The Toronto Star reports that Bob Rae has had some issues in the delegate selection in British Columbia, but that they are easily addressed, and Rae won’t drop in the delegate count:
Liberal leadership hopeful Bob Rae’s campaign manager in British Columbia has resigned over problems with delegate forms for the party’s upcoming convention.
Mason Loh, a former Liberal party candidate and well-known political operative in the province, took the fall Friday after it was discovered that at least 37 nominated Rae delegates had not personally signed their own candidacy forms — a breach of party rules.
All of those forms had been handled by Loh or his operatives, said Bryan Baynham, legal counsel for the Rae campaign in B.C., and irregularities were also found in a “significantly larger” numbers of forms. As a result the Liberal party and the Rae camp decided to reject all candidate forms that were handled by Loh.
None of those delegates will be allowed to attend next month’s convention. However, there are Rae alternates to replace them in all but a couple of ridings so the immediate impact on the race may be negligible.
The problem is that I’ve done a detailed reading of the rules, and several issues jump out. The deadline for challenging delegates has long past. Alternates are not allowed to replace invalid delegates, but only legitimate delegates who indicate in writing that they won’t be able to make it to the convention. And at this point in the process, the only options seem to be to toss out Rae’s delegates altogether.
So maybe I’m reading the rules wrong. Or maybe the Toronto Star is wrong, and Bob Rae is actually facing a more serious situation. Or maybe we’re both right — I’ve understood the rules, but Rae’s campaign is being managed using a different set of unwrittten rules.
The Hidden Hand will reach out from Beijing to solve the problem. Just watch.
From Mason’s Jar In Lotus Land (B.C.).
“It looks like the rules were broken.
But Chan broke them too with his bus.
So they’re even.”
Librano$ ……
A hunger for democracy
Federal Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae’s British Columbia campaign chair promised federal Liberals supporting his candidate a “celebration dinner.” But, in an interview with Public Eye, Mason Loh said that dinner won’t violate party regulations forbidding candidates from incurring campaign expenses “for the purpose of facilitating in any manner whatsoever…the presence of any member of the Party at a delegate selection meeting.”
At issue: on September 25, Mr. Loh sent a letter to supporters inviting them to attend a dinner scheduled for sometime in October. Those wanting “admission” to the dinner were instructed to “bring the envelope for this invitation to my volunteers at the polling station for stamping before you cast your vote.” But Mr. Loh says the dinner invitation was “absolutely not” meant to encourage Rae voters to show up to delegate selection meetings.
“When you want to thank people after a campaign, you have to know who are your supporters and who are your volunteers. And you have to make a list of all these people that you’re going to make sure you thank at the celebration. So basically it’s a way of keeping track of who your volunteers and supporters are,” explained the former Vancouver-Kingsway nomination candidate.
Mr. Loh also suggested questions were being raised about the dinner by “sitting MPs or some MP wannabes who aren’t happy they couldn’t even get their own members in the riding to vote for the people they support. They’re obviously not supporting Bob Rae. So they’re trying to kick up a fuss when there’s no fuss.”
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Comments on: A hunger for democracy
It looks like the rules were broken.
But Chan broke them too with his bus.
So they’re even.
Posted by Liberal Guy on October 2, 2006 07:43 PM
Yawn. Can we please move on to other topics?
Posted by Snoozer on October 2, 2006 08:14 PM
Mason better hope that Rae wins. He seems to have made a lot of enemies recently.
This is priceless. He better get close to Emerson/Harper that is the only way he will be a candidate in the next election unless Rae wins.
The chances of Rae winning are slim at best.
Mason has not learned about politics in Canada.
Posted by Sam on October 2, 2006 08:19 PM
Hmm, here we go again…
Posted by WikiMart on October 2, 2006 10:23 PM
I would think whoever is paying for the appreciation dinner needs to claim it as a political donation, as Mr. Loh as already confirmed that this event is for a political activity. Then, of course, it is also subject to individual contribution limits, etc. Isn’t Mr. Loh a lawyer? Shouldn’t he know this? This is the law, not simple internal Liberal party rules.
Speaking of internal party rules, it is clearly a function associated with the Bob Rae campaign, so the costs will also have to be reported as a leadership expense against his cap limit.
Somebody better make sure the paperwork on this is filed correctly.
Posted by Loh Down Shame on October 2, 2006 11:33 PM
Mason should smarten up. It’s unwise to take on Raymond after an unsuccessful bid in Kingsway. Richmond will never be Mason’s regardless. …-
http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/001838.html
Mason Loh was a defeated nominee for the Liberals in Vancouver-Kingsway… and the selected candidate, Wendy Kwan, has supported Dion.
Looks like his career is going down in flames…
I think you summed it up about right Kate. Bob and company would do the same thing if he becomes leader. Do what looks right on the outside , then try to sneek one past evereyone. He fits right in with the Liberal crowd. Good job keeping us posted on this one. I think you opened a can a worms here. Haven’t heard a word yet on this one in the MSM. I guess your not allowed to knock your own (Trudeau Mania) Saviour.
Remember whose lurking in the shadows, behind Rae, none other that PowerCorp et al. That kind of membership does have it’s priveliges, which really means that the rules ARE different. And once again we see that for the liberal party of Canada it really is just “same old, same old … business as usual”. Nothing has changed in this party … nothing will change … we can only hope that the the Canadian electorate is a bit more enlightened.
http://hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com/2006/10/rattus-liberalis-back-to-eating.html
Rae campaign strikes back… by changing the channel to Iggy.
Rattus Liberalis, like its better known and cuddlier cousin Rattus Rattus, is a nonemetic species. One of the particular talents of Genus Rattus is its ability to not vomit, which conveniently allows it to feast on its own young.
tongsun park, 9:02 .. ” Hidden hand from Beijing” (Maurice Strong)
Sheila, 11:08 .. “lurking in the shadows.. ” (MS)
Canada’s MSM has been giving the Liberal’s backroom-manipulators a pass for decades. Now, thanks to the new-media, it is out in the opened. But the old media ignors it. Why ? Because they would be toast in a day. How could they ever defend the indefenceable ??
If Rae fails, it may indicate that Canadian politics has changed. However, Lloyd Taxworthy and others back Rae. Why ? Just follow this old Backroom-Liberal thought process. Lloyd says that in supporting the Afgan mission, Iggy takes away a “wedge-issue” (his words) from the Liberals. The Libs could not then divide Canadians and win. They will do anything to win even if it means going soft on terrorism. Pathetic.
“They will do anything to win even if it means going soft on terrorism. Pathetic.”
This has always been the modus operandum of the liberal party. Do whats best for the party-to hell with the country. There are MANY examples of this over the years.
Well, I say “to hell with the Liberal Party”
Horny Toad
I just had a scary thought: If we get this much MSM coverage of the Lieberals now, just how much more is coming? Plan on CBC having more people covering the leadership(?) convention than actual delegates. That would be the weekend to get outdoors or check out your DVD collection for good reruns.
Can you say “crooked”? Can you say, “bungling”? Can you say “Liberal Party of Canada”?
I look forward to Bobby Rae’s humiliation. I still remember his left-wing thugs at the University of Toronto, in the late ’60s.
Who bought my liberal membership. Have been called by Iggys campaign to ask for support. I asked where they got my name and said it was from
a membership list. So, I asked if they were using Conservative membership lists to solicit support.
I have never belonged to the liberals. Told them I was supporting Dion and not to call again.
When asked who I would vote for in next election, Harper, Iggy I said none of the above as I am not in their ridings.
I always thought one voted for the candidate, but apparently not liberals.
No doubt the delegates are torn with such a slate of Losers to choose from. Don’t see one who is truly outstanding even for Opposition, which is what they will be for a long period.
We’ll just have to wait to see which loser is the Winner.
Rules? This is the Liberal party. If they can’t obey the law what makes you think they would obey “rules”.
Justice Gomery said it best, “the Liberal Party of Canada is criminally organized”. Adscam was nothing, the Income Trust Scandal is bad, the unaccounted for NINE BILLION that went to the, so called Private Foundations is worse and on top of that we have about FIVE BILLION unaccounted for in Lie-beral Kyoto spending. Not to mention that Via Rail and Canada Post have not had a proper audit in over fouteen years. No wonder the Lie-beral Senators are in not too much a hurry to see the Federal Accountability Act sent back to Parliament for third reading and Royal Assent.
Justice Gomery said it best, “the Liberal Party of Canada is criminally organized”. Adscam was nothing, the Income Trust Scandal is bad, the unaccounted for NINE BILLION that went to the, so called Private Foundations is worse and on top of that we have about FIVE BILLION unaccounted for in Lie-beral Kyoto spending. Not to mention that Via Rail and Canada Post have not had a proper audit in over fouteen years. No wonder the Lie-beral Senators are in not too much a hurry to see the Federal Accountability Act sent back to Parliament for third reading and Royal Assent.
CalgaryGrit and the Gho$t$ of Ad$cam: Chretien-Martin-Gagliano-Corriveau-Coffin-Brault, et al.
Liberals have lost Quebec. …-
Not So Super Weekend Leadership News
1. Joan Bryden reports on the massive recount in Quebec which, one imagines, will trim a few delegates off the totals of the three front runners in that province.
More alarmingly, the story claims that only 10% of Liberal Party members voted at their delegate meetings. With 37000 card carrying Liberals in Quebec, that means there were only around 3700 votes cast last weekend. By comparison, in Alberta there were 3299 votes (plus the aboriginal ballot). Given that Alberta has 37% of the ridings and 0% of the MPs Quebec has, I’d say there’s a lot of work which needs to be done rebuilding the Liberal Party in Quebec. On a more partisan nature, I’d also say that it shows none of the candidates were overly successful at winning the hearts and minds of Quebecers over during this leadership race and that there will be big challenges for whomever wins. While Kennedy may have bombed in Quebec, the truth of the matter is, so did everyone.
CalgaryGrit, the “influential Liberal blog” (LOL): Kennedy is Trudeau.
Trudeau Who?
Socialist Trudeau: NEP, Charter of Wrongs; phony FLQ-troops-in-our-streets-in Canada; multiculturalism; feminism, etc.
Kennedy is a socialist proxy for Ontario’s Liberal Premier McGuinty. …-
Linda Diebel says:
“First, though, there’s his little Quebec problem.” ..-
His fans compare him to greatness. An early factor in his growing success in the leadership race was the April 13 endorsement by the influential Liberal blog, Calgary Grit. “It was huge in propelling us forward,” Silver summed up. It’s no accident Kennedy came first in the Alberta delegate count.
“Listening to Gerard talk about poverty, you can tell that it’s an issue he is passionate about and that he’s in politics because he wants to make a difference,” said Calgary Grit. The blog compared him to Pierre Elliott Trudeau and quoted another Kennedy, assassinated U.S. president John Fitzgerald: “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”
(Parlez-vous? Gerard? Non, but, … Him’s better at French than S. Harper was 5 years ago. LOLOL…-)
It’s going to be an uphill battle. Patry, a Montreal MP, said he purposely urged a low profile for Kennedy over the summer in Quebec. He didn’t want to expose the candidate to interviews with the big newspapers — La Presse or Le Devoir — because his French wasn’t good enough.
“They might have killed him,” said Patry.
It’s different now, according to Patry. “His French is improving a lot.” His skills may not match those of Ignatieff, Dion or Rae because “they are perfectly bilingual,” but, in a reference to the Conservative Prime Minister, he added, “he’s better than Mr. (Stephen) Harper was five years ago.”
Ouch.
There remains only one place Patry won’t send Kennedy now: the Sunday TV talk show Tout le monde en parle. (“Everybody’s talking about it.”)
Only, said Patry, “because they kill everyone.”