When Is A Lobbyist Not A Lobbyist In British Columbia?

TheGreatestPlaceOnEarth
ToPeddleInfluentiallyVille

.....When They Say So?

At least that appears to be the case in Mr. Gordon Campbell's British Columbia.

Sean Holman, this time writing for 24 Hours, has the story:

Pat Kinsella, an architect of the provincial Liberal's election success, has apparently been reaping the benefits of his close relationship with the Campbell administration.

His firm has helped win major government contracts and benefits for powerful foreign and business interests over the past five years - although Kinsella has never personally registered as a lobbyist with the B.C. government for any of those clients.......

Hmmmmm.....

Haven't we heard about another close confidant of the Campbell government who had issues with registering as a lobbyist.

But I digress.

Back to Mr. Holman's story about Mr. Kinsella:

According to documents exclusively obtained by 24 hours via an access to information request with Washington State, a May 2006 contract between Kinsella's Progressive Group and Washington State boasted the firm "has strong relationships" with Campbell administration cabinet ministers Kevin Falcon, Colin Hansen and Olga Ilich.

That relationship extends to B.C. Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games secretariat president and chief executive officer Annette Antoniak and former deputy tourism, sport and the arts minister Virginia Greene.......


Double Hmmmmmmm.....

Lobbying?

Not, apparently, according to Mr. Kinsella:

When asked in 2004 whether he ever talks about his clients with cabinet ministers and their staffers, Kinsella said, "Absolutely not. That's an understanding that I have ... I suspect there's no one in government who would say they've ever been lobbied by me."......

But that statement appears to be somewhat at odds with Mr. Kinsella's company's own representation to its clients:

However, as part of his work for Washington State, Progressive's president, Mark Jiles, promised to "facilitate opportunities for Washington State to develop important relationships" with Falcon, Hansen, Ilich, Antoniak and Greene.

And, if that wasn't enough, the firm stated, it is "able to engage" other "ministers." After all, in the words of Jiles, "access to key decision makers is simply the price of admission in our business." This, according to a confidential proposed strategy prepared for the state in October 2006........


Triple Hmmmmmmm.......

Is it possible that Mr. Kinsella and the good folks that work for him just wear a lot of different hats?


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By the way, Mr. Jiles himself has some pretty close ties to Mr. Campbell given that he was once his constiuency campaign manager.
Oh, and for the record, according to the documents obtained by Mr. Holman, the Progressive Group has also apparently bragged to clients about its inside track with Enron's old accountant 'Accenture'. You do remember Accenture's relationship with Mr. Campbell's government don't you?

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