Thursday, November 17, 2011

Elections BC rejects new investigation into BC Liberal MLA Kash Heed's tainted 2009 election win - "no new information" despite allegations by Heed manager Barinder Sall of massive overspending

Kash Heed - allegations, no new investigation
Elections BC today rejected requests for a new investigation into the tainted May 2009 election of BC Liberal MLA Kash Heed despite allegations by his campaign manager of up to $40,000 in additional overspending took place - allegations rejected by Heed.

"The matter is closed," Elections BC's new Chief Electoral Officer Keith Archer said in a news conference in Victoria today.

Archer admitted Elections BC had not even interviewed Sall.  


Archer said separate requests for a new investigation received from NDP MLA Leonard Krog and NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu, who narrowly lost the Vancouver-Fraserview riding by less than 800 votes.

"No new information has been provided.  All the elements of the investigation have already been considered by the RCMP and the Special Prosecutor that led to charges against two individuals.  Consequently there is no basis for carrying out a further investigation by this office.  We now consider this matter closed," Archer said.

In response to media questions, Archer defended his decision.

"Our determination was that there was no need for a new investigation," Archer said. "We conducted quite a substantial review of the investigation."

That leaves unanswered allegations raised by Sall and questions posed by Yiu.

Heed and his lawyer David Gruber have rejected those allegations.

Yiu told me late Thursday he was again disappointed in the repeated refusal to investigate serious allegations in the Heed case.

"The Chief Electoral Officer's announcement seems weird to me.  My original request questioned the truthfulness of the Kash Heed campaign report filed one month after the Supreme Court handed its ruling," Yiu said.

"The Heed Report declared an over-spending of $5,500 while his campaign manager Barinder Sall claimed it's to the tune of $40,000. The CEO said there is no information but Elections BC has not talked to Sall," Yiu concluded.


MORE TO COME...

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keith Archer's CV.

Anonymous said...

Case completed and closed.

No sense in Yiu crying more over this thing. He's won the nomination, now he has to provide and prove that he'll be a better MLA than Heed (otherwise a Conservative candidate may end up winining).

If Sall figures there was indeed overspending why does he not outline it line by line so we can see it?

Seems to me that Bill is playing into the soppy story from this sod about how bad things were, even though as Campaign Manager, it was him that made the decision to go ahead with that dumb idea of making the pamphlet in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Great, so then election BC admits that they have not investigated Kash Heeds overspending at all? Or partially or not at all? Like what gives?

DPL said...

So Heed gets a pass. One wonders just how awful a person must be to have Elections BC say they are not fit to legislate

Anonymous said...

Nothing to see here. Now move along.

Kelly Masterson said...

Hmmmmmm... If they don't want to investigate Kash Heed, maybe the bigger picture should include an investigation into who the heck is "Keith Archer". He is obviously bought and paid for to protect more of the BC Liberal corrupt. Oh... to the days when the most honourable Harry Neufeld was the steward of Elections BC... "where have you gone Harry Neufeld, a province turns it's lonely eyes to you, boo hoo hoo" to paraphrase the infamous Simon & Garfunkel song Mrs. Robinson, as they entreated for Joe Dimaggio... sigh... <3

Anonymous said...

What exactly were the allegations sent to Elections BC? This story does not specify them. So if these 2 persons simply asked for a review, without providing detailed documentation of reasons, then it is little wonder Elections BC said NO.

BTW, how come we import persons from Calgary to hold these important jobs? Does Mr. Harper have any influence in this?

Anonymous said...

He is obviously bought and paid for to protect more of the BC Liberal corrupt.

Bull and shit. He was duly appointed by a Committee of the Legislature (which I might add had NDP members who DID NOT AT ANY TIME give any opposition to Mr. Archer).

Learn and earn.

Anonymous said...

BTW, how come we import persons from Calgary to hold these important jobs? Does Mr. Harper have any influence in this?

Harper does not have any influence on who becomes Electoral Officer of BC. It is open competition, and all applications are carefully reviewed by a Committee of the Legislature.

Learn a few basics

Anonymous said...

For those who are vague on how a Chief Electoral Officer is appointed:

http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/39thparl/session-2/ceo/reports/PDF/Rpt-CEO-39-2-May2011.pdf

The outcome of the Committee was simply this:

"At the meeting on February 9, 2011, the Special Committee unanimously agreed to recommend Dr. Keith Archer as the Chief Electoral Officer, pursuant to section 4 of the Election Act."

Unanimously. As in ALL Committee Members including the two from the NDP side of the Legislature.

The NDP when they were in government asked Harry Nuefeld to stay on, but if he had not they would have done exactly the same thing.

One wonders about how basic process can't be followed by those who perpetually whine and complain.

Learn and earn, folks.

SB said...

BTW, how come we import persons from Calgary to hold these important jobs? Does Mr. Harper have any influence in this?

Harper does not have any influence on who becomes Electoral Officer of BC. It is open competition, and all applications are carefully reviewed by a Committee of the Legislature.

Learn a few basics


Pretty much a Conservative elite , BC Elections has time and time again since Campbells reorganizing shown its a friendly wing of the govt should come as no surprise , the truth is voters more and more see just how corrupt BC Lib govts have been the NDP simply needs to say it will hold full open public inquiries into BC Rail .

Anonymous said...

anyone care to guess the chances of Kash Heed being an MLA after the next election

Anonymous said...

"Archer admitted Elections BC had not interviewed Sall."

How, then, can Archer conclude there is no evidence to support Barinder Sall's allegations? Such a conclusion is premature at best. At worst it shows an indifference on Archer's part to getting to the bottom of one of the worst cases of electoral fraud in BC in modern times.

If the CEO is unwilling to act proactively to protect the integrity of the electoral process, the people of Vancouver-Fraserview should take matters into their own hands by recalling Heed. A recall campaign would surely attract the support of people of all political persuasions.

Anonymous said...

And it is out of the MSM before it even got there.

Why OCCUPY?

Anonymous said...

"anyone care to guess the chances of Kash Heed being an MLA after the next election"

About the same as a convicted drunk driver caught in a dozen lies getting elected. With a bought and paid for media - the odds are good.

Ask a co-worker tommorow if they even know who Kash Heed is (except for you pab's) I'll bet no one has any idea who he even is.

Ken in Victoria said...

Election BC's answer for not conducting a further review is a whitewash. Mr Sall has admitted guilt and in order to clear the issue has disclosed the complete truth. If his statement is not new evidance what is. Where there is smoke, there is fire. Finally, why are liberal MLA s allowing Mr $$$$ Heed to remain as a member of their party?

Anonymous said...

I am sure we remember Elections BC, when we were battling the HST. It fits Kash Heed is permitted to get away with his crime, his "special" prosecutor got him off, scot free.

Now it's as, Campbell's theft and corrupt sale of the BCR is. Been there, done that, Move a long now. Case closed.

Now as Campbell did not allow a full debate in Legislature, over the HST...I will be damned if Harper isn't doing the same thing.

I e-mailed Pat Martin and asked him, if he would f-bomb some people for me. I am a senior, and thought the word, but never used it.

It reminds me when Campbell f-bombed, a female in the Legislature.

Anonymous said...

Pretty much a Conservative elite , BC Elections has time and time again since Campbells reorganizing shown its a friendly wing of the govt should come as no surprise , the truth is voters more and more see just how corrupt BC Lib govts have been the NDP simply needs to say it will hold full open public inquiries into BC Rail .

Sure and since Keith Archer will be Returning Officer when the next provincial election comes around, let's suppose the NDP wins the next election?

Are the fools here going to slag Archer because of the results then??

The NDP is fooling themselves with a "full public inquiry". The money for it has to come from somewhere.
So what is cut for the cost of the inquiry? Health Care? Education?

A smart move would be to go directly to Sall and state what it is that he thinks the overspending is on? Have him outline in basic accounting method, a statement of costs.

Anonymous said...

The hottest place in Hell should be reserved for non-merit appointment Justice System officials who pull ersatz 'no evidence' declarations out of their butt.

So only complaints that police make themselves, have substance? At last count about 1 in 1000 BC residents is a cop.

Where exactly is the notion of court-officer "discretion" based? It is a fiction, pure and simple.

SB said...

RE anon with this post

The NDP is fooling themselves with a "full public inquiry". The money for it has to come from somewhere.
So what is cut for the cost of the inquiry? Health Care? Education?

The Liberals literally have allowed hundreds of millions in cost overruns
at VCC 400 million known , BC Rail was a give away in exchange for some favour and support for Campbell and a cash cow to all insiders its nice Libra l supporters will cry foul about an inquiry where the hell where they when our money was being given away ?
It cannot come close to costing what we've paid in losses already and spin away but its a losing proposition most people i know want an Inquiry and very very few are NDP supporters.

Anonymous said...

The first step is end this sympathy bleeding heart for Ballinder Sall. He was the Campaign Manager and made the decisions. If he thinks there is an additional $40,000 in extra spending it will be up to him to come up front with a ledger sheet and copies of receipts to show such expenses did exist.

Heed made errors, but so did Sall, much more than Heed did.