Wednesday, March 01, 2023

Marky Mark's Walkin' In The Wild West End Money.


HeKnew
NothingVille


Well, well, well...

It turns out that Mr. Mark Marissen, the doomed-to-fail candidate from last fall's Vancouver mayoral race, received a big whack of cash, in the form of a loan, from one prominent local CEO.

Bob Mackin, writing in 'Business In Vancouver', explains:

The fourth-place finisher in last fall’s race for the Vancouver mayoralty received an illegal $50,000 loan and is now struggling to return the money.

Mark Marissen was the leader of Progress Vancouver and had received the loan from Jason McLean in February 2022 “to finance the day-to-day administration of Progress Vancouver's elector organization office intended to operate on a continuing basis outside campaign periods,” according to an Elections BC prohibited campaign loan form...

{snip}

...Jason McLean is CEO of the privately held McLean Group, which owns real estate, construction, film production, IT and communications, and flight charter companies. He is a former chair of the then-named Vancouver Board of Trade, and a former Vancouver Police Board member who worked as an aide in the office of Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien. He declined to comment...


But here's the thing...

The provincial government made such massive 'Wild West' contributions to civic elections illegal in 2021.

So.

How does Mr. Marissen explain his actions?

Well, apparently, he has invoked the Sgt. Schultz 'I knew nothing!' defense:

...Marissen admitted Progress Vancouver was unaware of the NDP government’s amendments to campaign financing laws via the March 2021 Local Elections Statutes Amendment Act “as it pertains to the effect of deeming all loans to an elector organization to be loans for election expenses and subject to the prescribed limit on loans from non-financial institutions.”...


But wait, there's more:

...Marissen also said the party received wrong advice from an unnamed lawyer in January 2022, who said there was no jurisdictional limit, dollar limit or limit based on individual versus corporate status to fund the day-to-day operations of a party office outside of campaign or election periods...


Gosh, lawyer blaming.

Not to cast any aspersions whatsoever but, in addition to being a noted outdoorsman, isn't the fine fellow who made the defacto donation....errrr....loan also a lawyer?

And, finally, just in case you were wondering, the good Mr. Marissen has not yet re-paid said loan:

... “It (Progress Vancouver) hoped to be able to return Mr. McLean's loan through campaign contributions, but has not been successful to date in doing so. Progress Vancouver continues to solicit permitted donations and intends to repay Mr. McLean.”...

All of which just goes to show that both the rich and the politically connected in Lotusland are most definitely not like you and me.


OK?


____
Flouting of the new anti-wild west election rules aside, why would a member of an uber-fine local family fork over $50K to a faux progressive candidate who didn't have a hoot-in-heckfire's chance of winning anyway?...More on that to come...


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8 comments:

Graham said...

The director (principal), or Sarge as we called him, of the school I finally graduated high school from oh so many years ago always told us (among many other things) “Ignorance Is No Excuse!”
It was that and where Sarge also told us to “Always Be Responsible For Your Actions!” that has always stuck with me.
And yes, when he said it it did sound like it was capitalized and had the exclamation point.
I think many of these people you write about that are similar to the one you write about today did NOT have a Sarge like person around in their formative years.

RossK said...

Graham--

Or...

They willfully chose to ignore them.

And/Or...

They long ago concluded that responsibility is for suckers.


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Graham said...

Of course you’re correct, this guy and others had no intention to follow the rules or even the spirit of the rules. And by all means they are free to ignore them but they should be held to account whether it was an honest mistake or not and whether they accept the responsibility or not.
Maybe ol’ C.C. can bail him out as she seems to be pulling in a lot in appearance fees here and there. Gawd knows why anyone would pay for her thoughts on anything.

RossK said...

Graham--

I think there may have been something concerted going on here involving a willing stalking horse designed to siphon off votes from the progressive side of the ledger to ensure a certain outcome...


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Graham said...

Ahhhh, of course. I’ll patiently wait for the “more on that to come…” entry.

NVG said...

Why settle for one McLean when there's four donors. Now that's progress

FRPC - Local Election Contributions

Search Criteria: Progress Vancouver

2022 General Local Elections

Progress Vancouver received $13,912.00

Note: 'Vancouver' and 'Metro Vancouver'.... different Jurisdiction Type

Donated From:

Andrea McLean $1,239.00 2021/07/26 Vancouver

Andrea McLean $1,239.00 2021/07/26 Metro Vancouver

David McLean $1,239.00 2021/07/26 Vancouver

David McLean $1,239.00 2021/07/26 Metro Vancouver

Jason McLean $1,239.00 2021/07/26 Vancouver

Jason McLean $1,239.00 2021/07/26 Metro Vancouver

Jason McLean $1,239.00 2021/10/13 Vancouver

Jason McLean $1,000 2021//10/14 Vancouver

Melanie McLean $1,239 2021/07/26 Metro Vancouver

Melanie McLean $1,239 2021/07/26 Vancouver

Data from Elections BC Financial Reports and Political Contributions System


Link:

https://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/SIGSearchResults.aspx?Contributor=McLean&EndorsedSK=Progress+Vancouver&Endorsed=Progress+Vancouver&EventSK=0&EventAlias=(ALL)&FilerTypeSK=0&FilerType=(ALL)&Class=0&OfficeSK=0&Office=(ALL)&JurisdictionTypeSK=0&JurisdictionType=(ALL)&JurisdictionSK=0&Jurisdiction=(ALL)&ElectionArea=(ALL)&ElectionAreaSK=0&FilerSK=0&Filer=(ALL)&DateTo=&DateFrom=

RossK said...

Thanks NVG.

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NVG said...

I missed these two dates - donations

JASON MCLEAN 2021/10/13 $1,000.00 Metro Vancouver

JASON MCLEAN 2021/10/14 $1,000.00 Metro Vancouver