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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

MrJetzTV's candidacy casts doubt on rules

Sex charges no bar under province's Elections Act

By: Bruce Owen

Posted: 08/21/2012 1:00 AM

Somehow and someway, Darrell Ackman -- more infamously known as MrJetzTV -- got 130 people in Fort Whyte to sign his nomination papers so he could be a candidate in the Sept. 4 provincial byelection.

Ackman managed this bit of political paperwork even though he is on bail after being charged this summer for allegedly recruiting girls under the age of 18 to appear in porn videos. Under the province's Elections Act, there is nothing preventing him from soliciting eligible voters in Fort Whyte to sign his nomination papers or from having his name approved to appear on the ballot.

The Tuxedo resident became an official candidate on Sunday after Elections Manitoba vetted the signatures to make sure everything was in order.

"There is nothing saying I'm convicted," Ackman, 43, told the Free Press Monday.

The Selinger government declined to comment on the matter when asked whether the Elections Act should be amended. Elections Manitoba said there was nothing under the act to prevent Ackman or anyone else facing criminal charges for running for provincial office.

Elections Manitoba spokeswoman Alison Mitchell said the act only prohibits potential candidates from running if they're incarcerated or have been convicted under the Elections Act within five years before election day.

Mitchell declined to comment on Ackman's candidacy, as did all but one of the four other declared candidates.

"I put my full faith into Fort Whyte voters as to what they will do," Liberal candidate Bob Axworthy said. "I personally feel this takes away from the campaign. Until the charges are resolved, he should not run."

The other candidates are the NDP's Brandy Schmidt, Green party candidate Donnie Benham and Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister. Advance polls open Aug. 25.

Ackman said he decided to run while locked up in Headingley Correctional Institute waiting for his bail hearing.

"I was thinking, if I get out I'm not going to have anything to do and I need a job," Ackman said, adding he did not approach anyone who appeared under 18 when seeking signatures for his nomination.

"One of my conditions is that I'm not allowed to talk to anybody under 18, but the voters are all 18 and over anyway. No one under 18 would benefit me anyway. The greyer the hair, the better."

The same condition prevents him from going door-to-door to campaign. Plus, he's also under a 6 p.m to 6 a.m. curfew.

Ackman, said it took him about four days to get the 130 signatures approaching people outside department stores and coffee shops in the riding.

"Nobody asked me about the charges at all," he said.

Ackman made headlines earlier this month after he was arrested for targeting underage girls on Winnipeg streets as MrJetzTV, his YouTube name, and allegedly recruiting them for the purposes of prostitution and pornography.

Ackman has no connection with the Winnipeg Jets.

He is currently on bail and charged with living off the avails of prostitution, sexual assault, sexual interference, possessing child pornography, making, printing or publishing child pornography and invitation to sexual touching.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 21, 2012 A4