Rocky View County councillor Kim McKylor doesn't pull any punches in expressing her distaste for the legal action being taken against fellow councillor Mark Kamachi.

Nor does she buy into the arguments that there's something rotten going on in Rocky View County.

"If you dig for gold, you can find gold. If you dig for dirt, you're going to find dirt, and I wish more people in Rocky View would spend a little less time digging for dirt." 

The Division 2 councillor and RVC deputy reeve took aim at Janet Ballantyne and Kim Magnuson for continuing to seek the disqualification of Div. 1 Councillor Kamachi, despite the fact he had already publically announced he would not be seeking re-election before being served court documents.

"I am at a loss as to what this group's motivation is, what they're trying to gain when he's already said he's not running again, and when a county investigator has already said these [claims] are without merit."

She believes the only thing they can gain at this point is to tarnish his reputation.

She didn't know Kamachi before the start of the current term, but after sitting next to him in the RVC council chambers for nearly four years, says she's come to know him well.

"Mark's accomplishments is really the story, and his contribution to that community is really the story, because that really is the story, and, unfortunately, we have a couple of people that just want to tarnish that. He's a good guy that loves that community and has given to that community, and I hope that people know that."

She believes it can't be about good governance, otherwise, the two would have taken a similar stand against Div. 8 councilor Samanntha Wright, who has also been accused of pecuniary interest and for being indebted to the county. Instead, notes, McKylor, they called the actions against Wright unjust.

"My question to them is if it's about good governance, and it's about things that are alleged, did they make the same request to Councillor (Samanntha) Wright? And the answer to that is no. So I can only eliminate that as their motivation because they don't then clearly hold every councillor to the same bar."

"If it's about good government and holding their political leaders accountable, I'm all for that. But the same sword needs to be drawn, and the same demands then need to be made of all your elected leaders. When it's not, then that goes out the window, it holds no credibility, it holds no water."

She believes it amounts to a handful of people who believe themselves to be social influencers, yet many residents have told her they don't support the views being presented.

She challenges Ballantyne and Magnuson to let their names stand in the fall election.

"Put your name on the ballot, and all the people that follow you can vote you in, and you can fix it inside because that's the only way to fix it is inside if it's that broken. But if it's not that broken, if the majority of people don't believe the rhetoric that this group writes online and they know who these people are and say they are not relevant, then tell them they're not relevant, because by remaining silent you make them relevant."

She is disheartened by the cyberbullying of elected officials that has become commonplace and fears it makes many people question whether they should run for public office.

"Councillors don't make a lot of money, and most of the time we do it because we just want to give something back to the community. Most of us aren't political junkies or even experts, we're just people that maybe have a skill set that we can bring to the table and offer a little bit of value over a piece of time."

She believes Kamachi has been such a person for the people and businesses in his division.

"He hears the voices of the local business that say we need more development in Bragg Creek so that we can stay and business, and he hears those voices that say we want to stay exactly the same.  And somehow he manages, and quite frankly much better than anybody else at the table, to put all those voices together and try to come up with a reasonable plan."

At the beginning of an RVC public hearing on Apr. 20, Kamachi bowed out after being left scrambling for legal representation.

He sought his fellow councillors' view on whether he should continue to attend meetings until the matter was resolved. Unanimously, the council said he should continue to serve his role.