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During the Township of Langley budget process Councillor Jordan Bateman proposed a motion that would instruct staff to place the discretionary advertising on the "Township Page" out for tender. While some advertising (such as Council and other municipal meetings) are required by law, others advertising such as a community service message or notice of the Mayor's Forum is not mandated by law. Bateman's intention was to get a competitive quote and run the ads in one paper instead of the current three. The motion was defeated at that time, as some members of Council were absent and Cllrs. Long and Kositsky opposed the motion and wanted staff to compile a complete communications plan or strategy.
At a subsequent Special Meeting of Township Council held on March 15, 2010, Cllr. Bateman was absent due to the birth of his child and Cllr. Fox proposed a motion to reduce the Township Page advertising budget by $100,000. With Cllr. Kim Richter now present, the Fox motion was seconded by Richter.
You Can Hear That Audio Here:
During the course of Council discussion, Cllrs. Long and Kositsky put forth another amendment to send the whole matter back to staff (a referral motion). These two love to send stuff back to staff so decisions can be postponed. That referral motion was defeated.
Something Old - Nothing New
During the debate on the referral motion, Cllr. Richter brought up the ad size for the Mayor's Forum. At that time (and since February, 2009), the Mayor's ad has been a pricey quarter-page and included a large 10 year old photo of Mayor Green. You know, this corny one used during the campaign:
The Bottom Line - The KickerYou Can Hear That Audio Here:
As you heard in that clip, Mayor Green said that he did not design the ads nor decide how BIG they are.
Listen Specifically to What Mayor Green Said Here:
The Lies EXPOSED
So, if Mayor Green did not have say into the design of the Mayor's Forum ads, then why did he instruct staff to use that old picture? A picture took up considerable space in these ads. All at taxpayer expense! Here's what he said...funny eh?
But as the Freedom of Information Request discovered, Mayor Rick Green did in fact have a say not only in the design of the Mayor's Forum ad, but also in the size. This ad as seen in this proof would have been about the size of a Council meeting notice. But as you can see from this Langley Times (you know, that "buddy" paper) proof below, Mayor Green wrote a note to staff.
What, can't read these notes? Here's a close-up of that section for you:
Mayor Green writes on this proof, "LARGER" (initial "R" for Rick) authorizing this larger ad. Through clarification of our FoI request we were told that a Township staffer spoke with the mayor and then the staffer wrote, "It will cost more." - But wait for it.... after that discussion with Mayor Green, the staff member records Mayor Green's response by writing in quotes what the mayor said, "The cost of doing business" and the date Feb 17 09.
Wow - so not only did Mayor Rick Green fail to deliver any ZERO tax increases, but all that rhetoric about his Finance Committee, doing things differently and reducing costs was just that, RHETORIC! Despite the mayor knowing this little 14 month venture in living large advertising would be costly for us taxpayers, Green authorized a very large quarter-page ad with his equally-large 10 year old photo on it.
This is Rick Green's "cost of doing business" ... On our backs and without any regard to the budget that for two years now he has failed to vote for. Mayor Green ordered off the menu with this expensive advertising in 3 newspapers and failed to pay the bills by voting for the 2009 and 2010 budgets.
Keep in mind that with a whole two years before the next election, Mayor Rick Green has already announced his re-election intentions a few weeks ago in the newspapers. Do you suppose this expensive Mayor's Drop-In Forum 14 Month advertising campaign (with ads 100 times larger than any ad for very important Council Meetings) was just free re-election politicking for candidate Rick Green? So really this campaign began in February of 2009, just after his inauguration. Isn't that what some Councillors said at the time? And several accused those councillors of picking on the mayor, imagine that? They well realize that a short leash must be kept here.
We do hope that all Council members will question this massive advertising budget and the inconsistencies of facts. Perhaps they could explore some financial loss recovery from Mayor Green's Re-election Committee?
It's a crying shame that Cllr. Kim Richter (who had posed a clear and direct question to the mayor), received just an intelligence-insulting slap from the mayor. Shame, shame Mayor Green!
Listen Specifically to What Mayor Green Said Here:
The Lies EXPOSED
So, if Mayor Green did not have say into the design of the Mayor's Forum ads, then why did he instruct staff to use that old picture? A picture took up considerable space in these ads. All at taxpayer expense! Here's what he said...funny eh?
But as the Freedom of Information Request discovered, Mayor Rick Green did in fact have a say not only in the design of the Mayor's Forum ad, but also in the size. This ad as seen in this proof would have been about the size of a Council meeting notice. But as you can see from this Langley Times (you know, that "buddy" paper) proof below, Mayor Green wrote a note to staff.
What, can't read these notes? Here's a close-up of that section for you:
Mayor Green writes on this proof, "LARGER" (initial "R" for Rick) authorizing this larger ad. Through clarification of our FoI request we were told that a Township staffer spoke with the mayor and then the staffer wrote, "It will cost more." - But wait for it.... after that discussion with Mayor Green, the staff member records Mayor Green's response by writing in quotes what the mayor said, "The cost of doing business" and the date Feb 17 09.
Wow - so not only did Mayor Rick Green fail to deliver any ZERO tax increases, but all that rhetoric about his Finance Committee, doing things differently and reducing costs was just that, RHETORIC! Despite the mayor knowing this little 14 month venture in living large advertising would be costly for us taxpayers, Green authorized a very large quarter-page ad with his equally-large 10 year old photo on it.
This is Rick Green's "cost of doing business" ... On our backs and without any regard to the budget that for two years now he has failed to vote for. Mayor Green ordered off the menu with this expensive advertising in 3 newspapers and failed to pay the bills by voting for the 2009 and 2010 budgets.
Keep in mind that with a whole two years before the next election, Mayor Rick Green has already announced his re-election intentions a few weeks ago in the newspapers. Do you suppose this expensive Mayor's Drop-In Forum 14 Month advertising campaign (with ads 100 times larger than any ad for very important Council Meetings) was just free re-election politicking for candidate Rick Green? So really this campaign began in February of 2009, just after his inauguration. Isn't that what some Councillors said at the time? And several accused those councillors of picking on the mayor, imagine that? They well realize that a short leash must be kept here.
We do hope that all Council members will question this massive advertising budget and the inconsistencies of facts. Perhaps they could explore some financial loss recovery from Mayor Green's Re-election Committee?
It's a crying shame that Cllr. Kim Richter (who had posed a clear and direct question to the mayor), received just an intelligence-insulting slap from the mayor. Shame, shame Mayor Green!
