A handful of former candidate won’t be eligible to run during this year’s municipal election.
These “individuals are ineligible to be elected or appointed to any office to which the Municipal Elections Act 1996 applies as they failed to file a financial statement reflecting their election campaign finances for the 2010 municipal election,” stated Judy Smith, municipal clerk.
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Kim Isles, who ran for a council position in 2010, is one of them.
Isles said, after learning from The Chatham Voice about her ineligibility, it surprised her.
“It was so long ago,” Isles said. “I don’t remember if we did or did not. I thought we took care of all that.”
Isles teamed up with her boyfriend and fellow ineligible candidate Greg Foster, who ran for council in Ward 2, South Kent.
The pair ran parallel, yet unorthodox campaigns.
“We used recycled tires and signs,” Isles said. “There was no money involved in the campaign. That was the point.”
Isles added she and Foster were trying to show that promotion during the election could take place without investing tons of cash. She said many election campaigns have a negative effect on the environment as many of the plastic signs are thrown to the trash.
“We didn’t want to fill up the landfills with these signs,” she said.
Isles said she had no intention of running during this election regardless of her ineligibility.
Isles picked up 2,306 votes and Foster 886, respectively.
The mayoral candidate with the fewest votes during the last election also won’t be able to take another crack at the top spot this time around.
Allan R. Taylor, who received 170 votes for mayor in the 2010 election, did not file the proper financial records and is disqualified for 2014.
Aaron Neaves, the former president of the CAW Local 127, is on the ineligible list. Neaves finished fifth in the voting race in Ward 4, North Kent, receiving 1,139 votes.
Another North Kent candidate from 2010, Keith Pretty (150 votes) is not allowed to run this year.
Neither is former South Kent candidate Brad Maynard, who received 1,173 votes.
Ward 6, Chatham, candidate Darcy D. Meville (596 votes) is out of the race as well.
Rounding up the ineligibility list is Vincent Pinsonneault, who lost out as the trustee for the French separate board election.
The municipal election this year is Oct. 27.
For details log onto chatham-kent.ca.
