Electoral Commission "investigating" Team Quirk tactics

NEWS

 

Brisbane Lord Mayoral independent candidate Jim Eldridge says the Queensland Electoral Commission is now investigating his formal complaints to it earlier this month over Team Quirk election material “that is misleading or likely to mislead voters” .

As the only media outlet that has campaigned solidly since the 2012 poll against the LNP/Team Quirk’s copycat council cleat, The Independent applauds Mr Eldridge’s actions.

And it issues a simple challenge of its own to the QEC: If the organisation’s basic remit is to conduct fair and open elections, then it must use whatever powers it has to make the LNP and Team Quirk desist immediately from tactics that this newspaper believes the vast majority of voters would see as clearly deceptive and politically dishonest.

And the QEC has only one question to answer: why does Team Quirk use yellow and blue blocks down the left-hand-side of election material if not to let voters think it’s the council’s official branding “cleat”?

In his letter of complaint, Mr Eldridge (pictured) hit out at the use of both the copycat council cleat (this newspaper's description) and the way the LNP placed official ECQ postal vote forms inside LNP envelopes using maroon colours that match ECQ documents.

In his letter seeking an urgent investigation with the 19 March poll date looming, Mr Eldridge said both tactics were “creating the impressions that the ECQ and or BCC endorses the featured LNP candidates” and “carries great weight and direct influence on voters and misleads them in relation to the way of voting”.

Mr Eldridge suggested the QEC also investigate LNP candidate vehicles “featuring the official BCC logo and LNP billboards and signs displaying the BCC blue and yellow [design] in the left borders which BCC uses to distinguish their materials”.

Mr Eldridge said of these and several other Team Quirk tactics: “Aside from being morally inappropriate, it appears this conduct was illegal”.

“With local government elections fast approaching, I respectfully request an expedited investigation of this matter.” Mr Eldridge concluded.

And he continued his attack in a recent media release.

“Graham Quirk is misleading voters into believing he is the Brisbane City Council. He is not. He is a member of a political party and holding himself out to be officially endorsed by the BCC during an election campaign goes to his lack of moral values.”

“It also raises serious questions about the independence and integrity of the Chief Executive Officer of the BCC, Colin Jensen, who should be the one prosecuting this complaint to the ECQ”, Mr Eldridge said.

 

Below: A Team Quirk political pamphlet that Mr Eldridge included in his request for a QEC investigation: Bottom: The official council cleat on a bus timetable in the Valley.

 

 

 

 

 OUR SAY: What the QEC needs to know….

The LNP/Team Quirk only use their copycat cleat for Brisbane City Council elections.

It is designed for no other purpose than to let voters think it’s the council’s official branding cleat. It is used for no other reason than to link Team Quirk with council, thereby creating the impression Team Quirk are the council’s official election team.

For four long years, Lord Mayor Quirk refused to answer questions from The Independent asking him to explain how his copycat council cleat differed from the real thing, and why he believed those differences are sufficient that the average Brisbane voter could tell the difference.

Council CEO Colin Jensen has admitted to The Independent after examining Team Quirk political material that it uses the same colours as on the official council cleat. But he told the paper he could not take action because the dimensions on the blocks used by Team Quirk were not exactly the same as on the official branding cleat.

The dimensions of the blocks used pervasively by Team Quirk in 2012 and again now fall well inside the range that the official cleat displays to the public eye.

Some legalistic notion that what Team Quirk uses “does not impinge on the council cleat” is, in this newspaper’s view, highly risible, as is its claim that what it uses is in fact LNP branding.

The LNP/Team Quirk’s sneaky and tricky use of its copycat council cleat is giving them a totally undeserved advantage over political rivals who are doing the right thing and obeying the council rule that says the council’s cleat must not be used for political purposes.

Vicki Howard sidesteps our questions yet again

 

TOP: A sample of Brisbane City Council's official branding "cleat" that council rules strictly say must not be used for political purposes. ABOVE: Team Quirk footpath signs in  2012.

 

NEWS

Central Ward councillor Vicki Howard – the woman who worked so very, very hard at the 2012 poll to look like she had already been elected – has hidden behind a short, stock-standard LNP response to our latest questions over the use by her and other Team Quirk candidates of the copycat council cleat.

“Team Quirk branding does not use the Brisbane City Council cleat or logo” was the belated response to our questions.

 The Independent will let the voters of Central Ward make up their own minds about her ongoing refusal to answer what this paper believes the vast majority of its readers would accept as legitimate, fair and reasonable questions that deserve to be answered in an open and honest way.

Our questions from a few weeks ago:

Preamble: As in the 2012 Brisbane City Council elections, you are once again putting your name and photo to a lot of LNP/Team Quirk material that uses a pattern of alternating blue and yellow blocks down the left hand side of political material of all sorts. Accordingly we pose the following questions, including some you’ll be very familiar with as you have steadfastly refused to answer them for some years. And please advise that you've received this email, regardless of whether you intend to reply or not.

1.  Do you share The Independent’s view that Brisbane residents should always obey both the spirit and the letter of Brisbane City Council rules and bylaws?

 2.  Do you believe that in putting your name and image to the design feature mentioned above, you are obeying both the spirit and the letter of that council rule that bans the use of the City Council’s intellectual property – its branding “cleat” of alternating blue and yellow blocks run vertically down the left-hand side of official council material - in political material?

 3.  The council’s CEO told The Independent last year after viewing LNP/Team Quirk political material that the blue and yellow colours used on such material were the same as those used on the council’s official cleat. Do you agree with his assessment?

 4. Do you also accept that the dimensions of the blue and yellow blocks used on official city council material vary widely as seen by the public?

 5. Do you accept that if just one voter in Brisbane thinks that what appears on your political material is the council cleat, then that’s one too many?

 6. The Independent has long argued that you and the LNP/ Team Quirk in general have deliberately used such a design feature to make some voters – The Independent argues it would be the vast majority - think it’s the council cleat. If you disagree with that then why are you using it?

 7. The Independent has also long argued that the use of the copycat council cleat in LNP/Team Quirk political material including your own is there for no other reason than to link Team Quirk with the council’s name so that Team Quirk becomes the council’s official election team, thus giving it an electoral advantage, one we argue is unfair, unethical and politically dishonest. Assuming you disagree with that view, please explain why we are wrong.

 

Below: It's the 2016 campaign and when you've cheated once and it's worked, why not cheat again?

 

 

Independent candidate joins "cheating" chorus

NEWS

Independent Brisbane Lord Mayoral candidate Jim Eldridge has fully backed this newspaper's long-running campaign against the LNP/Team Quirk's ongoing use of their copycat council cleat to try to cheat their way back to the keys of City Hall.

And Mr Eldridge has used three simple one-word answers to show what he thinks of the tactic that this paper has always claimed - and one we believe a vast majority of Brisbane people would agree with -  blatantly breaks the council rule that says the council's cleat must not be used for political gain.

Here are the questions we put to the candidate and his short, sharp and telling replies:

1. Do you regard Team Quirk's pervasive use of what The Independent believes the vast majority of Brisbane people would see as the city council's intellectual property - its branding image of alternating blocks of blue and yellow down the left-hand-side of official council documents (its cleat)that council rules say must not be used for political purposes - as cheating?

Answer: Yes.


 2. The Independent has argued for years that the LNP/Team Quirk's use of the council's copycat cleat is underhand, sneaky, unethical, rule-breaking and politically dishonest. Do you agree with any or all of those descriptions?

Answer: Yes.

 3. The Independent has long argued that there's no way the upcoming municipal elections can be conducted on a level playing field if the LNP/Team Quirk continue using a feature we believe is designed for no other reason than to create the impression in voters' minds that Team Quirk has some form of official council support/blessing. Agree or disagree?

Answer: Agree