A member of the public questioned Mr Maslen about the six-year-old Facebook comments at an open candidates’ forum in Medowie on August 7.

In one post Mr Maslen relays a conversation he had with an overseas-born waitress, calling her by part of the female anatomy that rhymed with her real name.

In another public post from 2011, Mr Maslen appears to question the sexuality of a telemarketer he had a phone conversation with.

“It’s pretty dirty pool, they’ve had to go six years to find something on me,” Mr Maslen told Fairfax Media, which were provided with screen grabs of the posts before the page was set to private.

“We’ve said from the outset we’ll run a clean campaign and for them to throw that at us, it shows that we’re on the right track.”

Mr Maslen said the comments had been taken out of context.

“For someone to paint a picture of what I would be like in a public position based on these posts, it’s unfair,” he said.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of positive things I’ve said to people over the years.”

Cr Sally Dover, who will stand against Mr Maslen at the election, was “very disappointed”.

“It’s disrespectful, they’re terrible things to say,” she said.

Cr Dover said it wasn’t the kind of behavior wanted on council.

“In our code of conduct it says a councillor must not do or say anything that would bring the council into disrepute,” she said.

“To me, it’s very disappointing that a man who is stepping up to lead the community can’t act discreetly or control his emotions.”

Independent mayoral candidate Ryan Palmer condemned the social media posts.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for anyone to put that on Facebook,” he said.

The father of two did note that the Facebook posts were from six years ago but said he expected better.

“I’m not defending those comments and I would hope we’re not going to see any more like them,” he said.

“It’s certainly not appropriate to be making those sort of comments.”

Independent candidate for mayor Geoff Dingle said whoever had dug up the posts had probably spent weeks looking for something.

“Public forums are about asking questions of how the candidates would serve their community, the muck-raking stuff is not very helpful,” Cr Dingle said.

“I take people as I find them.

“But when it comes to politicians, people will rake up this stuff on social media, it’s a dangerous place.”

Cr Dingle said it had also been brought up at the candidates forum that Mr Maslen had referred to a “curry muncher” on social media.

Mr Maslen said it had been grossly unfair for someone to “single out one word” from a post he had written about the loss of a friend.

“My friend had been scammed out of his life savings and had killed himself,” he said.

“I don’t care if people want to sling mud but to drag my friend into that, it’s the lowest of the low.

“I’m a decent, hard-working person who will give his all.”