CampbellClarkVille
Cassidy Olivier, in The Province, has the blockbuster of a story.
Here's his lede:
A Liberal Party attack website aimed at NDP leader Adrian Dix was crafted by government employees at the B.C. legislature under the watchful eye of the Premier’s Office and a Christy Clark loyalist, a series of government emails obtained by The Province reveal.
Launched by the B.C. Liberal Party in October 2011, the CantAffordDix.ca website featured aggressive assaults on Dix’s character and unflattering photos of the NDP leader. The site called Dix “Pinocchio” and the “chief architect” of B.C.’s “nightmare” ’90s.
Featuring a smashed piggy bank as a central piece of art, the site also included a legal notice stating it was produced by the Liberal Party of B.C.
But emails leaked to The Province show the site was in reality conceived and developed by government employees, who used a taxpayer-financed computer network to brainstorm the project and, later, to liaise with the B.C. Liberal Party...
I mean, seriously, how low does one have to go to keep one's seat at the table in Snookville these days?
****
All snark aside, this is disgusting, corrosive to the body politic, and profoundly anti-democratic.
And it is being done by people who are being paid with our money while they do their Ratfucking.
This type of stuff, which goes right back to the 'media-monitoring' days when Mr. Basi was still in the Campbell-Clark government good books, is the real reason that they all must go.
Because they are ALL culpable.
(and, given that everyone knows it, anyone who signs up as a new 'star' candidate must go too)
OK?
.
24 comments:
Just read the Province article and I completely agree with you. Fire all the bastards! If I were Dix, and they won the election I would do a house cleaning like never seen in politics. There would be smaller government for a short period that's a definite.
Hi Ross
Just what will be the final outrage? Why do the corrupt BC Liberals continue with their evil ways - two reasons I think. One, because they have no morals / honesty and two, they have gotten away with it for so long they know no other way.
This is so basic and blatant a transgression of the people of this province. They attack with the resources, money and government staff that we have entrusted for the good of the people not for the good of the useless, desperate BC Liberals. Their actions are so predictable.
Great reporting and expose. Heads should roll.
It is great reporting! kudos to the reporter Cassidy Oliver for the investigative journalism. Mike Smyth wrote a good column on it too.
Plus it's been picked up by you and Norm! Yippee! its 4/4.
The other thing that this story shows is just how stupid the BC Liberals think voters and reporters are. "They did it on their own time". C'mon. It's an internet age now, voters can figure things out.
P.S. Harv also wrote an excellent column on this, so it's 5/5 (and the story is also referenced in the latest comments on AGT's site).
A clear and brazen contravention of the government’s own code of conduct
by Michael Smyth, The Province November 19, 2012
http://www.theprovince.com/news/clear+brazen+contravention+government+code+conduct/7568147/story.html
I hope you managed to hear to the Puffmaster's political panel this morning on CBC am690.
This subject came up just for the last few seconds of the panel (can that NOT have been managed?) and Colin Hansen (isn't he STILL an MLA?) said this was little more than enthusiastic young'uns who'd let their zeal overrule their better nature by doing work that should have been volunteer and after-hours while on the public payroll.
Not a word of explanation for the real facts of the case and not a mention of the impropriety of using public resources for this kind of ratfucking.
Firings? Don't hold your breath.
What started with ratfucking in Glen Clark's back alley continues in the halls of the legislature...nothing has changed - but it has gotten worse.
Firing a few political staffers won't help - the whole lot of rats has to go!
GW--
Don Millar is nothing more than an overzealous young 'un?
Ya, sure.
And Chuck Colson was really just Donnie Segretti's over-excited frat bro.
Sheesh.
.
This ruse, that government employees have their OWN laptop that they take to work, for personal business...., means that the employees are carting around TWO laptops plus the desktop.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have access to the employees Laptops, just to ascertain whether or not there are Government Documents, Government issued emails, being lifted from Government Buildings, under the disguise of the data being personal?
Has there ever been a SURPRISE screening of personal laptops to ensure that they only contain "personal items", unrelated to the job at hand? It's not like there's a REQUIREMENT to carry a personal laptop as a condition of employment.
Don Millar "currently holds a lucrative contract with Government Communications and Public Engagement allowing him to bill up to $10,000 a month for advisory services..."
Yeah, just an overzealous young 'un.
Hey Bill: you might add to moral turpitude and pathological lying a third factor driving the BC Liberals: desperation because time is running out and long overdue justice is flooding in.
Although we all thought we knew what a Campbell government would probably be like (as witnessed his underhanded tactics in smearing Gordon Wilson and Glen Clark) we were nonetheless shocked by the near-death experience of the outgoing NDP. Barely over that, the very next day a telling thing happened: Campbell increased the size of the Premier's Office by eight fold. And with the creation of the Public Affairs Bureau, the BC Liberal publicly-funded propaganda arm continued the manipulation of information; concealment, distortion and outright lying, became their stock in trade. It's not only their habituation but, now, their situation that demands it. The electorate is going to thrash the BC Liberals but they don't want us to know it.
I can`t find any of this on CBC.
Never thought it would get this 1984like, but it sure has with the BC Lieberals accepting donations from the HD Mining and so on.
Hmmm. So we paid to put those websites together...
That must mean that we the people can request that they be shut down, right?
Excellent point Chris.
Guess it could be argued that this means they are no longer the property of 'The Party'.
.
Did you say party? Where? When? Yahoo!
Eleanor--
You know....
The one with Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet, directed by Blake Edwards rather than PK and his High Flyers.
Which was a much better than the one under discussion.
Much better 'Party' I mean.
(especially the part with poopy caviar)
.
As a supporter of the NDP I would like that portion of my taxes, which were used, to pay for the anti Dix websites, back.
these lieberals are using our tax dollars to do political party work. This is a definite no,no in a democracy. Oh, right I forgot, B.C. isn't a democracy, its the snooki play pen.
Was there a time, the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, didn't steal from us? You can certainly tell, the BC Liberals work for Harper. They have the same typo, childish attack ads. Campbell too, cheated and lied to win his elections.
BC citizens are very familiar, with the bias of the media. That they are propaganda machines, for the BC Liberals. What really angers is. Christy is thieving and wasting our tax dollars, on the impossible.
Christy will have to, pull a Campbell or a Harper, to win the next election.
The clip from the CBC is about 1/3 of the way along this mp3...
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/bcearlyedition_20121119_89553.mp3
7:14 mark
Standard BC Lieberal tactics. Remember when Campbell was in Opposition and was caught using gov't monies for a Lieberal mailout?
He had to repay the almost $800,000. and said he didn't know he could not use taxpayer monies for his own parties use.
Thanks GW and NVG.
Thanks also Anon - can you give us a little more detail (I just can't remember).
.
I've been trying to remember more about Gordon Campbell's partisan mail-out when in Opposition but sorry it was so long ago. Quite sure it was in the last two years of being in Opposition.
It was the high side of $700,000 and when he was caught he went all golly gee 'I didn't know'. The media was very gentle with him and it was quickly dropped. Quel surprise.
There was a public outcry and supposedly the Lieberals re-paid the taxpayer.
Too bad Baldry and Palmer have such selective memories. I wonder if H Oberfeld would remember.
Thanks very much Anon--
I'll try and chase it down.
.
Re my comments re partisan mailout while in Opposition. Turns out I wasn't the only one recalling it:
http://www.strategicthoughts.com/
November 20, 2012
Taxpayer Paid Political Staff
Thank you for the time and energy you put into your blog. We appreciate it. And you have some of the best commentators!
Post a Comment