I stand all amazed. The Vancouver Province ran a profound article in today’s paper with two headlines in the printed edition. The first headline reads: “Donations won’t sway votes: Watts.” The second headline reads: “Casino backers chip in election contributions to Surrey First of $24,500 in 2011.” We could stop right there. Nothing else needs to be said. Except there’s more.
So Gateway Casinos want to build a Gambling Megatropolis in Surrey that will inadvertently be a haven for organized crime. Last year the casino made a huge donation to Dianne Watts campaign. This is Doug McCallum times a thousand. Then Diane Watts has the audacity to say those political contributions won’t sway votes on city council. That’s not very intelligent or honest.
The article also refers to the shady Bob Cheema. What on earth is Diane Watts doing with Gordon Campbell’s bagman? That is distressing and disappointing. No wonder she was so comfortable with Christy Clark and Kevin Falcon at the George Bush summit in Surrey. The article clearly opens the door to Pandora’s box on the Surrey First secret society and their conflicted development corporation that has zero public accountability.
Watts denies widespread corruption in Surrey
Surrey audit cites missing planning funds
Laila Yuile on Surrey City Hall
Now see, THAT's what I'm talking about. Hold their feet to the fire, K......
ReplyDeleteNot that it matters since Dianne Watts is "untouchable.'
ReplyDeleteThey all are. You know, "they"...... :)
ReplyDeleteCome on, conspiracy theory is one of my favorite flicks. You're just a guy trying to put out a fire.....
With Mel Gibson? That's an old one. He starts off playing an absolute nut bar as I recall but ends up being able to connect the dots in a real conspiracy. It was rather amusing.
DeleteCampaign donations = legalized bribery. A major step towards cleaning up corruption on both sides of the border would be to make the electoral process campaign donation free and criminalize such.
ReplyDeleteBut it won't happen. The people who gravitate towards politics want to be bought as much as those who seek to buy influence want to buy them.
Yeah, Eddie Murphy in Distinguished Gentlemen was a comical look at lobbying and corruption in politics. I'm actually kind of concerned for them. If the casinos donated that much money to their campaign and if the casinos are tied to organized crime, then if they vote no now they're going to be in big trouble. Debt collectors from organized crime wanting their campaign contribution back. It's very concerning.
DeleteAK: "Not that it matters since Dianne Watts is "untouchable.'"
ReplyDeleteShe's *untouchable*, because she happened to win 87% of the vote, a number almost good enough to make the old Politburo proud.
It's a staggering, un-precedented win in a democracy.
Indeed. Yet the media wasn't *allowed* to publish the details about the secret development corporation she established. There are a lot of things going on that the general public are not aware of. Again not something I'm prepared to argue about. The conflict over the casino donations as well as the conflict over the development corporation need to be considered. At least now the media is finally reporting on the concerns. Winning a large popularity vote doesn't make taking bribes right.
ReplyDelete