Wildrose Party Leader Paul Hinman’s “financial irregularities” and failure to follow Elections Alberta (EA) and party rules are among criticisms levelled in a Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection final report..The report alleges while Hinman didn’t contravene EA campaign finance rules, he was in “conflict of interest” when he transferred campaign funds to pay himself..Rumours are abounding that Hinman’s status as Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta (WIPA) leader is over and his party membership has been revoked..If that’s so, Hinman said nobody has told him..He intends to tackle head-on the “slanderous” claims by some “obnoxious” board members at WIPA’s July 23 annual general meeting in Red Deer..The report was submitted to WIPA’s board of governors from Provincial Nomination Committee (PNC) Chair Gurcharan Garcha on June 20..Hinman received 10.8% support in the March 15 byelection won in a landslide by former Wildrose leader and United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership contender Brian Jean with 63.6%..“The candidate did not follow Elections Alberta rules, party rules and nomination guidelines which complicated the nomination process,” states the report..“Financial irregularities on the part of the candidate are a cause of concern.”.The report zeroed in on Hinman’s use of campaign funds and neglected to submit a financial statement by May 15 as required by Elections Alberta..“However, during an interview with the PNC, Paul estimated that, with the $13,000 donation from the Party, between $25,000 and $30,000 was spent during the campaign,” it stated..“Campaign funds were directed to several things, including an honorarium for Paul Hinman (at the time of the writing of this document he was unable to tell the PNC how much he had transferred to himself) and salaries for two employees who assisted in the campaign.”.Other funds were used to pay for campaign expenses including signs, campaign literature and advertising..“It should be noted that it is highly irregular for a candidate to pay themselves during a campaign and, while not in contravention of EA rules, it is a conflict of interest for a person to pay themselves from money given to them in trust to administer.”.The report noted a “concern” about “irregular” donations prior to the writ drop..“An email circulated from one of the CA’s (constituency association) expressly stated that they had allocated a sizeable amount of money for Paul’s campaign which they had sent to his personal bank account.”.“Collecting funds on behalf of a campaign in this manner and the transfer of such funds to a personal account is in contravention of Elections Alberta rules which state that no funds can be collected by the candidate prior to the Writ being dropped. All such funds are to be directed to the CA and administered from there.”.Hinman claimed that he has all necessary bank statements and is confident he can prove nothing was amiss financially and was in line with agreements made with the party. .“At the AGM we’ll go to the people and counter and repudiate those claims. There’s really a lot of disgusting, slanderous information in there," he told the Western Standard..“It’s misleading. They act like that’s pure money coming into my pocket. Yes, there were some funds raised that went directly to my account. But it was raised for compensation for the leader’s team.”.“It’s nothing like what they’re projecting. It’s laughable, the numbers they put out there, compared to what I personally received. A lot went to operating expenses.”.Elections Alberta said CAs can raise money for the leader’s budget, he said..“It’s astounding to me what 10 members of our board have done to undermine this party going forward and want to maintain control.”.“One by one, they’ve picked off people. They haven’t followed their own bylaws, recruit their own people. One by one, the rotten apples have taken over the box. They need to be expunged at our AGM.”.Hinman dismissed the allegations as another attempt to destroy WIPA..“We’ve been told from the start that we are a threat to Canada and there’s moles inside the party. It seems more evident the actions taken by people on our board are very detrimental to the party and our movement going forward. They continue to cause problems,” he alleged..“Politics — who wants to go into this stinky pigpen? The one thing that I’ve absolutely learned is how intoxicating and poisonous power and prestige is. It’s amazed me how fast people get poisoned and how they want to control.”.“It doesn’t matter what organization, left, right, so-called center, you get these control freaks that literally think they know how to run the world, can run our lives better, spend our money better and will do anything to maintain it.”.Meanwhile, the report took aim at how Hinman conducted his byelection campaign..It stated that the “planning and execution of the campaign” was hindered by Hinman’s lack of both a formal campaign manager and volunteer coordinator..He was “not sufficiently prepared to address local issues” or “react to a shifting narrative” in the race, it said..The report also claimed that Hinman “contravened EA regulations” when he announced his intention to run in the byelection on Dec. 9, 2021. The nomination period was declared open that December 17..“It's categorically false. I did not break any Elections Alberta rules. They said I declared myself as a candidate. I did not. I declared I was seeking the nomination. Big difference,” said Hinman..He saved the exchanged messages to bolster his claim..“A lot of people are pretty disappointed and a little dismayed about all this going on,” said an organizer active in Alberta politics, who asked to remain anonymous..“It shocks a lot of people. We’ll see what the consequences are with the United Conservative Party race going on. This will obviously trigger a race for the Wildrose leadership as well.”
