With the election drawing nearer, online social media parodies of candidates continue – but online commenters have alleged a connection between Mayor Bruce Banman and an account attacking his rival for the mayor’s chair, Henry Braun.
Banman and Braun are the only two candidates in the race for mayor. The election will be held Saturday, Nov. 15.
Braun has been attacked on the social media site Twitter by the account @VoteHenryBrown.
Accusations of Banman’s involvement came when @VoteHenryBrown posted a screenshot that appeared to come from Banman’s personal Facebook account.
Banman denies involvement with the Twitter account. He sent a statement to The News, stating that the reported Twitter account “is not associated with my campaign, I condemn all slanderous comments that have been made during this election.”
He said he his campaign has always been about the real issues that face the people of Abbotsford.
The @VoteHenryBrown account has since been deleted.
Braun said that he had been aware of the Twitter account for weeks but had chosen to ignore the comments.
He was alerted to the alleged connection to the mayor, but said Banman has denied any involvement and “I take him at his word.”
This is not the only social media account that is putting out false information and attacking candidates’ reputations, said Braun.
He said he is disappointed by these actions because it can deter good candidates from running in the future.
Banman, whose official campaign website is found at brucebanman.com, is also subject to online ridicule, with a site mocking the mayor at a similar URL.
