B
C's Top Cop Kash Heed owes his election to a campaign manager and financial agent now charged with criminal activity - does anyone see something wrong with this picture?UPDATE - Kash Heed resigned less than 24 hours after being reappointed by Premier Gordon Campbell. What a Keystone Cops outfit this is!
ORIGINAL POSTING - On Tuesday I wrote about how the BC Liberal government's contempt for democracy had mushroomed out of control and well beyond the HST to other issues.
Little did I know that they would prove my point in spades by the end of the afternoon!
First Premier Gordon Campbell returned BC Liberal MLA Kash Heed to the position of Solicitor General - BC's Top Cop - despite the fact that his 2009 election campaign manager Barinder Sall has been charged with two criminal counts of obstruction of justice, one count of submitting a fraudulent document, two counts of obstructing an elections official and one of improper election advertising - all connected to a dirty tricks election flyer mailed in bulk to Heed's Vancouver Fraserview riding that targeted NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu - who lost by less than 800 votes.
In addition, Heed's campaign financial agent Satpal Johl faces an election violation charge and Dinesh Khanna - the mailing firm owner - faces obstruction of justice and election act charges.
But then it got even more outrageous.
The independent Special Prosecutor who cleared Heed while recommending charges against Sall, Johl and Khanna announced his sudden resignation from his position - because his law firm had given $1000 to Kash Heed's 2009 campaign!
Special Prosecutor Terry Robertson quit late Tuesday after sending a letter to Assistant Deputy Attorney General Robert Gillen saying that because Robertson's firm Harper Grey had made the $1000 donation to Heed's campaign - the very campaign Robertson was investigating.
And Robertson admits that he knew about the contribution at the time of his appointment but did not believe it "would preclude me from acting as Special Prosecutor."
Hell no - why would knowing your firm gave $1000 bucks to help elect the guy whose campaign you are now investigating for - wait for it - election fraud - be a problem?
What's even more astonishing is that the RCMP told him he was in conflict! And he overruled their objections!
"Several weeks before charge approval, I was asked by the RCMP whether I felt there was a conflict of interest due to my firm making a campaign contribution. I provided my opinion that I did not feel there was a conflict," Robertson wrote.
Even BC Liberal Attorney General Mike de Jong got that part clearly.
Here's what an unhappy de Jong had to say:
“You don’t appoint someone to investigate a matter when a firm they are associated with has made a donation to the very campaign which is the subject of the investigation.”
"It’s surprising, frustrating and unacceptable to learn that appointment was made,” de Jong said. I might remind readers that de Jong is not the NDP critic - he is a cabinet minister.
The result of all this is that another Special Prosecutor must be appointed immediately - and he or she may not have the same view that Kash Heed has been completely exonerated and is free to resume his duties as Solicitor General.
The whole matter now stinks worse than before - and is another clear indication that Premier Gordon Campbell doesn't care what anyone thinks - because he is quickly on his way out of office.
What other explanation is there for such astonishingly inept, insulting and downright stupid behaviour?
But there is still more to this sordid story - stay tuned.
.
24 comments:
What's worse Bill is that de Jong was the BC Liberal candidate who heard a, that's one person's, reply from the floor of an all candidate meeting where he said he was in favour of an inheritance tax. That was on April 23rd. By May 1, 2009, both de Jong and Kash Heed's websites came out swinging that the NDP would introduce a DEATH TAX.
Kash Heed isn't the only one who should be stepping aside, again, but de Jong as well until the RCMP and Elections BC get to the bottom of this dirty trick scandal.
It isn't just the hard copy brochures that are damning the results of the elections, its the electronic versions as well.
"May 1, 2009
Abbotsford – An NDP candidate has confirmed that Carole James and the NDP are once again considering the introduction of a “death tax” to pay for the excessive spending in their platform, says BC Liberal candidate for Abbotsford West Mike de Jong.
On April 23rd, at an all-candidates debate, Abbotsford West NDP candidate Taranjit Purewal surprised all participants when he directly endorsed the introduction of a new tax on inheritance – sometimes called a “death tax” – if the NDP were elected:
Source:
http://www.bcliberals.com/stop_the_ndp/stop_the_ndp__learn_more/ndp_candidate_resurrects_death_tax
From Sall's campaign desk:
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
May 1, 2009
KASH HEED MEETS WITH CHINESE LEADERS, DENOUNCES NDP DEATH TAX
VANCOUVER - Kash Heed, the BC Liberal candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview, toured a number of businesses in Vancouver's Chinatown, North America's second largest. The neighbourhood, which had experienced some difficult times in the past, is in the midst of a revitalization that has brought fresh energy and growth to this Vancouver jewel. Heed, who was accompanied by Sherry Wiebe, the BC Liberal Candidate for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, met with a number of community leaders to discuss and listen to their concerns. Chief among them were the prospects of an NDP Death Tax, supported by a number of NDP candidates, which would unfairly tax the estates of individuals passing on their hard-earned assets to their family members. Heed expressed concern that such a proposal would cause great harm to many of the family-owned businesses that give Chinatown its unique character."
Source: http://www.kashheed.com/news/
Its obvious here that the community leaders had already heard about the inheritance tax, by one individual, but had mushroomed to be called an NDP Death Tax - suggested by de Jong.
Step aside AG.
BC has beome a sort of dream world where anyhting Gordo decides in right, is right and to hell with everyone else.
What constitutes democracy and rule of law has failed in the evil empire that is named British Columbia.
Our elected elites, our courts, our law enforcement and much of the foundation of our public service has either failed or been so grossly compromised as to make them counter-productive to the people.
With the aid of a corrupt media Campbell and his Howe Street plutocrats have largely subverted the ballot box as well.
The time has come for the most basic democracy . . . the people to organize boycotts of businesses supporting the Campbell regime, for mass demonstrations in the heart of Vancouver financial district and if necessary a General Strike to force new free and fair elections with international over-site and monitors.
The GREAT SATAN
Kash Heed stepping down as solicitor-general - again
by Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun, May 5, 2010 9:29 AM
"Kash Heed announced Wednesday morning he is again stepping down as solicitor-general.
The announcement follows the resignation of special prosecutor Terry Robertson."
-----
by Vaughn Palmer, Vancouver Sun, May 5, 2010
"When I asked Heed about the absence of any note of contrition in his statement, he pushed back. He'd been exonerated. The special prosecutor said so. The matter was closed as far as he was concerned.
No story here, says top cop. Move along.
Arrogant in the extreme. No wonder Campbell considers him a perfect fit for his cabinet table."
.
Side-effects:
Recently, someone I know hired the services of "Stagers" to prepare their house for sale. I watched and learned a few things.
For example, almost all their own furniture etc was hauled away and put into storage while different furniture was purchased and hauled in. Walls were painted, things were renovated. The work went on for 3 months.
Three months is very big deal as each room undergoes a slow transformation into a theatrical stage setting introducing a colourful mental concept when the Show (Open House) begins. And it works.
So ... with my new Stager-awareness, I looked at the photo of Kashmir Heed. Sure as heck, it was purposely, professionally, and persuasively STAGED.
THE FLAG
THE POLICE
THE GUY
and I'm thinking: wait a minute. What are they pushing? What am I being asked to buy here?
Shouldn't our MLAs be about our old stuff, the old values, the old treasures, and the real issues of our lives? Is everything reduced to images? To fantasy and guesswork? How smart is that?
The police and Kash Heed didn't represent any single virtue to me. Try as I might, I can't see past that image of a cop, more cops. Something important was left out.
I think there are serious side effects to this affair. And they're visible right in that photo.
.
Heed's behaviour breathes new meaning into the phrase "good cop, bad cop"
Calling for a general strike is lame, so outdated.
Why not focus on the NDP, tell them if they want to become government they have to repeal the HST 100%. Hire Bill here be put back in charge of communications (but not at a 6 fire salary) and he then has to trim back PAB to just 15 people and put the saved money into welfare programmes.
Mission will be accomplished.
Interesting that the Vancouver Sun article published May 9, 2009 about the illegal election pamphlet in Vancouver Fraserview (it was a 4 page spread) can only be accessed through a paid per article sight now.
Scared we'd read it now?
The fact that it came out 3 days before the election makes it seem even more unlikely, IMHO, that Heed was not aware of the pamphlet. Or the robo calls that also happened in the riding.
Glad to see he's resigned. AGain. Now if we could get Gordo to do the same. I'd do a moonwalk down Georgia Street backwards if he did.
Who made the original choice of prosecutor and did that person know about the political contributions to the Liberals and to Heed. If that person did know does this not present the clear appearance of a corrupt act and a coverup?
Dejong, as the minister in chage, should also step down until this is properly investigated.
The investigation must now go deeper and the NDP should, I think, raise this question in the Legislature and demand an investigation here as well.
How come NDP research didn't draw a bead on this special prosecutor's political contributions long before now? Surely that should be on their list of things to do - and a lesson they've already sat through a few times.
The NDP at the executive level is completely devoid of "operational talent" and especially so in their "leader's" office.
Ms. James is the Neville Chamberlain of BC politics, she is a appeaser of a tyrant, and Campbell knows this and like a certain Austrian Corporal did in 1938 takes advantage of her again and again.
By choosing and retaining such a fool, the NDP by default are supporting the Campbellite Evil Empire against the common good of the citizens of BC.
James must go at the same time the tyrant Campbell is deposed, its as simple as that.
The GREAT SATAN
It may not only be Robertson's firm who donated to the BC Liberals.
A "TERRENCE L. ROBERTSON" also contributed $1000 to the BC Liberals on 2009/06/10 $1,000.00 -- http://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca
This begs the question: What other employees/lawyers & WaGs/staffers of the law firm Harper Grey LLP donated to the BC Liberals?
Harper Grey has donated over $10,000 to the BC Liberals since 2005.
Digging while typing this out shows that Harper Grey was 'busy' in 2009 - 2009/02/11 $3,500.00 (to BC Liberals) // 2009/05/01 $5,000.00 (to BC Liberals) // 2009/05/06 $1,000.00 (to Kash Heed)
Further digging using the names listed as either "Principal Officer 1" or "Principal Office 2" is also revealing.
OK folks - this is a call to your keyboards: Start going through the Elections BC site and start posting all Harper Grey -- http://www.harpergrey.com/professionals.html -- connections you find here.
We'll start with an 'information dump' and move forward from there.
Let's find out together how deep the cesspool is.
Bill, Why does Elections BC not call for a by-election.? It is clear that dirty tricks were played in Heeds riding, and with such a close vote, it should be done now. I don't know why we have to wait for him to step down.
At first I thought typical politics, negative campaigning and don't really care if rules were slightly bent.
Then more arrogance from the Liberals as everything got swept under the rug quickly and neatly despite nobody with more than room temperature IQ believing for a minute that he was completely innocent.
But lo and behold, special prosecutors are just as dirty as the politicians that have them appointed. Un-freakin'-believable.
Is there no end to these games? When will we get real people to stand for election so we can get rid of the clowns in the Legislature now?
Who has been Kashiered here anyway? One would think that it is the voters of his district. Once having lived thirty five years at 50th and Main I would just LOVE to be able to vote there again. Kash would not ever be at the bottom of my list. 'Cheat' is the operative word for the Liberals in this riding.
"Interesting that the Vancouver Sun article published May 9, 2009 about the illegal election pamphlet in Vancouver Fraserview (it was a 4 page spread) can only be accessed through a paid per article sight now.
Scared we'd read it now?"
If the reader had paid attention and followed the news, it was originally posted on the CKNW website.
"The fact that it came out 3 days before the election makes it seem even more unlikely, IMHO, that Heed was not aware of the pamphlet. Or the robo calls that also happened in the riding"
Obviously hasn't worked a real campaign. The candidate can't be aware of everything that goes on in a campaign, and when the story first broke during the last days of the campaign, the pamphlet itself was not found to be directly tied to the accused as it is now. This was an easy one to figure out, the campaign manager and friends did this crap outside of the campaign with some creativity. Surprised the NDP political hacks didn't jump on it quick enough during the campaign.
Guess Bill here will have to do some teaching before going off on his new job being the head of PAB under a new NDP government.
and Elections BC wouldn't call a by-election since at this stage there is no found violations of the Elections Act that would invoke such a by-election.
Thing to do now is to focus on the NDP and getting them to repeal the HST as a condition of their becoming government.
Before that happens perhaps some of the perpetual whiners and complainers here will actually do something useful and help volunteer to get an NDPer elected by actually working and not writing constantly to an NDP oriented blog.
Before that happens perhaps some of the perpetual whiners and complainers here will actually do something useful and help volunteer to get an NDPer elected by actually working and not writing constantly to an NDP oriented blog.
...says Anon 8:31
Oh, you mean, like, you? It needs to be noted, that, like, we are on the good side, and not the, like, the corrupt side.
This Kash Heed scandal also serves to highlight just how incompetent, corrupt and devoid of integrity the LIBS have become. Sub-human supporters will always be there, no matter what. Sample noted above.
Gordo is going to be SOOO upset when he comes home and sees what the "kids" did while he was away.He's already painting Heed as a victim, much like he is - "victimized"....
On the bright side, Campbell surely must at least be pointed towards the plank with a pair of walking shoes on!
omg Bill I am wondering what other Governement work these law firms have gotten in addition to the Special Prosecutor gigs.
BTW the death tax scare is the standard practice of the Liberals since 1984 (they were called Socreds then) It works very well to panic their elderly vote out. It is usually delivered as a "whisper campaign" of phone calls and not in writing.
"Obviously hasn't worked a real campaign. The candidate can't be aware of everything that goes on in a campaign,"
I have worked real campaigns and when raising to a $70k spending limit, if someone gives $1,000 the candidate gets told and he/she gives the donor a call to thank them and signs a thankyou letter. At the very least.
When it comes the the rest of this stinky mess. If he were not aware of the leaflet he would be apologizing to the public that it happened not just saying yahoo "I am exonerated". BTW candidates sign off on every leaflet in order to be up to date in case there is a press inquiry.
I think we need to start planning on how we make our way forward. A lot of industry and infrastructure has been outsourced/privatized.
The next fight will be with Gordon's cronies who were not elected, cannot be recalled and were given things like our electricity and water rights...
Any ideas on how we go forward? A new government only has the power to do so much - consider how hamstrung Obama is. Its going to take some new ideas.
Thanks for the many good comments - and a few less so illuminating.
Let me be clear once again for those who don't know or refuse to remember - I worked in Victoria for 6 months in 1996 for Premier Glen Clark as Communications Director in his office - from when he was sworn in as premier till July, after the successful upset election win over Gordon Campbell.
I have no interest in being the head of the Public Affairs Bureau under an NDP government - unless it was a temporary appointment to dismantle PAB and return all communications positions back to the regular public service status they had before the BC Liberals turned all those jobs into Order In Council appointments - which means they report to Premier Gordon Campbell.
To answer a few questions posed to me here:
1) Elections BC may yet order a by-election - but not until the charges against Kash Heed's campaign staff are resolved - innocent till proven guilty is still they way we operate in Canada.
2) General strikes are generally about labour issues - like the Labour Code. And why would anyone propose a general strike when the government could easily be replaced democratically in the near future?
3) The assistant deputy attorney general of the Criminal Justice Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General appoints Special Prosecutors - and there will be an investigation of the process according to both AG Mike de Jong and the premier - that's a good thing, all politics aside.
And de Jong has no reason to step down because it is an independent process - he is not consulted nor should he be.
4)Good call by Anon 4:10 p.m. - it does appear Terry Robertson made a personal contribution to the BC Liberals.
The Vancouver Sun has done an excellent job today outlining contributions of Special Prosecutors to the BC Liberals - including Basi-Virk Special Prosecutor Bill Berardino giving $500 in 2005 to Wally Oppal's campaign.
And to answer the obvious question - no, I don't think Berardino should step down - he did not clear a cabinet minister whose campaign staff are facing criminal charges.
But yes, the AG's Ministry has to bring in much tighter rules on Special Prosecutor appointments.
5) I agree with SoloCanoe's points generally about campaigns. The candidate should have signed a thank you letter for a large donation - that would be standard practice. But whether Heed knew who the individual or firm was or even did so is unknown at this point and will no doubt come out in the near future.
Stay tuned - this one has legs.
"Oh, you mean, like, you? It needs to be noted, that, like, we are on the good side, and not the, like, the corrupt side."
So what supposedly is this good side? An opposition event run by VanderZalm?? Who brought in the Property Transfer Tax without consultation.
There is no "good side", all there is is just a large turn up the volume yell fest without any alternatives for the voters to vote for.
As for the campaign worker, yes, pamphlets are "signed off", but if the pamphlet was not made by the campaign resources used in the actual campaign itself as was the case here, it would be difficult for the candidate to approve it, if he didn't see it before it went to the printer. This was done by the Accused, his associates outside of the campaign, not within the campaign itself.
Watch for Accused No. 1 to be given some kind of a soft landing somewhere in politics. Most likely he'll be working somewhere within the BC Liberals.
Two page write up in the Vancouver Sun:
"Heed scandal sinks Liberal rising star
Barinder Sall, accused of distributing anti-NDP pamphlets, has worked across the political spectrum
By Lori Culbert, Kim Bolan And Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun May 15, 2010"
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Heed+scandal+sinks+Liberal+rising+star/3031618/story.html
"Barinder Sall was a rising star in B.C. Liberal circles -- a community activist who managed the campaigns of two of B.C.'s most powerful politicians."
************************************
"Most powerful", not if they feed lies to their constituents during an election.
Post a Comment