North Vancouver council candidate Iani Makris under fire over Facebook posts

Opponents are making an issue of social-media posts by City of North Vancouver council candidate Iani Makris

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      Not everyone can see what’s on Iani Makris’s Facebook page anymore. Not after political opponents took issue with some of its contents.

      “I’ve now blocked it off to the public,” the 31-year-old candidate for City of North Vancouver council told the Georgia Straight when reached by phone.

      Makris, a restaurateur, said he’s surprised that his Facebook page has attracted attention in this fall’s election campaign.

      “I’m a local business owner who, you know, has a lot of fun with my Facebook page. My friends post a lot of things,” he said.

      There’s a photo of him pointing what looks like a shotgun, which spawned a tweet from Kerry Morris, who is challenging incumbent mayor Darrell Mussatto in the November 15 municipal election.

      On September 11, Morris asked on Twitter: “Mussatto aims his slate endorsement at Iani Makris. Shooter yes, but is he the straight shooter #nvan needs?”

      When asked about the photo, Makris said: “I’m just holding a gun and somebody took a photo of it. And my hair looks impeccable.”

      The Straight has received screenshots of other images and posts on Makris’s Facebook page.

      “My private life is my private life, of course, right?” Makris said on the line. “But if anybody was to come down to the restaurant and meet me and speak to me, then they would know that, you know, it’s all just a joke, my Facebook page. You have to understand these people that are digging up stuff are sitting at their home. They have nothing to do except for focus on the negative.”

      There’s a Facebook post by Makris on July 7, 2010, proclaiming “I can’t get enough of the Gangster Gays website,” followed by several exclamation points. Makris explained: “The gangstergays.com was posted by a friend. We tease each other all the time. So, I am not gay. However, I have a lot of homosexual friends, and yeah, I’m not ashamed of that at all.”

      He followed with another post on July 16, 2010, wherein he wrote: “C is for CUNT.”

      Told that the post may be seen as offensive to women, Makris said: “I was raised by my mother. I have a wonderful relationship with women, and, yeah, sometimes things get taken out of context. And there’s nothing really you could do. You can just move forward. And it’s, obviously, if anybody was offended, I apologize, but it’s my private Facebook page that people are going and digging up dirt on me, right?”

      He also posted a photo of Mussatto, shown speaking at a recent Makris campaign event, and wrote: “I am proud to call him my mayor…and friend.”

      Makris said: “I’m not necessarily sure if I’m endorsed by the mayor, so I don’t think the mayor is really endorsing anybody…I’m sure that he [Mussatto] would definitely not approve of my Facebook page. That’s for sure.”

      When reached for comment, Morris said he tweeted the photo of Makris aiming a gun to drive home his point that Makris and Mussatto have the same vision, which is friendly to developers.

      “North Vancouver is undergoing a dramatic alteration,” Morris told the Straight by phone. “That alteration is principally the byproduct of development approved by the mayor and his slate. And that development has got vast components of this community very upset.”

      Mussatto dismissed the characterization that he is developer-friendly. “It’s ludicrous,” Mussatto said by phone.

      The mayor added that, as an independent, he’s not endorsing anyone in the election. “I’m running on my record, which is clear and transparent,” Mussatto said. “What you have seen from me, being honest and open and caring for everyone, will continue. And I think people who know me admire me.”

      Morris said that he has seen other images and posts, but he’s not giving an opinion about these.

      “Is that an appropriate kind of public document for the next round of public officials?” Morris asked. “I’m not saying it is and I’m not saying it isn’t. And, as a result, I have stayed away from those pictures.”

      Morris also said, “Put it this way: you won’t find any of those kinds of pictures of me.”

      Former North Vancouver councillor Bill Bell, who is back on the campaign trail for a council seat, is aware of some of the contents of Makris’s Facebook page.

      “I called up; I emailed Iani and tried to be friends with Iani on Facebook to give him a heads-up on it,” Bell told the Straight in a phone interview. “I didn’t think it was a good thing for a candidate to have a Facebook page with some inappropriateness there. He didn’t return my calls. I also left a message with a couple of his friends.”

      Comments

      28 Comments

      ursa minor

      Oct 1, 2014 at 4:05pm

      I've unfriended people on Facebook (family members included) who can't separate their public profile from their private/personal lives. Either I lose respect for them over the personal stuff, or their public stuff just annoys me.

      If you don't have a sense of who you audience is, you probably shouldn't be running for public office.

      John Cummins

      Oct 1, 2014 at 5:08pm

      Your really have to wonder how Mayor Darrell Mussatto, NDP President Craig Keating and others can support such a immature and inappropriate candidate. Calling women the "C" word does not led itself to the NDP way of thinking

      James Blathford

      Oct 1, 2014 at 5:21pm

      Dude does have nice hair....not sure there is much under it though.

      Shawn

      Oct 1, 2014 at 6:16pm

      Puh-lease! This just shows the big generational divide. It is time for all these old fogeys to drop dead.

      Dave

      Oct 1, 2014 at 7:00pm

      Iani is a great guy.

      Meatballs

      Oct 1, 2014 at 7:08pm

      The guy's a poster child for narcissism.

      @John Cummins

      Oct 1, 2014 at 8:18pm

      The "c" word?
      In Canada, we have freedom of expression. Calling someone, woman or man, a cunt is a way of expressing derision. Whatever "inappropriate" sexual imagery might flash through your mind, or the mind of any "nice ladies" is wholly inappropriate. A good way to tell the fucking cunts in the room is to ask "are there any cunts here offended by my calling you cunts?" Anyone offended is obviously a fucking cunt.

      Lmao

      Oct 1, 2014 at 8:52pm

      anyone that takes offense to that picture is a CUNT (Man or woman)... So is @John Cummins... "in my opinion" :)

      Nick Cross

      Oct 1, 2014 at 9:00pm

      Honestly?! Who cares. At least he is not pretending to be perfect like the other old dinosaurs that are running in the City of North Vancouver, (the same old fuddy duddies that se
      To have tatted him out). He seems like an honest, straight shooting guy. ;)