Elections BC has fined a councillor in the Village of Anmore.
Coun. Polly Krier is one of three candidates who sought office in last year’s civic elections to be penalized for “sponsoring election advertising without an authorized statement.”
Krier was fined $200 while Karin Badel, who ran in Parksville, and Kelly Vandenberghe of the Central Kootenay Regional District were each dinged $150.
Team Kennedy Stewart, an elector organization in Vancouver, was fined $500 for the same reason and Scott Piercy, a third-party advertising sponsor, will have to pay $1,000 for his contravention.
According to the enforcement notice, issued March 21, Krier contacted Elections BC to self-report that she had printed and distributed election ads that didn’t have an authorization statement; she agreed to correct the oversight before circulating more ads.
An Elections BC investigation revealed Krier had paid for 900 flyers for printing and distribution, costing $941.50, and about 300 of those pamphlets went out during the campaign before Krier noticed the error.
An authorization statement must have the following details:
- the name of the financial agent
- indication that the advertisement was OK’d by the financial agent
- a B.C. telephone number, an email address or a B.C. mailing address for the financial agent
Adam Barnes, investigations director for Elections BC, said Krier was in violation of Section 44 (1) of the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA); however, he took into consideration that she corrected the errors, where possible.
Krier has 40 days to pay the penalty.
Last December, Elections BC fined Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti $200 and candidate Barbara Junker, a former city councillor, $150 for neglecting to include an authorization statement on election advertising for the 2022 vote.
