BREAKING: Bombshell about Calgary city councillor drops days before #yycvote
In my first issue of #munipoli Matters, I briefly outlined the Alberta municipal elections and referendums on Equalization and DST. But a bit of breaking news has required me to put something out there before the vote coming this Monday.
Calgary City Councillor Sean Chu, running for reelection to secure a third term in the city’s Ward 4, was found guilty of ‘discernible conduct’ from an incident of alleged sexual assault in 1997 while Chu served on the Calgary Police Service. He was a police officer from from 1992 to 2013.
According to this CBC report, a publication ban prevented details in this story from two Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB) decisions on appeals filed in connection with the internal police investigation from coming out until Friday, October 15, three days before the October 18 election.
The allegations include inappropriate touching of the leg of a 16 year old, at a time when Chu was 34, and even involved a firearm. The accuser, identified only as ‘HH’, also alleged the investigating officers were guilty of misconduct and a "general coverup” by the CPS.
Suffice it to say, Chu questioned the timing of the release of this information. This is what the councillor told the Western Standard, a right leaning Alberta publication.
“Any common-sense person would be able to tell the difference between a real news story, and a pollical assassination. The timing of this release is decades after those matters were resolved, is motivated by politics, and not justice. I am the same person who will always listen and help Ward 4 residents.”
“An internal hearing found that her allegations were without merit…The complainant appealed the decision to the LERB and the complaints were again dismissed, save for a further investigation which subsequently confirmed the dismissal.”
“It is not unusual for police officers to be the subject of unsubstantiated complaints, but a complete and thorough process was conducted which found this complaint to be without merit.”
A local organization called Common Sense Calgary showed that Chu was polling 54%, while his closest competitor DJ Kelly polled at 33% in Ward 4. Kelly, meanwhile, only asked the public to focus on the victims of sexual assault, asking people to go support the group Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse.
Obviously, I don’t have a horse in this race but Kelly is spot on, and it’s very difficult to talk about sexual assault allegations in the confines of a political contest. But we only have a very fresh and still raw example to draw from: the disgraced Liberal candidate and now MP-elect, Kevin Vuong, who was elected in a downtown Toronto riding days after Vuong was accused of sexual assault himself.
Despite being dumped by the Liberals, Vuong got elected and vows to continue to sit as an Independent, in the face of numerous calls for him to resign as people said he was elected under dubious circumstances; people that didn’t hear about the allegations would never have voted for him in the advance polls had they known. And in spite of criticism of the Liberals’ candidate vetting process, people are going to lie to their face and this was one clear example.
Chu’s case is similar with some differences. There’s no political party that vetted him and he is literally running as an independent as all Calgary municipal candidates do. He will have to weather the storm on his own feet should the councillor secure another term, if that happens. Similar to the Vuong situation, votes were cast before October 18, before these matters emerged for public consumption.
The municipal electoral environment does favour incumbent, but what I’ve noticed is that Calgary does have situations where an incumbent gets defeated because of some galvanising issue. Only on next Monday will we see if this issue decides Chu’s fate.
Cover photo courtesy of Sean Chu’s Facebook page
Follow me on Twitter @thekantastic