Should politicians counsel voters' on voting/financial habits?

Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar, in his "State of the City" address to the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, at their Annual General Meeting, this past Wednesday, March 26th pleaded with local Kamloops voters' to maintain the 'status quo' in November's civic elections for the City of Kamloops - read more here (Kamloops This Week) and watch an item from CFJC-TV here

This is interesting because usually Mayoral addresses given to a local Chamber of Commerce, especially in an election year, tend to focus more around what work a local government has done on business issues (development, red tape, financial, etc) and leave campaign speeches for the campaign trail.

While it is too early to say if this will come home to haunt Milobar's chances for a 3rd term - my experience is that voters' generally do not like their local politicians chiding them how to vote, if even they (politicians) were concerned how a civic vote might look on a local government in the future… both from a political and administrative level

Consider the case of Williams Lake City Councillor Sue Zacharias and her previous commentary to voters to save more of their money and the suggestion that somehow people do not manage their own personal finances well.  My blog readers' have told me previously that they do not appreciate those type of suggestions (financial or political) from local politicians...

Politicians, of all levels (including myself), should stay away from chiding local residents, regardless of the time of year & subject and stick to governing (in non-election years) and state what you stand for in election years

~SF