Draft Peter Kelly campaign not a joke, group rep says

A website and social media campaign encouraging former Halifax mayor Peter Kelly to run again in 2016 is not a joke, says a spokesman for the group that launched it.

Chad Hudson has come forward as a representative of the website Draft Kelly,but says members of the group behind the effort are not ready to be publicly identified.

"There's really no great conspiracy behind it," he tells CBC News. "It really is just a group of average people and names that you likely haven't heard of before."

Hudson says the group is not affiliated with Kelly.

The website was launched a week ago and urges Kelly, who is now chief administrator of a county in Alberta, to run again.

The website also criticizes a recent council decision to hand Irving Shipbuilding a special property tax deal.

Kelly has said he won't consider any move back into municipal politics until his contract with Westlock County ends in February.

As of Monday morning, the Draft KellyFacebookpage had just 13 Likes.

Kellywas first elected mayor of Halifax in 2000. He won two subsequent elections, but decided not to reoffer in 2012, citing personal reasons.

He was embroiled in a number of controversies near the end of his time as mayor, including the Halifax Common concert scandal and criticism over how he handled his role as executor of the estate of a Bedford woman.

In an interview last year, Kelly called these controversies learning experiences.