Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Mayne thing - Ed Mayne pulls a Moira and will bail out of BC Liberal leadership to endorse George Abbott tomorrow

Province columnist Mike Smyth, left, & Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie, centre, interview George Abbott at BC Liberal special convention last Saturday -  Bill Tieleman photo
There's more bailing out going on in the BC Liberal Party leadership race than happened on Wall Street in 2008!

Little-known candidate Ed Mayne is holding a 9:15 a.m. news conference Thursday and there's little secret to the content - he will pull a Moira Stilwell and leave the contest to support George Abbott. 

Sharp-eyed Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie noticed that a Mayne media advisory issued today was actually authored by Abbott campaign staffer "kcook".

That "kcook" is of course, Karen Cook, a vice-president of corporate communications firm Hoggan Associates - owned by James Hoggan.

So, that reduces the field from 6 candidates down to just 4, putting more pressure on likely 4th place finisher Mike de Jong to consider his future.

De Jong is Tweeting today that he's still in to win - but smart money would say that "Open Mike" is open to all offers from Abbott or Kevin Falcon - the two candidates with the best shot at winning. 

It's doubtful he would jump to Christy Clark's listing ship at this point when all the momentum is toward's Abbott's insurgent run and Falcon's establishment parade.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eventulally it will come down to Christy Clark & Abbot.
Clark is the choice of the Liberal on the street Abbot the choice of the establishment.
Everyone knows that Clark is an opportunist even the Liberal caucus realise it.
When push comes to shove there is a good possibility that the Liberals will come unglued with Christy gnashing at the teeth to get the top job.
All this at a time when hopefully the NDP have finally got their act together.

Ron1 said...

Oh my!

Could the race end up with Kevin mini-meCampbell vs Bobble-head Abbott?

With the candidate most popular among the public - Miss Christy - being ganged up on by the BC fiberal insiders???

Stay tuned to the next episode of "As the Stomach turns".

Anonymous said...

As long as these deadbeat lieberals continue to lie and ignore the past (BC Rail selloff, Basi / Virk Huge coverup payoff, child poverty, etc), we as voters must not forget what they have done to our province. Gordo has left the province in a huge mess. They know it, but choose to ignore the past. The future is ours to shape, not theirs to exploit. Time for Horgan, Dix, and the rest of the NDP to save our province. The lieberals sure didn't.

Kam Lee

Anonymous said...

Clark didn't seek Stilwell's endorsement
reports Sean Holman

...in an interview with Public Eye, Dr. Stilwell confirmed neither Ms. Clark nor her campaign team sought her endorsement.

Anonymous said...

The future is ours to shape, not theirs to exploit. Time for Horgan, Dix, and the rest of the NDP to save our province. The lieberals sure didn't.

Dix et. al. didn't do much to save the province in the past, what makes you think they would be able to do that once again? Remember Dix was Glen Clark's Guy.

I'd vote for Mike Farnworth, a much better guy than Dix. Dix has too many of the left wing labour aspect of the NDP on his side.

NDP needs to be more moderate.

Anonymous said...

I wish otherwise but it will be Kevin Falcon who will win the BC Liberal leadership. He has the money and the party establishment behind him and recruited many people who think like him and Gordon Campbell. The real state syndicate that seems to run this province is particularly supportive of Falcon.

Anonymous said...

Nice find for JF.

And is it true that Ed and Moira can now direct the unspent portion of their campaign spending limits to George's benefit?

Anonymous said...

"And is it true that Ed and Moira can now direct the unspent portion of their campaign spending limits to George's benefit?"

Doesn't work that way. Once the campaign ends so does the spending.

It does not continue when the candidate doesn't.

It expires when the candidate does.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure I heard CKNW say the spending limit can be passed on - at least in the Liberal race.

There was no mention if Harry Lali could direct his 'funding' to one of those middle-aged white guys.

Anonymous said...

"I'm pretty sure I heard CKNW say the spending limit can be passed on - at least in the Liberal race."

Wouldn't happen, since the spending limits are for individual candidates, and most likely wouldn't be transferrable.

"There was no mention if Harry Lali could direct his 'funding' to one of those middle-aged white guys."

The NDP may have different rules, but I doubt that. The NDP does have some sensible elements within it.