Whodunnit solved: Election sign-thrower unmasked as Kingston councillor

Three sleeps to go! And a hell of a lot of council election ballots that need to be posted.

The Victorian Electoral Commission tells Ward Games that 49 per cent of ballots have been mailed as of COB on Tuesday (2,174,109 to be exact).

The return rate for the City of Melbourne race is sitting at 38 per cent – seems a bit low but the VEC assures us things are on track.

Do send us an email if you have some last-minute goss: [e-mail] and [e-mail].

HOWE COME?

An update from the front lines of the Kingston City Council corflute wars.

Readers may recall our footage of a mysterious figure pulling down a candidate’s election signs and then tossing them onto a train line.

It turns out the identity of the sign-thrower wasn’t such a mystery to the good burghers of the city’s south-east.

We can now reveal the man in question is believed to be Cameron Howe, a recently sitting Kingston councillor whose term was due to end this week when voting closes.

Well, that was until Howe emailed his immediate resignation to Kingston chief executive Peter Bean on October 5, the day the signs were pulled down. Apparently, those final three weeks’ work were a bridge too far.

Former Kingston councillor Cameron Howe.

Our friends at Mornington Peninsula News have pointed the finger at Howe, and our spies down the Nepean Highway agree that the gait is unmistakably his.

So, if Howe is the culprit, why did he do it? Well, we would love to tell you, but unfortunately Howe has been avoiding our calls, emails, texts and DMs. A recent Instagram story shows him on a beach somewhere.

Readers may remember Howe lost a defamation battle on a community Facebook page he ran, and was ordered to pay $205,000 in damages (it was later lowered to $70,000 on appeal).

Howe is not running for re-election in the Banksia ward (although his father, Chris Howe, has nominated).

Howe has not publicly denied nor admitted to throwing the signs. When contacted by Ward Games, Howe snr said: “You have called me on my private number – I do not know how you got it, but please do not contact me on this number again.”

(We got his number from the VEC website.)

Victoria Police has spoken to Howe junior about the incident of alleged criminal damage. “The man has been interviewed and released pending summons,” a spokesperson said.

BOXING CLEVER

This is a new one for us.

A curious piece of election material is landing in mailboxes in Maroondah City Council, in Melbourne’s east, exposing a group of candidates for supposedly being linked to a boxing gym.

Yes, a boxing gym.

For those who don’t live out Ringwood way, a quick primer: MVC Boxing has been locked in a battle with Maroondah over a decision to up its rent by more than 1300 per cent. Ouch.

The reason for the $90,000 rent increase was that MVC was apparently not providing enough information to substantiate its not-for-profit status.

Well, Caroline Nordio, president of MVC Boxing, has decided to enter the ring of local politics and run for council.

The anonymous letter going around Maroondah accuses Nordio of nominating four other MVC-linked candidates in the race – without mentioning that in their election material.

Nordio assures us this is untrue. Only one other person running, Brendan Woods, has a connection to the gym, she said.

The MVC Boxing gym taking on Maroondah City Council.Credit: Instagram

“None of it’s correct; it’s put in place to hurt me and other people,” said Nordio.

If elected, she said, she would not vote on any decisions affecting MVC due to the conflict of interest.

She also said the rent hike wasn’t why she was running, citing rising crime and poor infrastructure as her big issues.

YOU’RE BLOCKED

If there’s one thing people love, it’s unsolicited texts and calls.

Nick Reece: Robo-texting like a demon.Credit: Penny Stephens

So why do candidates insist on it as an effective campaign strategy?

We’ve been sent screenshots of candidates across the city asking residents to vote for themselves or their party colleagues, including Pierce Tyson in Moonee Valley, Tully Smith in Wyndham, Angelica Panopoulos in Merri-bek and Sarah McKenzie in Yarra.

In the City of Melbourne, Nick Reece has been robocalling and texting like a demon in the past few weeks.

So, you’re asking, how did they get your number? For those versed in the Local Government Act (hands up, nerds), you’ll know candidates are only given names and addresses off the electoral roll.

But the major parties all maintain super-handy voter databases with emails and phone numbers they’ve collected from petitions, contact with MPs and other dark arts.

Campaign managers tell us this contact info is easily bought from private data firms (remember all those T&Cs you didn’t read when signing up to that credit card?).

Annoying? Yes. Effective? Unclear. Illegal? Nope.

Unauthorised election material from Nick Reece’s campaign sent via a strata management company, Melcorp Strata, to a Melbourne residential building.

Probably not surprising either – we are in “whatever it takes” mode right now.

Although one method that caught our eye was a pro-Reece email sent to a City of Melbourne resident from their building’s management company, Melcorp Strata.

Melcorp was sharing “some valuable insights from the current lord mayor, Nicholas Reece, that may assist you as the council elections approach”. Thanks so much.

Melcorp confirmed Reece’s team asked them to pass on the comms, and said they didn’t receive any payment for it.

The Reece campaign said it was all above board: “We are using modern campaigning techniques in accordance with the relevant rules.”

The Local Government Inspectorate told us political communication via strata companies is legal. But! The fact there was no authorisation on the letter is a no-no and a campaign offence.

We wait to see if they cop a fine.

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