Sullivan welcomes Ladner's challenge for nomination
I don't know if "welcome" is the word I'd use.....maybe "begrudgingly acknowledges" would be more appropriate.
Not really a huge surprise, it benefits Sam in a number of ways:
- he avoids continuing to look like a petty bully (don't want that on pink shirt day, let me tell you)
- with this green light thing, it would delay the nomination meeting, giving Peter more time to sign up members. An earlier meeting for Sam is better...that's known as the "I have fundraised over $300,000 from anonymous donors" theorem.
- he avoids the embarassment of the likelihood that he wouldn't have secured the green-light from the exec, due to his death-valley level poll numbers.
And the best part of all is that the NPA don't have any requirements that you have to live in Vancouver to vote at the nomination meeting. Hope there's bus parking in front of Heritage Hall....
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Whine and dine me
I see the NPA's already got their puppets barking, with Walter leading the Gregor-must-resign charge. I basically chalk it up to the fact that BC Liberals go crazy with the fact that a successful entrepeneur could also be progressive - and not buy into Gordo's golden decade bs. And with Carole and Olga leaving the good ship Liberal, that government caucus is weak weak weak. With ministers like Coleman and Falcon, it's like the province is being run by the Canucks, if the Canucks consisted entirely of Donald Brashear.
The basic argument the Sam schillers make is this: Gregor, as an MLA, is not representing his constituents as he is seeking another level of office. If you buy that, then you also believe that Gordon Campbell should have resigned as Mayor of Vancouver when he used his time at City Hall to launch a takeover of the BC Liberal leadership. Strange - haven't heard that from many of my BC Liberal fans. Maybe it's because they're too busy spending more money on subsidies for big oil and gas exploration and trying to call it Green.
but let's go into this a little bit further. What it's really getting at is that MLAs are elected to serve their constituents, and not have their eyes on other things. If that's the case, then an elected Mayor who is embroiled in a battle to win the nomination for his party, should also step down.
Being Mayor is way more work than an MLA. You have to be responsible for the whole city! Yet this doesn't wager the slightest bit of outrage from the "resign now!" crowd.
I've got a word for that: hypocrite.
And how about we go a step further. Surely the argument is also based on the idea that as the MLA salary is taxpayer funded, then they should do their job. Ooops, so is the Mayor's job! And Peter Ladner's job!
Let's do a salary comparison of taxdollars:
Gregor salary as MLA: $76,100
Sam Sullivan as Mayor: $122,358.34
So by that logic, there's an extra $46,258.34 of tax dollars being shovelled into Sam's re-election salary.
And included in that of course are the Mayor's staff, who as any City Hall watcher knows spend almost every waking minute spinning the virtues of Sam, smearing the opposition, and now even other NPA Councillors. I don't think that's what they're being paid to do with my taxdollars!
I personally don't have a problem with someone in elected office seeking another level. It's happened lots of times and it's going to keep happening in the future. And I believe you can keep doing your job and campaign at the same time....provided it's within limits (let's wait and see what photo-ops start coming out from the Mayor's office).
But to all of you "gregor should resign" people, show some mettle and call on Sam Sullivan, Peter Ladner, Raymond Louie, and Al DeGenova to resign as well.
The basic argument the Sam schillers make is this: Gregor, as an MLA, is not representing his constituents as he is seeking another level of office. If you buy that, then you also believe that Gordon Campbell should have resigned as Mayor of Vancouver when he used his time at City Hall to launch a takeover of the BC Liberal leadership. Strange - haven't heard that from many of my BC Liberal fans. Maybe it's because they're too busy spending more money on subsidies for big oil and gas exploration and trying to call it Green.
but let's go into this a little bit further. What it's really getting at is that MLAs are elected to serve their constituents, and not have their eyes on other things. If that's the case, then an elected Mayor who is embroiled in a battle to win the nomination for his party, should also step down.
Being Mayor is way more work than an MLA. You have to be responsible for the whole city! Yet this doesn't wager the slightest bit of outrage from the "resign now!" crowd.
I've got a word for that: hypocrite.
And how about we go a step further. Surely the argument is also based on the idea that as the MLA salary is taxpayer funded, then they should do their job. Ooops, so is the Mayor's job! And Peter Ladner's job!
Let's do a salary comparison of taxdollars:
Gregor salary as MLA: $76,100
Sam Sullivan as Mayor: $122,358.34
So by that logic, there's an extra $46,258.34 of tax dollars being shovelled into Sam's re-election salary.
And included in that of course are the Mayor's staff, who as any City Hall watcher knows spend almost every waking minute spinning the virtues of Sam, smearing the opposition, and now even other NPA Councillors. I don't think that's what they're being paid to do with my taxdollars!
I personally don't have a problem with someone in elected office seeking another level. It's happened lots of times and it's going to keep happening in the future. And I believe you can keep doing your job and campaign at the same time....provided it's within limits (let's wait and see what photo-ops start coming out from the Mayor's office).
But to all of you "gregor should resign" people, show some mettle and call on Sam Sullivan, Peter Ladner, Raymond Louie, and Al DeGenova to resign as well.
Why buy the cow when you can have Peter Ladner trash Sam for free?
And...back. Sorry to not have posted in a while, but I've got 2 good reasons:
1) Most of the stuff I'd like to blog about is better off as a headline in the paper
2) I'm a firm believer in delegating, and these past few weeks I delegated to the Vancouver Sun, The Province, Peter Ladner, Miro Cernetig, Ian King, Brent Toderian, Mike Harcourt and allowed them to trash the hell out of the old boys club that is Sam Sullivan's NPA.
Where to begin? Ladner announces he is trying to overthrow Sullivan, with his reason being not about policy, but simply because he's convinced the voters have lost confidence in him (Peter gives the voting public a lot of credit - how they're supposed to be able to specifically distinguish between Sullivan and the rest of the NPA - who have voted in lockstep for 2 years - is beyond me).
When I have a spare moment, be sure to check back for my tally on Sullivan-Ladner synchronized votes. Feel free to bet how many times they've split over the last 2 years. VK's guess is 4.
The Sun, the Province, and basically anyone not drinking the NPA kool-aid (re: all of Vancouver and the NPA parks board) trash the NPA's throwback to the southern-ward-boss-era nomination proccess. My favorite defence comes from NPA Prez Matt Taylor, who stated that it was in the NPA's historic tradition. Aww, and what a glorious, democratic tradition it is.
I also liked reading how Mike Harcourt and Michael Geller went to the Sun editorial board to make the case that density wasn't a bad thing, and that it was because Sam had completely politicized it that people are so against it. Even exasperated City Planning Director Brent Toderian admitted as much, stating that "It's an unusual process and it was launched in an unusual way, so it's a challenge for the community."
And perhaps most sorrow-inducing are the poll results c/o of the green-light process (a term that is rapidly approaching 'hanging chad" status as a much-loathed political term). This from Bula's blog:
"Sullivan would lose to declared candidate Allan DeGenova by 3-4 points, to Vision Coun. Raymond Louie by 9-11 points, and to NDP MLA Gregor Robertson by 18-25 points."
That's baaaaddddd. Jennifer Clarke was still beating Larry in polls a month out from the 2002 election. For Sam to be getting waxed by all three 9 months out from the election has got to be some sort of record. Remember, the reason incumbents are so hard to beat is that people rarely pay attention.
Looks like they're listening now.
1) Most of the stuff I'd like to blog about is better off as a headline in the paper
2) I'm a firm believer in delegating, and these past few weeks I delegated to the Vancouver Sun, The Province, Peter Ladner, Miro Cernetig, Ian King, Brent Toderian, Mike Harcourt and allowed them to trash the hell out of the old boys club that is Sam Sullivan's NPA.
Where to begin? Ladner announces he is trying to overthrow Sullivan, with his reason being not about policy, but simply because he's convinced the voters have lost confidence in him (Peter gives the voting public a lot of credit - how they're supposed to be able to specifically distinguish between Sullivan and the rest of the NPA - who have voted in lockstep for 2 years - is beyond me).
When I have a spare moment, be sure to check back for my tally on Sullivan-Ladner synchronized votes. Feel free to bet how many times they've split over the last 2 years. VK's guess is 4.
The Sun, the Province, and basically anyone not drinking the NPA kool-aid (re: all of Vancouver and the NPA parks board) trash the NPA's throwback to the southern-ward-boss-era nomination proccess. My favorite defence comes from NPA Prez Matt Taylor, who stated that it was in the NPA's historic tradition. Aww, and what a glorious, democratic tradition it is.
I also liked reading how Mike Harcourt and Michael Geller went to the Sun editorial board to make the case that density wasn't a bad thing, and that it was because Sam had completely politicized it that people are so against it. Even exasperated City Planning Director Brent Toderian admitted as much, stating that "It's an unusual process and it was launched in an unusual way, so it's a challenge for the community."
And perhaps most sorrow-inducing are the poll results c/o of the green-light process (a term that is rapidly approaching 'hanging chad" status as a much-loathed political term). This from Bula's blog:
"Sullivan would lose to declared candidate Allan DeGenova by 3-4 points, to Vision Coun. Raymond Louie by 9-11 points, and to NDP MLA Gregor Robertson by 18-25 points."
That's baaaaddddd. Jennifer Clarke was still beating Larry in polls a month out from the 2002 election. For Sam to be getting waxed by all three 9 months out from the election has got to be some sort of record. Remember, the reason incumbents are so hard to beat is that people rarely pay attention.
Looks like they're listening now.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Quick! Think of the slowest, most bureaucratic institution you can think of
Yes, I'm sure the issue of plastic bags will be solved quickly at the Metro Vancouver level. Because as we all know, it is very easy for Vancouver, West Vancouver, the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, Delta, Ladner, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Langley, and Bowen Island to come to agreement.
And Anmore.
You can check out the clips on global and ctv, where the whole story is about how council just deferred yet another decision instead of taking leadership.
And this from CKNW shows that Sullivan's not afraid to go after the youth voter demographic:
Sam Sullivan says he's received the endorsement of several prominent people in the lower mainland as he tries for another term as mayor.
"Patrick Reid was the person who brought Expo 86 to Vancouver, former head of the port corporation. Dal Richards is well-known as the great musician who has kept Vancouver tapping its toes for 90 years. We also have Dr. Francis Ho, who is quite known in the Chinese community."
And Anmore.
You can check out the clips on global and ctv, where the whole story is about how council just deferred yet another decision instead of taking leadership.
And this from CKNW shows that Sullivan's not afraid to go after the youth voter demographic:
Sam Sullivan says he's received the endorsement of several prominent people in the lower mainland as he tries for another term as mayor.
"Patrick Reid was the person who brought Expo 86 to Vancouver, former head of the port corporation. Dal Richards is well-known as the great musician who has kept Vancouver tapping its toes for 90 years. We also have Dr. Francis Ho, who is quite known in the Chinese community."
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