Council candidate's tweet from Osborne BIZ account raises eyebrows in the Village
Stephanie Meilleur says tweet was an error, but resident says it raises serious questions about integrity
City council candidate Stephanie Meilleurused the Osborne Village BIZ Twitter account to promote one of her campaign events, causing at least one voter and the former Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry councillor to question the ethics of the action.
On Oct. 18, the Osborne Village BIZ Twitter account retweeted a tweet fromMeilleur'spersonal account that promoted a forum she was hosting that night on public safety.
"Be sure to go tonight!" said the tweet from the BIZ.
Meilleur, who is on a leave from her role as executive director of the BIZ during her run for council, said the tweet was an error.
When reached Sunday night, Meilleursaid she has both her personal Twitter account and the BIZ's official account on her phone, and the retweet from the BIZ account was a mistake.
"The tweet came from my phone. It was a human error; it was an accident," she said.
"It was never meant to come from the Osborne Village BIZ account. It was meant to come from my personal account, my campaign account."
Meilleursaid she deleted the tweet after noticing comments about it shortly after it was sent, but it was still on the Osborne Village BIZ account whenCBCNews reached out toMeilleuraround 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Meilleursaid she must have made a mistake and said she would delete it after getting off the phone with aCBCreporter.
The tweet was removed shortly afterMeilleurspoke toCBCNews.
Tweet raises questions
But a woman who used to own a business in the neighbourhoodand who still lives in the areasaid she isn't buying it, and for her, it raises questions about Meilleur's integrity.
Teresa Sanderson, the former interim director of the Osborne Village BIZ, said the tweet was problematic.
"If you're running for public office,and if you're not willing to take accountability for your actions, what are you going to be like when you have our tax money and you have a voice for the whole constituency?" she said.
There are high expectations now for social media use, and a tweet like that in the private sector could be enough to get a person fired, or at least in very hot water, Sanderson said.
"In the private sector, one wrong tweetone wrong Facebook post through a corporate name could lead to immediate termination. So what does she have to say to that?"
Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, who decided not to run for the seat after representing the ward for 20 years, said she isn't sure the apparently mistaken retweet would violate election rules, but it did raise questions.
"I question the ethics of using the BIZ as a platform to promote a specific candidate," she said in an email late Sunday.
"It gives the appearance that the BIZ board is endorsing her candidacy, which may not be accurate or appropriate."
No conflict of interest, candidate says
The candidate forum Meilleur's original tweet promoted was attended by members of the Osborne foot patrol, a program run by the Osborne Village BIZ.
Meilleur said she doesn't see a conflict of interest in having employees of the BIZ attend her campaign events.
It "absolutely" was appropriate to have them attend, she said.
"The Osborne Village BIZ foot patrols were sharing information about the success of the program," she said.
"If any other candidate had reached out to the Osborne Village BIZ and asked for the foot patrols to attend an event to speak on public safety, it would have been approved."
She said she did reach out to the Osborne Village BIZ to have foot patrol membersattend her forum, but who would have approved their attendance isn't clear.
With files from Shane Gibson and Meaghan Ketcheson
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