The Jakubeit file: Is this fair?
Ialways ask myself one question before writing, or approving, a controversial article on a community member. Is this fair? In the case of today’s front page exclusive on our mayor’s financial situation, it is indeed fair. I would like to explain why I’ve come to that conclusion.
A quick summary. In 2013, Andrew Jakubeit received approval from a judge to cut a deal with creditors to help get out from under $150,000 in credit card debt. This matter is public record. The documents, obtained by The Herald, are all public. If you’re good at navigating the Internet, it can be found online.
Less than a year later, Jakubeit, then finishing his second term on Penticton City Council, announced his candidacy for mayor and presented himself to voters as a successful, young entrepreneur with lots of great ideas. At no time during the campaign did he disclose his financial problems.
According to a B.C. government fact sheet, “The intent of the Financial Disclosure Act is to identify what areas of influence and possible financial benefit an elected official, nominee or designated employee might have by virtue of their office, and to ensure the public has reasonable access to the information.”
So while Jakubeit never violated the letter of the law, it’s debatable if he adhered to the spirit of it.
The mayor of Penticton is in charge of $150 million of public money (taxes and utilities) yet seems to have problems balancing his own personal finances. His election as mayor also set him up as vice-chair of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen for two years. One of the prerequisites for being mayor or RDOS vice-chair, we believe, is the ability to manage money.
The mayor is held to a much higher standard than a private citizen. When you run for political office something that would be ignored by the press for everyday citizens becomes headline news for politicians. (Think of Premier Gordon Campbell’s drunk driving episode in Hawaii — his mugshot was plastered everywhere but most impaired drivers seldom have their name in print.) Some people don’t seek political office because of privacy. It raises other questions. For example – and this is nothing more than speculation – did he run for mayor because he needed the money or because he genuinely wanted to make a difference in his community? Would he have accepted a $2,5000 campaign contribution from Gateway Casinos had he not been in financial difficulty? No sooner was he elected, council voted themselves a pay raise in the form of extended medical and dental benefits.
The citizens of the United States elected Donald J. Trump as president knowing full well of his failed business ventures in Atlantic City. The fact the American people have never seen Trump’s tax returns has since become an issue.
In defence of Jakubeit, our lawyer did note the information was there for anyone with an Internet connection to see through the B.C. Court Services website, and the lawyer also wondered how Jakubeit would have proactively disclosed the information: News release? Press conference? That would have been political suicide.
And nobody directly asked him about his personal finances during the mayoral campaign of 2014.
Jakubeit is in the situation that 50,000 other Canadians are in. To some, this is not a big deal. After all, who hasn’t run up a lot of credit card debt or gotten behind in mortgage payments?
Who knows? Maybe the people would have elected Jakubeit with this information. This would have made him real, one of us.
Joe Fries has been working on this since January. My involvement was extremely limited (I shared a ride to Vernon with him) but it’s ultimately my call. I wrestled with it a bit because Andrew genuinely is a nice guy. Over the past several months I spoke privately with many experienced journalists, retired politicians and lawyers asking them if this is newsworthy.
It was unanimous – the public has the right to know.
Although it might be embarrassing at the moment, it’s better for the mayor that the story breaks now in The Herald rather than from one of his opponents in the 2018 election campaign, should he seek re-election.
So there it is, all sides of the story. It’s now up to you, the citizens of Penticton, to decide. Thanks again to Joe for his relentless and unapologetic investigation for the truth.
James Miller is managing editor of The Herald. To contact the writer: editor@pentictonehrald.ca