The campaign organization For A Better Sechelt (FABS) has been under fire by some in the community for their controversial election ads giving Sechelt incumbents a failing grade, but FABS say incumbents deserve it.
"Some people think we've been a little tough on the existing council, but we think we have to be. They deserve it," said FABS co-chair Lance Sparling.
"If you don't go to council meetings, you won't really know what's going on there. And 95 per cent of the people don't go, so we have to make our point."
In their ads, FABS has accused council of increasing spending too much, not being transparent, not working as a team, being "dysfunctional," not supporting local business and not doing enough for economic development in Sechelt.
Incumbents under fire in the ads call into question the ads' validity and whether they need to be so negative.
"I'm really surprised by the escalating meanness of it all. Those unfair, untruthful, unsubstantiated comments affect your family as much as they do the candidate," said Mayor Darren Inkster.
Coun. Alice Janisch feels like the group is using their wealth to influence the election.
"Obviously, they have a lot of money. I hope this doesn't mean that elections can be bought here," she said.
Coun. Warren Allan defended his actions at the council table and noted discussion and debate is needed and shouldn't be viewed as negative by FABS.
"Do we [council] agree all the time? No. Should we? No. I'm not sure why some may not realize that discussions, arguments, disagreements, etc. are part of the process," Allan said.
Coun. Alice Lutes sees the ads as an example of democracy.
"I may not agree with what they are saying but certainly would not deny them the right. I am concerned with the information being skewed, but when given the opportunity, anyone can clarify it," she said.
Coun. Keith Thirkell finds the ads unjust.
"I don't think FABS ads are fair at all. They are misleading, for sure, and their numbers are way off," he said.
Whether the ads are embraced by everyone or not, Sparling said they are meant to inform and influence people to vote for five to seven new faces on Sechelt council.
Sparling said the FABS organization was born out of frustration with the current council and the decisions some councillors made during their three-year terms.
"We go to council meetings and I'd go with individuals who might be interested in investing or starting a business here or a project, and it was embarrassing. They could hardly wait to get on the ferry and leave town it's a very dysfunctional council," Sparling said.
Sparling and a small group of people started talking about how to make a change this election, and soon they held a meeting with about 125 interested people to see if FABS could float.
"So it was born out of frustration. We said, 'OK, if other people are feeling this way, do we have the energy to do this?' Because we each run our own businesses, we've got our own stuff to do and that was an overwhelming response from that group of 125 people. They donated. They said, 'Let's get going,' and we kicked off," Sparling said.
The FABS organization has about 20 team members, all of whom are business owners or professional people who have three main goals in this election.
The first is to change the current council, the second is to get qualified candidates to run, and the third is to increase the Coast's voter turnout to over 50 per cent this November.
FABS has about 400 members who visit their website at www.forabettersechelt.com or come to their Tuesday Table Talks with candidates, although the incumbents in this election are not welcome at any of their events.
"The incumbents are not so thrilled, but they aren't invited because we think they've had three years for the community to get to know them, and this puts the new candidates on equal footing," Sparling said.
The group is active only until the election on Nov. 19, and then they will dissolve.
According to Sparling, FABS does not create policy, makes no donations to campaigns and has no platform, but they will identify issues they see and share them with the public.
Originally FABS was not going to endorse a slate of candidates, but Sparling said they will do that soon.
"We are going to come out and endorse candidates in the next couple of weeks because our members are asking us who to vote for. They want to know who we think is going to be the best for Sechelt," Sparling said.
FABS will do their own polling on their website and then they will come forward with a slate of candidates to endorse.
Recently FABS met to look at ways to meet their third goal of increasing the number of voters in this election.
Some of their plans include identifying key public issues, providing opportunities for voters to engage with candidates, clearly articulating the position of candidates, encouraging qualified leaders to run and finding ways to make it more convenient to vote.
