Friday, October 12, 2007

Chandler Attempts to Influence Civic Election

Not satisfied with trying to run his own slate of candidates in the Civic Election, we find Chandler's PGIB group trying to "quiz" candidates on their policy platforms.

Two things strike me as demonstrating not only blatant bias, but the intellectual dishonesty of this little exercise. From the PGIB release posted on "Project Alberta":

The following candidates responded to the survey: Al Noor Kassam, Sandy Jenkins, Al Foster, Jonathan Sunstrum and Jeremy Zhao (Please note David Bronconnier was not sent the survey).

The following candidates ranked a perfect score to all our questions: Al Noor Kassam, Jeremy Zhao, Jonathan Sunstrum and Al Foster


Let's start at the top. The survey was not even sent to one of the candidates for Mayor. While I seriously doubt that Bronconnier's team would have graced Chandler's obviously biased quiz with a response, there is a fundamental dishonesty that comes with sending a "platform questionnaire" out and deliberately excluding one of the candidates.

Moving along, I find it striking that so many candidates "had a perfect score". This tells you a great deal. From looking at Chandler's questions, it's not difficult to guess what answers he was fishing for, but that is far from the point. In matters of public policy, there are few absolutes, and to be so naive as to believe that there are "right answers" to such questions as the revenues from taxation required to operate the city is really quite pathetic. (Remember George Bush Sr. say "read my lips, no new taxes"??)

Reality is that Calgary taxpayers are having to pick up the burden for a fifteen year long period when there was no funding for infrastructure from the provincial government, and the city is growing at rather a frightful pace - increasing the load placed upon civic services, and increasing the salaries that must be paid to our civil servants in order for them to be able to live in this city.

His list of endorsements for various Aldermanic races reads like a who's who of right wingnuttia in Calgary:

Alderman
Ward 3 - Jim Stevenson
Ward 4 - Richard Evans
Ward 6 - James Istvanffy
Ward 7 - Merle Terleski
Ward 8 - Steve Chapman
Ward 12 - Ric McIver


Offhand, two of those people (McIver and Chapman) I can tie back to Chandler directly; Evans and Chandler associate with each other to some degree on "Project Alberta". Istvanffy is a former advisor to Rob Anders (*shudder*). I'm not overly familiar with Merle Terlesky, but if he's the guy that shows up when I google the name as a "pro lifer" in Kamloops and a few other other places, that would fit (this is an unproven linkage - I'm guessing based on a few bits and pieces). Jim Stevenson is the only candidate in the list that I can't find much about that ties him to much of anything.

As for Chandler's endorsement of Alnoor, that pretty much seals where my vote isn't going.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alnoor also recieved the endorsement of a couple Unions this morning - these don't seem to go together!

MgS said...

Don't forget that several civic unions clashed with Bronconnier in the last couple of years. The unions are hoping for someone "more sympathetic" - but given what I've read, Alnoor isn't going to be terribly union friendly

Anonymous said...

What's up with CALGARY??

Would any other city pay any attention whatsoever to a hate monger and bully?

Those candidates should sue his ass off for his kiss of death!

Anonymous said...

I don't know. I've often found that the best run business are often quite union/employee friendly. Look at a place like google or westjet - it pays off for them dramatically in the long run to treat their employees well and pay them well.

It's interesting that Alnoor has support on both the left and right. Might give him a good coalition to come in a strong second.

MgS said...

Perhaps the great irony there is how frequently Chandler is rumoured to have sued others.

Anonymous said...

Remember how, on Chandler's Free&Dumb Radio show, he threatened to sue the guy who took him to the Canadian Human Rights Commission for hate messages?

But, when the rubber hit the road, he apologized & removed his hate material. Now, it seems that his radio show got show down in flames by the complainant and the CBSC.

This airbag will go down in flames like th Hindenberg.

dragon said...

There are endorsements that can help a person out, and there are endorsements that carry too high a price.

I doubt that even had Bronconnier been sent the survey that he would have chosen to dance with the devil - but it just says so much about how close minded and bigoted PGIB is when they deliberately exclude a viable candidate.

I also find it quite notable that nowhere do we find what the actual responses to the survey were, or in which ways Sandy Jenkins "failed" to get a perfect score - in my books it might just be THE reason why I would vote Sandy.

It's always bad news when a right wing group like the PGIB decides to run a slate of candidates, and tries to ensure that "their" candidates are elected.

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