The Fall of Dianne Watts

I promised I'd leave Dianne Watts alone if she left Surrey and ran for the federal conservative riding and I kept my word. However, since Dianne Watts is considering running for Christy Clark's position I am obligated to comment. Dianne Watts' tainted legacy has come back to haunt her. I'm going to compare the fall of Dianne Watts to the fall of Christy Clark because in one way they are similar though Dianne Watts' fall was far worse.

Jon McComb a former coworker of Christy Clark from CKNW explained her fall from good intentions. The Tyee gave a critique of Jon McComb's comments. In 2012 the Georgia Straight reported on CKNW's response to Christy Clark's criticism at the time. Jon McComb's recent synopsis puts the whole thing into perspective. The same thing happened to Dianne Watts.

When Dianne Watts was mayor of Surrey she said one thing and did another. It is possible she meant well in the beginning just like Christy Clark did but it is clear that she became consumed with the dirty lobbyists and lost any political morals she pretended to have in the beginning.

It comes as no surprise to hear Dianne Watts is considering joining the BC Liberals whose head to toe corruption made the New York Times. That's because Dianne Watts was up to her eyeballs in it when she was mayor of Surrey. Take at look at the Campbell heights scandal. That was the epicentre of money laundering for BC Liberal campaign contributors.

When Dianne Watts was first elected she conned us. She sure knew how to talk the talk. She talked about a crime prevention coalition. She talked about a website spotlighting high crime areas. She even had a speaker cite the New York model. I was there. The problem is when she was elected she did the exact opposite. The only crime she confronted was grow ops. She was consumed with grow ops but didn't lift a finger to confront public crack sales.

Businesses in Newton would complain about crack dealers selling crack in front of their place of business driving away their customers while the police and city hall did absolutely nothing. This tainted tale of citizens reporting crime only to be completely ignored by the police and city hall repeated itself over and over again throughout Dianne Watts tenure as mayor of Surrey.

Dianne Watts was not fiscally responsible. She put the city into record debt. She loved to spend money and go on junkets. That is what she was known for - spending taxpayers' money.

She did not spotlight high crime areas, she suppressed crime statistics. She did not want the Janice Shore story to be told. When I mentioned it at a public meeting she chaired she kept interrupting me calling me a liar when I was telling the truth and she was the one lying. She did this repeatedly. It was at the public meeting against the mega casino in south Surrey.

The proposed mega casino wasn't in an industrial area. It was near schools in a residential area. The plan was to rezone the land so her campaign contributors could make a fortune just like they did at the Campbell Heights Money Laundering Centre.

When it was finally my turn to speak I expressed concerns about the project from a business point of view. Gateway Casino's $1.5 billion debt restructuring was a huge concern. How does a company that owns 9 successful casinos in BC and Alberta get $1.5 billion in debt? That is not a good investment. When I had the floor Dianne Watts interrupted me and said that was not true when it bloody well was. She lied. In front of everyone and falsely accused me of lying when I was telling the truth because the facts I raised made her campaign contributors look bad.

She kept interrupting me when I had the floor over and over again especially when I tried to talk about Janet Shore. She did not want that story told and kept cutting me off calling me a liar when I was telling the truth. It was obscene. I finally just ended by saying Marcus Aurelius had a dream from Rome and this is not it then walked out.

Dianne Watts is dishonest. Locally we all knew she lied about the car accident after the drunken Gala. She claimed the other party ran a red light but locals brought it to my attention that was not possible at that intersection from the direction she was traveling in. The media falsely reported that another vehicle ran a red light and T-boned the mayor's car when in reality the mayor's car t-boned the other vehicle. The mayor claimed the other party ran the red light but the other party sued her claiming she was the one that ran the red light and they settled out of court.

The problem is, the locals who know the area knew the mayor's story wasn't believable because it was a demand light and she was on the side street. For her to have the green light she would of had to come to a complete stop first to trigger the light to change. If she had come to a complete stop, she couldn't have had the velocity to t-bone and damage the other car like that. In this situation either the mayor or the other party was lying. Locals who know the area know she was the one who was lying because her story didn't make sense. Dianne Watts' car accident kinda of sums up her term in office. One big lie.

Then there's the bullying. Clicking like on a facebook post that called Barinder Rasode a whore was just the tip of the ice berg. The lobbyists changed Dianne Watts. When she was in office she became a bully. She might have had good intentions when she first ran for mayor but the dirty campaign contributors killed her. That much is clear. It's kind of fitting she run for Christy Clark's position given the political corruption within the party that was discussed in the New York Times since Dianne Watts was at the root of it in Campbell Heights. Time will tell. It always does.



Leaving Dianne Watts' tainted history in Surrey behind, what was her claim to fame after she was elected MP? She didn't show up for work. Just like Christy Clark. The one good thing about a minority government in BC is that the MPs actually have to show up for work. Both of them were great at serving kool aid at press conferences but both of them failed to deliver or show up for work. Dianne Watts case was far more extreme. She said one thing and did the other bullying everyone who complained. If you want to fix Surrey pick Eileen Mohan. She has morals and can't be bought. That's why they didn't pick her. They don't want someone with morals to fix Surrey. They want someone they can buy that will preserve the status quo with kool aid and spin.



Update: Gangsters out endorses Andrew Wilkinson

Dianne Watts' Liberal leadership bid receives mixed reviews