots left in apartment buildings vestibules. Many citizens, didn’t even get their ballots.The BC Liberals screwed up the ballot packages, in every way they could think of. This referendum ballot vote, is a total farce. Just another one of the BC Liberals dirty tactics.

    The BC Liberals, have been a litany of lies, deceit and dishonor, for over ten years now. I don’t understand, why everyone thinks the Liberals would ever be honest and fair this time, with the HST referendum. The same with Hansen’s ridiculous, hand picked pro HST panel. I mean… how asinine was that?

    How many times do the BC Liberals, have to proove their low charaters to us? The Liberals, ever being honest, has never happened and it never will.

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  23. It is time for GENERAL STRIKE.
    I am sick of the Liberals and their taxes and tolls and everything else.
    Soon we will have to pay HST on our shadows.

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