Is Campbell's Brain Cramping?

What,WeWorry?
Cave-O-RamaVille

It's not a huge stretch to suggest that as Karl Rove is to George Bush, Ken Dobell is to Gordon Campbell.

After all, Mr. Dobell has been working with, for, and promoting Mr. Campbell and his agenda ever since His Gordness got into the politics game.

Dobell was the Vancouver City Manager back when Mayor Campbell's strings were first being pulled by then Councilwoman Carole Taylor; he brought RAV to life as Translink CEO; he helped bring Doug Walls into the fold as Premier Campbell's right-sided Deputy Minister and chief fixer; he got tangled up in a documental debacle associated with the sale of BC Rail; he was named to the holy trinity charged with running the 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee; and then, this fall, he fell off the gravy train into the gold dust when he was named special 'consultant/advisor' to the Premier.*

And now, surprise, surprise, Mr. Dobell has popped up in the Teacher's dispute:

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 6:27pm EDT
Canadian Press
Victoria - A special adviser to Premier Gordon Campbell is involved in talks aimed at finding a solution to the strike by B.C. teachers.

Premier Gordon Campbell said Wednesday deputy labour minister Rick Connolly and special adviser Ken Dobell have met with facilitator Vince Ready.....

(snip)

“Mr. Dobell is there to lend Mr. Ready whatever assistance he needs,” Mr. de Jong told the legislature.

And still, the Minister from Union Busting, Mike de Jong, refuses to confirm the government's role in the 'facilitations'.

Sure, on the face of it Mr. Dobell's involvement suggests a cave-in by Mr. Campbell and his minions. But the fact that his Brain refuses to allow Mr. Campbell to portray it as an olive branch says volumes about elGordo's self-sewn ideological straight jacket and/or his fear of the Redmeat Faction in his caucus that is ready to pounce.

All of which leads one to speculate that Campbell's Brain has atrophied to the point that it can no longer deal efficiently with real issues in the real world. Sure, it is still great at using it's rhombencephalon to prime the publicity pump (ie. generate mediamaven-assisted deflector spin - witness Jane Taber of the Globe's suggestion that 'some Federal Liberals' were considering Mr. Campbell as Paul Martin's replacement after the center of the universe leg of his 'Duck The Teacher's Tour' last week). But was it a mass of disorganized neurofibrillar tangles that came up with the lamer-than-lame, last minute 'Learning Roundtable' before it completely underestimated the resolve of the Teachers when it passed Bill 12? Not to mention the galvanizing effect that the Brain's subsequent lobotomy-like attempts to criminalize the BCTF has had on the rest of Organized Labour in the Province, which is sure to lead to the eruption of a potentially crippling grand-mal seizure come next spring when the massive rounds non-negotiations and contract impositions begin all over again.

Maybe the spin doctors and/or Mr. Martyn Brown should prescribe a little pre-emptive shock therapy.

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*At a potential compensation rate of 3-4 teachers per annum.
Mr. Willcocks comes to a similar conclusion re: the significance of the involvement of Mr. Dobell, but he does not choose to hazard a neurological diagnosis.

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