Coquitlam city politicians are undervaluing their jobs if they think they can do without two of eight councillors at the council and committee table from now until the next election 17 months away.
It's nice to know some councillors are prepared to do double duty to avoid spending the roughly $142,000 it would cost to hold a byelection in which only a few thousand people are expected to vote.
We appreciate that they don't want to spend money unwisely but penny pinching on the democratic process, no matter how noble the intent or how low the voter turnout, feeds into the kind of disrespect for the political process that leads to voter apathy.
But it's no wonder there is so much concern about spending the extra money, even though it has been budget, given the latest so-called spending scandal raised by Coun. Lou Sekora over hotel expenses at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, held recently in downtown Vancouver.
Everybody's running scared of spending if it could be perceived as frivolous after Sekora suggested that his colleagues should have slept in their own beds instead of staying at a posh Vancouver hotel.
Regardless of whether this was taxpayers' money well spent, or how unusual it is for suburban politicians to get their 40 winks at a hotel when their home is a SkyTrain ride and a dead of night bus-transfer away after a long day, the story was widely publicized. And Sekora got his moment in the spotlight.
Was the issue overblown? Probably, but the effect of his calculated outrage is worse.
Now, the decision by new MLAs Linda Reimer and Selina Robinson to take a leave has everyone concerned that Coquitlam could once again be seen as spending money needlessly.
In fact, the two issues are very different. Reimer and Robinson were duly voted in by a rigorous election process, along with many other municipal councillors and mayors. And realistically, they can't do both jobs.
Paying for a byelection, if necessary, is the only option.
