Elections B.C.
unsure if they

will prosecute

By JEFF NAGEL ~
RECALLERS bummed their
failed petition to recall
Skeena MLA Helmut Gies-
brecht Friday afternoon in
what they said was a final
act to protect the 6,000
people they say signed it.

Proponent Lome Sexton
and four other recall
campaign organizers
torched the 950 pages that
took 60 days to gather in a
Ittle under 10 minutes in a
barrel in Sexton’s Kalum
Lake Drive backyard.

The act was in defiance of
Elections B.C. orders Thurs-
day to hand over the peti-
tion, which would then be
counted and become a pub-
lic document.

“Tt was always my deal
with the voters of Skeena
that I would destroy the list
of names if we were not
successful,’’ Sexton said.
“I'm keeping my promise.”

Sexton said the divisions
in the community created by
recall would be slower to
heal if the petition ever be-
came publicly available.

“They want to make it
into a public document and
that just should not be,” he
said of Elections B.C., ad-
ding many people who
signed want their names
kept confidential. !

“T’s time we all got on
with our lives instead o
anybody worrying about
having anything over their
heads,’ he said.

Sexton said he didn’t want
some government employee
who gets passed over for a
promotion in the years
ahead to have to wonder if it
was because they signed the
recall petition.

“This absolutely guaran-
tees that everyone who
signed is protected,” added
Mike Rosenau.

Sexton said the spectre of
intimidation if the names
ever got out hung over the
whole campaign and kept
many people from signing

Sexton said campaign

Al0 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 11, 1998

Recallers torch petiti

REDUCED TO ASHES: Recall campaigners Greg Cowman, Mike Rosenau,

Sandy Sandhals and Lorne Sexton burned their failed petition to recall MLA Hel-
mut Giesbrecht on Friday afternoon,

lawyer Bruce Halisor had
advised him he would not
be breaking any law by
destroying the petition.

Elections B.C.’s Jennifer
Miller wasn’t sure Friday
what action, if any, might be
taken over the petition bum-
ing.

She said the legislation
clearly required the petition
to be submitted within 60
days — _ regardless of
whether enough signatures
were gathered.

But Miller wasn’t sure
whether any penalty is
specified for destroying a

count of the signatures
could take place,

Brady maintains the recal-
lers got nowhere near 6,000
signatures and said Sexton
should not be allowed to get
away with continuing to
mislead Skeena voters.

“We do not believe Lorne
Sexton’s figures. We have
never believed
Brady said.

Brady said he was dis-
sappointed when told the
petition had been destroyed,

*“T hope that Elections
BC. will make Lorne Sex-

“It was always my deal with the voters
of Skeena that | would desiroy the list of
names if we were not successful. I’m
keeping my promise,”

petition,

**This is new legistation,”’
she said. ‘“We'll have to see
what we can do. If it’s not in
the legislation there’s not
much we can do.”

Ray Brady, head of the
pro-Giesbrecht Skeena Tax-
payers Association, wanted
the petition filed so a formal

ton and whoever else was in
volved fully responsible for
what they’ve done,”’ Brady
said. ““They can’t be above
the Jaw,”

“Tt’s a shame that I guess
we'll never ever know the
truth and we’]l have to rely
on somebody who thinks
he’s above the Jaw and who

them,”’

has continually throughout
the campaign mis-
represented the truth,’
Brady said.

Sexton also burned four
computer disks that he said
were the only remaining
backup copies of computer
files where recallers had re-
corded the names of those
who signed.

‘He also said he has erased
the hard drive of the com-
puter that was used,

The computer files were
used to cross-reference the
signatures that were coming
in against the voters list and

monitor the campaign's
progress.
Sexton said no

photocopies of the original
petition sheets were made
either.

Recallers = say their
campaign fell about 1,500
signatures short of the 7,558
fequired to remove Gies-
brecht from office.

Campaigners _targetling
Paul Ramsey in Prince
George are still contemplat-
ing a court challenge of the
voters list to reduce the
number of signatures re-
quired there.

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