Kingston's Brian Abrams Lost But is Still Stealing From Taxpayers

When I first learned that our local Conservative candidate Brian Abrams had hired a Republican pollster to run his campaign, I expected a little visit from Karl Rove. I just hadn't expected it so soon.

Yesterday, in my mail I received my first ever attack ad. Cleverly disguised, it looked like all the other ridiculous ads. Nothing new.

Until I flipped it it over and realized that it was sent to me here in Kingston, by Burlington Conservative MP, Mike Wallace.

This means that I paid for it. Wallace was abusing his franking privileges to campaign for Brian Abrams.

Angry as hell I sent two letters to the editor. One to our local Whig Standard and the other to the Burlington Post. This blatant misuse of tax dollars has got to stop.

This is the one I sent to the Burlington Post:

I hadn't heard of Mike Wallace until yesterday, so you can imagine my surprise when I received an attack ad in the mail from him. I live in Kingston, Ontario. Since it looked like their national campaign literature, I assumed that it came from our local Conservative office, trying to get a jump on the next election. And yet it was addressed on the back to your local Member of Parliament?

Curious, I did a little investigating and learned that this was a taxpayer funded flyer, known as a 'ten percenter', that allows MPs to keep their constituents informed and was never intended to be used to launch partisan attacks. I also discovered that Mr. Wallace did the same thing for Lisa Raitt in Halton, using tax dollars to pepper her opponent. We all know how that turned out.

I'm glad that Burlington is doing so well and that Mr. Wallace has so much time on his hands; but I'm getting tired of this. Canada is now running the largest deficit in our history, and we are in last place for climate change initiatives, but what is our government doing? Telling us why we shouldn't vote for the other guy.

So, in answer to his silly 'poll' question 'Who is on the right track to keep taxes low?', I checked off Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May. I'm mailing it back to Mr. Wallace demanding a refund. I didn't order this so I shouldn't be paying for it. The people of Burlington must have something for him to do besides send me junk mail.

And to the Kingston Whig Standard:

I hadn't heard of Mike Wallace until yesterday. I don't mean the American broadcaster, but the Conservative MP for Burlington; so you can imagine my surprise when I received an attack ad in the mail from him.

Since it looked like their national campaign ads, I assumed that it came from our local Conservative office, trying to get a jump on the next election. However, after a little investigating I learned that this was a taxpayer funded flyer, known as a 'ten percenter', that allows MPs to keep their constituents informed. It was never intended to be used to launch partisan attacks. I'm sure Mr. Abrams can raise his own campaign funding, without using our tax dollars.

Besides, I'm getting tired of this. Canada is now running the largest deficit in our history, and we are in last place for climate change initiatives, but what is our government doing? Telling us why we shouldn't vote for the other guy.

So, in answer to the silly 'poll' question 'Who is on the right track to keep taxes low?', I checked off Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May. I'm mailing it back to Mr. Wallace demanding a refund. I didn't order this so I shouldn't be paying for it.

Back to: The Brian Abrams Story: I Want to be a Potted Plant