By Christine de Kock
THE Independent candidate for Footscray says her campaign will not be affected by her connection to a pending dispute at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court.
Catherine Cumming, a state election candidate, is also the councillor for the Bluestone Ward in the City of Maribyrnong.
She is mentioned on a summons received by councillor Michelle MacDonald, which demands Cr MacDonald attend Sunshine Magistrates’ Court charged with election offences.
The charges relate to the council elections that took place in November 2005.
Cr MacDonald, the representative for the Ironbark Ward, went public about the summons last week, speaking to newspapers and Channel 10 News.
Cr MacDonald said she would defend her reputation and clear her name.
“She (Cr Cumming) and Joseph Perse are on the summons … they’re the ones pushing it definitely,” she said.
Mr Perse was an Independent candidate for Wattle Ward during the council election.
Cr MacDonald said the summons related to “campaign material that affected the character of Joseph Perse and Catherine Cumming”.
Cr Cumming said she believed people could “distinguish between the state election and the council election”.
“I actually think, if anything, the councillor for Ironbark was an endorsed ALP candidate. I think it would reflect more poorly on the ALP than it would on anybody else,” she said.
Cr Cumming said she will ask Cr MacDonald at the council meeting today (Tuesday) to table the summons sheet.
“I think it is council’s right to have it tabled,” she said.
She said Cr MacDonald should reconsider her position on the council.
Mr Perse was targeted during the council election campaign in a document titled: ‘Joseph Perse – Council Candidate Critical of Everything, Stands for Nothing’.
Mr Perse said the flier was inserted into a retail catalogue and distributed to houses within the ward.
Cr Cumming was targeted in leaflets, one in English and the other a mix of English inserted with Vietnamese profanities.
The material stated she supported rate increases and the Federal Government’s industrial relations legislation, among other falsities.
Cr MacDonald said her election posters had her eyes burnt out and she faced other forms of harassment.
Cr MacDonald said since the council elections she had been the target of nuisance calls and a death threat.
She said a caller rang offering her funeral insurance on Melbourne Cup day, which she inferred to be a death threat.
