Legal threats fly in internal B.C. NDP battle

[Rwede]

Mike Smyth: Legal threats fly in internal B.C. NDP battle




As a potential NDP candidate in the approaching May election, Georgia Collins seemed to have it all.

Smart, friendly and photogenic, the Vancouver Island single mom had emerged as a tireless and effective opponent of a controversial contaminated-soil dump near Shawnigan Lake.

As citizens rallied against the dump approved by Premier Christy Clark’s Liberal government, Collins became something of a local hero. A timely leap into provincial politics beckoned.

But now Collins, 36, has suddenly dropped out of the contest for the NDP nomination in the riding of Cowichan Valley.

“I wish I could say that my decision is unrelated to sexism and harassment that I experienced during my campaign, but that would be untrue,” Collins said last week in a Facebook post that stunned her supporters.


“I could have continued in my race and I could have won,” she said later in a written statement. “But, to do so, I would have had to be silent about sexism and harassment. I don’t want to be silenced.”

Now her former campaign manager is also speaking out, revealing a nasty internal fight with his one-time political protege.

“I’m the person she’s talking about, but it’s not true, and I will defend myself,” said Dwaine Martin, a veteran NDP strategist who quit as Collins’s campaign manager in August.

“I’ve put 35 years into this party. I can’t let this destroy me. I have to fight back.”

The ex-candidate and her ex-campaign manager have hired high-priced lawyers and are threatening each other, while the B.C. NDP launches an internal investigation into how things got so ugly.

SNIP

Martin, a former union organizer who has worked on dozens of NDP campaigns, said things went well at first but Collins was sensitive to criticism and they had arguments.

SNIP

“I wasn’t always a dick,” one message says. “I’ve been told that I can be a very kind, caring and giving guy. I’m going to get back to being that guy.”

SNIP

“Do not call to bully me further,” she wrote, adding she wants an apology from the party, a refund of the $2,000 she spent on her campaign and a commitment from the NDP to adopt more robust rules against sexual harassment.

Collins said she was pressured by NDP insiders to take down her Facebook posts about Martin and stop publicly talking about the dispute. She refused.

“I felt it was very important to keep those posts up,” she said. “We need more people speaking up about harassment. The silence has to stop.”

As the drama continues, some of Collins’s supporters are urging her to run in the May election as an independent candidate. That has some New Democrats worried she could split the vote, and allow the rival Liberals to steal what was once considered a safe NDP seat.

[gman313]

well they're off to a good start

[mr.bandaid]

Awww shucks. C yaz.

[Leifer]

Yikes.
Dug into this a little.
It could be the old "three sides to every story....what she said....what he said....and the truth in the middle".
But it sure looks like NDP brass are involved and basically throwing this women and her harassment complaint under the bus for the sake of "the party".

[Rwede]

She should have put on her resume that she was a union organizer.

Slam dunk ascension to the candidacy.

[maryjane48]

yup big mistake to not address her concerns *removed*

[George+]

They are and were addressing her concerns.
She wanted to fight it out on Facebook.
Hardly appropriate.

[twobits]

They are and were addressing her concerns.
She wanted to fight it out on Facebook.
Hardly appropriate.

You've got a problem with freedom of speech? It's the only reason why we have to read your posts here.

[George+]

Discretion is the better part of valor.

[Veovis]

You've got a problem with freedom of speech? It's the only reason why we have to read your posts here.

I would have to say they facebook route to solving ones real problems scream "unsuitable for office" to me, so other reasons don't matter after that route. Get a lawyer, or other adult route. You aren't a 15 year old girl that can get back at the cute guy in school who didn't ask you to the dance by booing on facebook.

However between this, and Horgan Holding cans of oil as some prop against pipelines, and again zero real platform why does it matter. The NDP isn't an actual party at this point anyways.

[fluffy]

But it sure looks like NDP brass are involved and basically throwing this women and her harassment complaint under the bus for the sake of "the party".

Politics has, since the onset of television, been a game of optics over substance. Now with the meteoric rise of instant communication through the internet, and hard-to-trace sources, the game has become so muddied that you don't know who to trust.

That being said, The BC NDP, most notably on Vancouver Island have been caught up in the game of picking people who play well to the media to carry their banners, without any real concern given to their actual qualifications to represent their voters. Case in point: the bear cub guy who recently made the leap into provincial politics with a barrage of Boo-boo toting front page pictures, now abruptly changing ridings for "strategic" reasons, meaning the guy's on a roll, lets use him in a high value riding even though he knows nobody their and nobody their knows him any further than his media coverage.

I've read a bit on the principles in the argument above, namely Ms. Collins and her ex-campaign manager and my instincts are telling me that her story is ringing truer than his. Her latest statements hint at a decision to run as an independent which I applaud. I see a large number of independent MLA's as a ticket back to days where voter representation mattered more than party allegiances.

Also in the mix of the NDP's current problems, is their "Equity Mandate", a blatantly sexist and racist set of rules designed to portray the optics of racial & sexual diversity at the expense of personal qualifications to hold office.

[Rwede]

I've read a bit on the principles in the argument above, namely Ms. Collins and her ex-campaign manager and my instincts are telling me that her story is ringing truer than his.

Hey, he hasn't always been a dick.

Also in the mix of the NDP's current problems, is their "Equity Mandate", a blatantly sexist and racist set of rules designed to portray the optics of racial & sexual diversity at the expense of personal qualifications to hold office.

That's the same garbage that Trudeau is doing federally, and it's a complete disaster with penis/no penis rules forsaking the best person to handle the difficult task of being a cabinet member.

The NDP just doesn't seem to learn from their and others' mistakes.

[The Green Barbarian]

That's the same garbage that Trudeau is doing federally, and it's a complete disaster with penis/no penis rules forsaking the best person to handle the difficult task of being a cabinet member.

The NDP just doesn't seem to learn from their and others' mistakes.

While checking people's genitalia at the door as a requirement to be a cabinet minister is insanely stupid, the NDP have taken this stupidity to a whole new level. Their open acceptance of reverse discrimination is as disgusting as it is terrifying.

[Rwede]

Hey, he hasn't always been a dick.

That's the same garbage that Trudeau is doing federally, and it's a complete disaster with penis/no penis rules forsaking the best person to handle the difficult task of being a cabinet member.

The NDP just doesn't seem to learn from their and others' mistakes.

I just realized what I did there.

Full moon and Friday the 13th.

[mr.bandaid]

The best thing about the NDP this time. They are not waiting until the last couple of weeks of the election to circle the drain.