Former Warden Demands Accountability From Council While Seeking Re-Election

ARICHAT - As he seeks a second term in Richmond County's District Five, Jason MacLean says his motivation for running again hasn't changed from that of his first campaign in 2016 - to seek more accountability in the county's municipal government.

MacLean, the vice-principal of the county's only anglophone high school, Richmond Academy, recalled that Richmond Municipal Council was mired in turmoil four years ago, in the wake of a municipal expenses scandal that rocked the county and resulted in several high-profile officials either refusing to run for re-election or resigning from their posts.

However, in an interview with TELILE 24/7 host/producer Adam Cooke, MacLean cited several examples to suggest that the current five-district version of council is no more trustworthy or transparent than the ten-district incarnation that expired along with the municipal vote of 2016. 

Chief among these were the events of April 2019, which caused MacLean to resign from his position as warden only six months after his fellow municipal councilors voted to approve his nomination to the position. MacLean stated at the time that he no longer felt he had the support of council, after it voted 3-2 to terminate the contract of then-Chief Administrative Officer Kent MacIntyre. The abrupt firing led MacIntyre to file legal charges of wrongful dismissal against the county and defamation against individual councilors Gilbert Boucher, Alvin Martell and Brian Marchand, resulting in an out-of-court settlement earlier this summer. 

MacLean stated that he does not regret his decision to resign as warden, and suggested that council's conduct over the remaining eighteen months of the current council term only served to prove his prediction that he would be of better service to both his constituents and the county if he served out his term as a councilor in order to hold his fellow councilors accountable for their actions.