Letter to Mayor Peter Tagliaferri

Dear Peter,
I have just read the article below by Jessica Strutt. (West Aust News 8/5/9) It seems to me that there is a subtle suggestion that a labour candidate may do favours for donations. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not making any accusations. It’s just that I saw Adele Carles and Alan Carpenter state outright that they were totally against this development.
You said you had not decided and were staying open minded about it.

I thought that was curious.

So, rather than make any judgments without the real facts I thought it would be wiser and fairer just to ask you point blank and that way we can avoid rumours and or innuendos.

Of course this kind of thinking can’t help but open up the possibility that something similar could have happened with the Freo Markets. Since I have had difficulty finding you down at city hall I thought you might do me the courtesy of shooting off a quick email. I has happy with your simple reply of ‘no’ the other week so a yes or no answer would be great now.

Questions:
Are you accepting donations from the north port development group?
And
Did the Murdoch’s offer donations for your campaign? If so, when? The exact date doesn’t really matter but was it around the time that the renewed lease was signed off on?

In anticipation of your reply I thank you. I know you are very busy at the moment but I would just hate to think that some people might think that a donation and a bribe would be similar.
Best Wishes
Sonya

An independent candidate in the Fremantle by-election claims people linked to the proposed North Port Quay development offered to assist his campaign if he agreed to preference Labor ahead of the Greens. Carmelo Zagami said two people connected with the $10 billion project, who he refused to name, made the offer during two meetings over the past week but he declined. The former Liberal Party member, who will direct preferences at the May 16 poll to the Greens’ Adele Carles, said yesterday he was concerned other candidates could be getting funding from those associated with the development but it was “difficult to trace”. Mr Zagami said the offer included volunteers to help on polling booths and paying for political advertising. “Basically the words were ‘we’ll give you whatever you want’,” he said. “They are of the belief that their project will not go anywhere if the Greens win.” Ms Carles, who is locked in a tight contest for the seat against Labor’s Peter Tagliaferri, was also concerned whether some candidates were receiving political donations from those linked to North Port Quay. “If this is actually happening this is a major concern to our democratic process,” she said. “I would like to see that investigated and come out in the open arena before Saturday, May 16.We saw what happened at Smiths Beach, we’ve seen what’s happened at Port Coogee. The public are sick and tired of this kind of corrupting influence in West Australian politics.” etc…

Replied the next day:

I have always had serious environmental concerns regarding this NPQ development .The answer to the two questions is No. No.