On April 9, Michael Alexander wrote about “How to Buy a Civic Election” – the hearings of the all -party Special Committee on Local Elections Expense Limits that was meeting that day without much awareness of the general public or media. He made it down to the Wosk Centre that day – and reported back:
The hearing of the Special Committee on Local Elections Expense Limits was advertised to last from 1 to 7 pm. I got there at 4:30 pm, prepared to testify. There were three citizens in the room, scarfing leftover dessert and snacks. They said the hearing had ended about 4 pm, after the last of about eight citizens had testified. Apparently the MLAs weren’t prepared to accommodate citizens who might show up after work.
Between bites, the young men said that there would be another hearing in Victoria. It took some diligent web research to find information on the committee (it didn’t appear in the first 10 pages of a Google search for ‘local elections expense limit vancouver april 9,’ a reasonable query if you didn’t know the committee’s title). Reasonably, the committee asked you to register to make an oral presentation, but who would know, given the lack of publicity about this important decision. Five of the nine scheduled hearings scheduled throughout the province were cancelled because of low response. The men I spoke with said they thought the committee had sent out one press release, months before.
The bottom line is that spending limits are a fine idea if coupled with contribution limits. By themselves, they will be an anti-democratic disaster. But contribution limits are not to be considered, under the committee’s terms of reference.
This problem seems to be universal, at least if we believe Douglas Adams. (I couldn’t find the quote from the Vogons, alas.)
“But the plans were on display . . .”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a torch.”
“Ah, well the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard.”