BC Liberals Bring the Blood Sport of Politics to a New Height

Oh boy, they weren't kidding when they said politics is a blood sport. The daggers are out, well, when they aren't being plunged into each others' backs during the leadership contests with both the BC Liberals and BC NDP.

This Facebook page has started up to Celebrate Gordon Campbell's last day as Premier - February 26th.

Here's some fun quotes as the race closes in to a finish.

From George Abbott on Christy Clark:

"Clark's HST flip-flop proves she has no credible plan for B.C.," read his press release. "On this significant issue, the public wants certainty and clarity, not more doublespeak and misdirection." Getting more biting in the media interviews, Abbott accused her of "adopting the Kama Sutra of HST positions." (Ed: AWESOME line!).

Her subsequent preference for tying health care funding to the rate of economic growth brought another blast from Ungentle George: "Unrealistic and oversimplified."

Nor was he even slightly amused at the Clark campaign prank of signing up a cat as a party member: "While Ms. Clark's campaign may consider this a joke, it is actually an example of outright fraud."

The summing up: "More and more it is abundantly clear that Ms. Clark's positions are simply not credible, and it shows that she has no real plan for our province, our economy, or our families."

"Ms. Clark's past actions do little to inspire confidence in her ability to unify the party. She walked away from government seven years ago, leaving the party to rebuild on its own, and only returned when there was the opportunity to be in charge. Today, she will not even commit to running as a B.C. Liberal MLA unless she gets to be premier."

From Vaughan Palmer

“Ms. Clark has given me such a plethora of issues to work with,” Mr. Abbott, who resigned as education minister to seek his party’s leadership, said Thursday. “If anybody thinks I should give a free ticket to Christy for whatever reason, they’re wrong. Whatever Christy says is fair game for debate, and that’s what I intend to do.”

He said he has taken Kevin Falcon, another of the six B.C. Liberal leadership candidates, to task for suggesting merit pay for teachers.
(Ian Bailey).

Other campaign news:

Leadership candidate George Abbott released a statement Saturday saying a vendor that works for his campaign created the kitties4christy.com website that poked fun at contender Christy Clark's campaign upon discovering that a cat owned by someone on her team received a party membership card.

Olympia Marie Wawryk, was signed up as a member in December. If her membership had gone unchallenged, the cat would have been eligible to cast a ballot in the party’s Feb. 26 leadership vote. And because the vote is being conducted by telephone and over the Internet, the party may never have known that Olympia is a cat. Kristy Wawryk, a senior volunteer in the Clark leadership campaign, is Olympia’s owner. Initially, Ms. Wawryk identified Olympia as a great-aunt, but the Clark campaign later said the cat had been signed up as a prank...
(Brenda Bouw and Justine Hunter).

On Tuesday, Kevin Falcon admitted a backer had signed up members of the Kamloops Blazers hockey team without their knowledge.

"It's wrong and I don't like it at all. My father was a stretcher-bearer at D-Day. I take democracy very seriously and it really bugs me that people fool around with something so important," Krueger said.

(CBC News).

Falcon's campaign manager, Norman Stowe, has revealed a Falcon supporter signed up several members of the Kamloops Blazers junior hockey team.

Problem is, the players didn't know anything about it.

(CBC News)

Special mention for Mike Smyth's excellent blog title:
Two minutes for Unsportsmanlike sign up!

Runner up to Rod Mickleburgh:

How to Win Friends (not really) and Influence People (a little)

You cheat. No, you cheat. You’re full of it. No, you are. You signed up a cat. No, I didn’t. Okay, I did, but you made fun of it. Et cetera. Welcome to the latest political soap opera: As the Fur Flies.

Which, among the following, is worst?

1. Admitting that you signed up a cat

2. Denying that you signed up a cat.

3. Registering members of a losing Kamloops hockey team, including a player named Dalibor Bortnak, without their knowledge.

4. Making a series of lame jokes about option 3, such as “two minutes for failing to cross-check” and “two minutes for not looking too good.”

****************************

Mike de Jong has become the first of the BC Liberal leadership contenders to disclose the total of donations to his campaign.

The spending limit for candidates in the leadership race is $450,000. Mr. de Jong says he has received $266,450 in donations.

In a statement Friday, the former attorney-general said his donations came from 181 individuals and organizations.

(Ian Bailey)

I guess there won't be too many Valentine cards changing hands amongst the candidates on Monday.

Keep the fun times rolling candidates, you're amusing all of Canada with your antics and we can all use some laughs about now.