The former development manager and public voice of SSC Properties has also been acting as one of the public voices of Sechelt Deserves Better, an anonymous group that’s been trying to shape opinion heading into the municipal election.
Sechelt Deserves Better set up a website and Facebook page, and started running anonymous ads in Coast Reporter in late July, with the self-stated aim of “researching and publishing facts about various aspects of our local community to help both residents and potential candidates better understand the issues.”
So far the ads, styled as “reality checks,” have highlighted tax increases, water supply issues, staff turnover at the district, and “a critical shortage of seniors care facilities” that the group blamed on council throwing up roadblocks in front of developers.
The group works through the Vancouver office of the communications firm Citizen Relations and refused several requests to name its key members and agree to an interview with Coast Reporter.
Inquiries were, instead, directed to the email address [email protected].
An Aug. 30 email to Sechelt Deserves Better, copied to Coast Reporter, prompted a response, also copied to Coast Reporter, that came from Todd McGowan.
When contacted by Coast Reporter, McGowan confirmed his identity and that he was the administrator of the email account and was involved in drafting earlier responses to Coast Reporter as well as doing research and website work for the group.
McGowan also said his involvement with Sechelt Deserves Better has nothing to do with his role at SCC Properties, which came to an end in early April, but was motivated by “love for this community and a desire to ensure Sechelt is on the right path for the future.”
The email exchange that identified McGowan as holder of the [email protected] account was a reply to a question from Gibsons resident Arne Hermann about one of the group’s recent ads. Hermann also urged the group to end its anonymity.
“By not identifying yourselves, you are, in fact, making people suspicious of your motives and – by extension – causing many to doubt the truth of your claims,” Hermann wrote. “I strongly urge you to come forward; otherwise, people will continue to think that you're really just one person who is doing all this just to ensure that someone else is elected mayor; i.e. you're working for another candidate and all this is just about getting people to vote against Mayor Milne.”
McGowan responded that Sechelt Deserves Better is not an “anti-Milne” campaign, but a campaign to “get qualified people in place that have the courage to move our community forward in a sustainable, progressive way.”
“We continue to debate the merits and concerns regarding providing further details about the individuals involved… The sad fact is that there are some in our community who have been extraordinarily abusive online, in the print media and in Facebook posts. So far, our team does not wish to be attacked in such a way.
“If we were providing our opinions, we agree that doing so anonymously would not be appropriate. However, we are working hard to present facts based on evidence. We hope all readers will judge the quality of the information presented including verifying it as they feel necessary. And we are open to inquiries and new information, all of which we will attempt to respond to.”
Coast Reporter requested that McGowan ask other leading members of Sechelt Deserves Better to contact the newspaper. He responded that some of them were willing, but also said that after more than a month of raising “very valid issues pertinent to our community and about the record of this mayor and council,” public debate and media coverage should focus on getting answers to the questions the group raised and not who’s running it.
As of Coast Reporter’s Sept. 5 deadline, no one else from Sechelt Deserves Better had contacted us directly.
