Edmonton city councillor Sarah Hamilton didn't violate Code of Conduct when she headlined UCP fundraiser, integrity commissioner says
Edmonton city councillor Sarah Hamilton didn't violate Code of Conduct when she headlined UCP fundraiser, integrity commissioner says
The Ward sipiwiyiniwak councillor spoke alongside Premier Danielle Smith at a March 13 "Politics & Prosecco" UCP fundraiser.
The City of Edmonton’s integrity commissioner has dismissed a Code of Conduct complaint against Coun. Sarah Hamilton for headlining a March fundraiser for Alberta’s governing party alongside the premier, a UCP MLA and Conservative MP, the Orchard has learned.
A reader submitted a complaint against Hamilton in March, alleging the Ward sipiwiyiniwak councillor violated the Code of Conduct’s prohibition on councillors participating in partisan politics in their capacity as elected officials.
Section G of the code, which deals with conflicts of interest, states:
Councillors have a right to freely and fully participate in the political process in their personal capacity, including contributing personal money or real property, volunteering, or offering financial support of partisan political activity, provided that, when doing so, they disclose that such participation is not in their capacity as elected officials. [Emphases added.]
Integrity commissioner Jamie Pytel wouldn’t confirm or deny a complaint had been submitted regarding Hamilton’s headlining appearance at the March 13 “Politics & Prosecco” UCP fundraiser for International Women’s Day, let alone that it was dismissed.
But the reader who submitted the complaint provided the Orchard with a recent email from Pytel, in which Pytel wrote that upon investigation, she determined that the allegation that Hamilton violated the code with her appearance at the event is “unsubstantiated.”
“Based on my investigation findings,” Pytel wrote, “I did not find sufficient information, on a balance of probabilities, that the Code has been breached. Therefore, this complaint is found to be unsubstantiated and is dismissed. [Emphasis in original.]”
Hamilton left council early on March 13, in the midst of fraught contract negotiations with city employees, to speak at the partisan fundraiser, which featured a panel discussion moderated by Premier Danielle Smith with female politicians from each level of government.
Hamilton represented municipal politics while Calgary-Shaw MLA Rebecca Schulz, who hosted the event, represented provincial and Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs represented federal.
Pytel’s investigation consisted of interviewing Hamilton, documenting her correspondence with event organizers, reviewing the event’s promotional materials and interviewing two other attendees.
The commissioner noted that no video or audio recording of the fundraiser exists.
“While Councillor Hamilton was identified as a Councillor for the City of Edmonton at this event, I find that she was not in attendance as part of her official duties for the City of Edmonton,” Pytel wrote. “At no time did she profess to be there in her official capacity.”
Hamilton didn’t discuss any municipal “business or decisions,” speaking strictly of her experience as a woman running for office, Pytel added.
While it is “preferable” for a councillor to explicitly state that they aren’t attending a partisan event in their official capacity as a city councillor, “that can sometimes be out of their control or awkward,” the commissioner wrote.
During her investigation, Pytel found an event poster that identified Hamilton as the city councillor for Ward sipiwiyiniwak, which she showed to Hamilton.
That would presumably be this poster:
The councillor assured her that was the first time she saw it, and Pytel took her word for it.
But Hamilton had to have been aware there was a poster going around with her official city position on it, because when the Orchard asked her about it in March, she dismissed her title as mere “biographical data.”
Hamilton couldn’t be reached for comment on her apparent vindication, with an automated email reply indicating she’s on vacation.
In March, she told the Orchard that the “context is clear that the event was not official council business, nor was I speaking on behalf of the city.