HOPE for a clean City of Melville council election is fading fast after Cameron Schuster and many of his neighbours received an anonymous letter disparaging the incumbent Applecross-Mt Pleasant ward councillor
Cr Shuster, who is recontesting his seat, branded the document a “scandal rag” after discovering it in his letterbox last Friday.
The anonymous, printed letter urges residents to vote for anyone besides “Cameron Schyster” and accuses the councillor of being a “master of deception and spin”.
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READ NOW“When your voting papers arrive I urge you to firstly throw Cameron Schuster’s enclosed statement in the bin – because you can’t rely on any commitment that he may give,” the letter reads.
“Then I ask you to read carefully the other candidates’ statements – I believe you will find one who will be honest, open and accountable and who we can rely on to stand up against the Aubrey cartel.”
The letter appeared in mailboxes on streets surrounding Cr Schuster’s home and offers no specific examples of his alleged deceit.
Cr Schuster strongly refuted all of the letter’s claims.
“It’s a blight on our democracy that people have to revert to telling anonymous lies to make a political point on behalf a of a candidate they don’t name,” he said.
“I’m disappointed and offended and glad that our eight-year-old grandson wasn’t the one to pull this scandal rag out of the letterbox.”
Cr Schuster also said his voting record during nearly four years on the council rubbished any suggestion he was dictated to by Mayor Russell Aubrey.
“If you take out all the routine stuff that comes up at every meeting and is always unanimous, there were 713 motions or amendments resolved in council meetings since October 2013,” he said.
“Of those, 505 were unanimous, which would suggest the so-called ‘Aubrey cartel” must involve all 13 councillors about 70 per cent of the time.”
“Of the 208 that were not unanimous, I voted differently to the Mayor 77 times.”
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