The First 100% Transparent Campaign

Honeycomb Webworks Blog Post

The First 100% Transparent Campaign

By Sean McNulty

What makes the Sean for Mayor Campaign unique?

Is it the fact that we’re knocking on every door in the municipality? Partly, as this will be a first for the CRD region, but there are people who’ve knocked on more doors to get elected before.

Is it my age? If I win, yes, as I’ll be the youngest Mayor in Canadian History. But just putting your name forward as a candidate isn’t. Currently, there is a 19 year old running for Mayor of Victoria and a 19 year old running for council in Kelowna.

What does make my campaign unique is the fact that it is 100% transparent. By this I mean my views on just about everything are out there for the voters to judge. Even presidential candidates attempt to reveal less about their viewpoints and generally just use talking points. If you visit John McCain’s or Barack Obama’s websites you’ll notice that there is very few articles published by themselves. Most is done by campaign staff or supporters, and most is done for the sake of motivating each of their respected bases.

I decided to run my campaign this way because I believe people appreciate honest and transparency over secrecy and deception. All the presidential candidates continue to talk about a new kind of politics, but then continue an old style campaign. The Sean for Mayor Campaign is that new kind of politics, where the voters get to learn about my candidacy from my own words, not spun by the media, and have the opportunity to have me answer their questions and concerns either publicly on the blog or privately via email. 

To date, I’ve got 105 articles posted making up hundreds of pages on everything you can imagine. Talk about a great deal for the voter (and a way to keep my campaign manager on his toes)!

Without the modern day version of the blog this couldn’t be possible. Due to this new medium we’re going to see all sorts of new exciting campaigns come out. There are so many different ways to get your message to the voter now!

Honeycomb Web Works has been a tremendous asset to our innovative website and thanks to excellent companies such as them everyone can setup a blog affordably, that looks great, plus gets ‘pure performance and sweet results’!

Sincerely,

Sean McNulty

Mayoral Candidate in Central Saanich

Position is Pro-property Rights: McNulty

Peninsula News Review

Position is Pro-property Rights: McNulty

By Sean McNulty

Fred Young and I did have a pleasant conversation while I was on my ‘Silent Majority Tour’, but he mischaracterized my position on development. My approach is not that of everything and anything goes. In fact, I don’t like the term pro-development. It lends to the idea that as Mayor I would go around dictating to people to develop their properties, which is not the case. I look at my position as one of pro-liberty and pro-property rights. Therefore, my take on development is that if a man or women wants to improve upon their property, and it doesn’t negatively affect the equal property rights of others, why should it be stopped? I’m not encouraging anyone to develop anything, I’m freeing people to pursue their goals and dreams with their land as they see fit.

This is why the anti-development crowd is not only wrong in an economic sense, but morally as well. The  ‘pro development’ crowd respects property rights and believes that individuals ought to be able to do what they wish with their properties within the given regulations the land is purchased under. Whereas the anti-development crowd wants to impose their vision on others people’s property regardless of what the land owners desire. One side advocates a bottom up, grass roots approach and one advocates a top down, dictatorship like approach to communities evolving.

In regards to this not being an ‘industrial, or even light industrial municipality’, Randy and I both operate businesses in the Keating Industrial Park (Raven Metal Works and Five Star Paving) which is a vital part of Central Saanich. Keating doesn’t irrevocably diminish our rural appeal, it makes a great place even better.

I question the term ‘we’ that was throughout Mr. Young’s letter. Who is ‘we’? I know he’s not speaking for myself and my supporters. I believe Mr. Young is putting forth his point of view, and perhaps his neighbors, not all the citizens of Central Saanich. I’ve door knocked over 1200 homes and can say I’ve yet to meet this ‘we’ that is being referred to.

The Town Hall meeting was a tremendous success, and why Mr. Young is critiquing it while at the same time stating he didn’t see the entire thing is odd. It’s like going to a movie, watching half of it and then writing a review.

The barbarians aren’t at the gate, they’ve broken through long ago and are operating the municipality! Central Saanich, your liberators are at the gate. It’s time to elect us and take back your municipality from the vocal minority!

Sean McNulty
Mayoral Candidate in Central Saanich

Industrial Land Diminishes Rural Nature

Peninsula News Review

Industrial Land Diminishes Rural Nature

By Fred Young

A few weeks ago a very young man knocked on my door and introduced himself as Sean McNulty. He stated he was running for mayor of Central Saanich. When asked his position on development, his eyes lit up like pinwheels and he enthusiastically pronounced he was all for it. When I said more growth would lead to more infrastructure, more housing, more school rooms, more hospital beds, more cars, more sewage, more noise, more ferries, longer ferry waits, etc., etc., he almost levitated and gave me an enthusiastic “Yeah!!” I told him I couldn’t support his position and that today’s new infrastructure is tomorrow’s tax burden and that any success at fast growth would diminish this pastoral, bucolic municipality irreparably. Sean was polite and friendly, we respectfully bid adieu to each other.

Some time later, I attended a meeting, which I believed to be endorsed by Council: “Notice of Public Town Hall Meeting for the Future of Central Saanich – Increased Taxes or Managed Growth”. On arrival, I spotted the mayor and two council members who said this meeting had nothing to do with council and they were there as invited guests. The very young Mister McNulty was there as a featured speaker, as were other prominent business leaders. A local businessman, Randy Sewell, who is trying to have his property rezoned for business expansion purposes, gave an impressive, but disturbing, power point presentation. He would put up a set of points, followed by a question aimed at the perceived ineptitude of the current mayor and council, followed by a photo of a mentally challenged person scratching his head like a dodo bird. He continued to humiliate and insult his guests, the mayor and council. This is like inviting guests to your house for the purpose of humiliating them for the enjoyment of others. This even disturbed some in a room obviously full of development supporters. He talked about a previous council whose motto was “Go Slow, Grow Slow” (which I thought a perfect slogan for our unique municipality) which Mister Sewell believes is a motto of professional ineptitude and incompetents. I assumed his motto was “Go Fast, Grow Fast” (anybody want to move to Langford?). Some speakers (gentler, kinder than Mr. Sewell) threw out the developers’ favourite phrase “Smart Growth” which I always considered a Central Saanich oxymoron. In honesty, I fled the meeting in frustration after a couple of hours and missed some speakers.

The point, Mr. Sewell and Mr. McNulty, is that this is not an industrial, or even light industrial municipality. This is where we choose to live because of its unique rural nature. Every new industrial footprint irrevocably diminishes this community. This Mayor and Council aren’t stupid, Mr. Sewell, they actually ‘get it’. It’s you that doesn’t get it. This is far more viable and attractive as a bedroom community than a Langford spin-off.

According to Mr. Sewell, we are being burdened by unnecessary tax increases. This year my taxes were increased by approximately $15 a month (10 per cent) or one family outing a month for ice cream cones! My neighbours and I would gladly pay more to maintain our unique community. We currently have one of the lowest tax rates anywhere in the CRD.

Developers are folks who end up in the mansions on the hill looking down on the sprawl they created.

Time to gear up, folks, the Barbarians are at the gate!

Fred Young

Central Saanich