Election 2014 rankings

This will become more complete when the financial disclosures are made but here are the electoral results.

1 Craig Keating         4885      9.2% (10.3%)     Team Mussatto

1 Linda Buchanan    4646      8.8% (10.7%)      Team Mussatto

1 Don Bell                   4491      8.5%  (11.0%)     Ind

1 Pam Bookham        4392     8.3%   (8.4%)    Morris Nation

1 Rod Clark                 4354     8.2%   (8.8%)    Morris Nation

PLATEAU 1-2              766

2 Holly Back                 3588      6.8%      Team Mussatto

2 Kathy McGrenera       3515     6.6%       Team Mussatto

2 Bill Bell                      3346     6.3%        Morris Nation

2 Amanda Nichol           3316    6.3%        Morris Nation

2 Matt Clark                  3113     5.9%        Team Mussatto

2 Tony Valente              3102     5.9%        Ind

2 Dorothy Bell               2900     5.5%        Morris Nation

PLATEAU 2-3                805

3 Iani Markis                   2095     4.0%                 Team Mussatto

3 Joe Heilman                  2087     3.9% (2.1%)     Ind

3 Via Fearnley                 1805      3.4%                 Ind

PLATEAU 3-4                  1017

4 John Harvey                   788        1.5%   Ind

4 David Janis                     326        0.6%   Ind

4 Ron Sostad                      231        0.4      COPE

One thing is quite clear, two not legally registered slates ran our Council and really there is no point in running (unless you're a former MP) if you're not part of one of them.

If you look at the % of vote change, Don Bell went from 11% to 8.5% but in 2011 he was endorsed by Team Mussatto (but not part of their slate) and endorsed by Voices so he held most of his vote and retained his seat, finishing above the Morris Nation candidates.

It looks like Craig and Linda dropped a little more than a percent from 2011 to 2014 but Team Mussatto ran a six person slate rather than a four person slate so their drop (I think) is due to their drive to take a majority of Council which they did.

Snippets wise, we've probably seen the last of Bill and Dorothy Bell, their public revealing that they were part of the Morris Nation has left a taint on them that they can never (electorally) recover from.

Amanda Nichol still finished in the middle of category 2 as she did last time but as with the Bell couple she now walks in the City with the taint of Kerry Morris on her so she will never be elected no matter how many "inside the bubble" machinations she may perform in the future.

And Joe Heilman dramatically increased his vote share, despite not being a member of either slate (joined by Tony Valente.)  The Federal Liberals used to be a slate a decade ago.  It will be interesting to be see if Don, Tony, Joe and Via who are all Federal Liberals can recombine reform the slate of decade ago before before Voices co-opted them. 

What happened to Kerry Morris' criminal conviction?

It's a mystery.  Let's start with the actual criminal court case.

I received a letter from Kerry's lawyer dated October 29, 2014 threatening a lawsuit as he claims that his criminal conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal.  Kerry's other Court of Appeal appearance was there but not record of this "alleged" appeal. I had professional legal help checking this out after and they too said there was no appeal of this decision but they found a trial in which the records are sealed.  Hmm... the Court only does this in extreme circumstances.

It is certainly in Kerry's M.O. to bully and threaten people while trying to keep this conviction secret until after Election Day.  I can't see a lawyer being involved in a overt lie but of course since it wasn't in court and no oath was swore perhaps it doesn't really count in a lawyer's world.

Of course, there is the chance that this closed trial had something to do with it but I feel confident that the court would toss Kerry's threat into the garbage.

I've been stressing that Pam Bookham, Rod Clark, Amanda Nichol, Bill Bell and Dorothy have put their reputations on the line in endorsing Kerry Morris.  They have shown themselves to be a slate of hate, so clouded in their hatred of Mayor Mussatto that will support the absolutely worst choice of Mayor they could.  They have made an absolute mockery of everything they've said they believe in. 

It's time to deny them your vote as they should have done when Kerry asked them for their endorsement.

Let's not have petty little Councillors who disgrace us every week.

Ron Polly caught sign stealing

Ron Polly, self proclaimed President of the Harbourside Community Association had a visit from the police in the past few days to warn him against stealing campaign signs.   Ron Polly, part of the Morris Nation and probably following instructions given to him by Kerry is the latest evidence that Kerry's need to be Mayor must never be granted by the voters.

Kerry has gone to trial for drinking and driving, had an arrest warrant issued for failing to appear in court, made extremely homophobic statements to Officers of the Court and been in and out of court in his business of shipping oil in our habour and water.

But he has the trust of people like Ron Polly who will break election laws and common decency for him.  He has the endorsement of Rod Clark, Pam Bookham and Amanda Nichol.  He has had Bill and Dorthy Bell working for him and purposely holding back their endorsement until the last week.  

They have formed a "slate of hate." Voters shouldn't give their trust or votes to these five either, it may be just their need to remain in office or regain it or just a deeply rooted hatred of Mayor Mussatto but at the end of the day, their judgement in recommending Kerry Morris to the voters stains their repetitions.

Send Rod Clark, Pam Bookham, Amanda Nichol, Bill Bell and Dorothy back home on November 15th and let's have a Council that is not a disgrace anymore.

The Voices collective becomes the Morris Nation

There are no other "endorsements" but some not legally registered slates who make "recommendations".  First, of course, is what I call Team Mussatto, in local politics it is common for candidates to group themselves for and against the Mayor since that position is the public focal point of the City.  I see TM as follows, candidates Mussatto, Buchanan, Keating, Back, McGrenera and Makris. 

I've said in Council and to Darrell personally that the way of winning is to form an electoral organization, North Van Vision, let's say and you'll win the majority you have always dreamed of.  Obviously, he has chosen differently.

Second, is what I call the "VOICES Collective" or now what can be called the "Morris Nation", a group that published an "approved voting list" in the North Shore News the day before the election in the last two elections.  After doing this illegally in 2008 and being seriously chastised by the Chief Election Officer, they registered as "Third Party Advertiser" like the CUPE unions do.  But since so members of their core group were also candidates they failed the "arms length" requirement and again their actions were illegal.  The "Morris Nation" is new.  The old Voices core believes they are using Kerry Morris, knowing he can't win to keep Darrel busy so their Voices candidates can hold a majority of Council 

In 2012, they posted a website "NVan City Voices", they claim to have just started in the spring of 2012, organizers will get mad when one says it's the same old Voices but they feel a need to hide from their illegal activities.

A fuller history here. The Voices Collective is Morris, Bookham, Clark(R), Nichol.  Some would place Bill and Dorothy Bell in that slate but even though their platforms will be very similar, I doubt they are controlled by the Voices Collective.  Of course, they might "recommend " the 3 Bells in order to make it appear as if they have their support as they did last time with Don Bell.

They have no formal board of directors, no formal organization, like the "Occupy" movements of a couple of years ago.  Dennis, the Constitutional Peasant described the Voices Collective best, "an anarcho - syndicalist commune, taking turns to act as an executive officer of the week but all their decisions have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of internal affairs but by a 2/3's majority ..."  See full youtube clip here

I say the same to them as I've said to the Mayor - do things according to the law and be transparent about it for a change.   The time has passed to register so we've stuck with the shady practices of the past.   It looks like the Voices Collective thinks they using Kerry Morris to keep Darrell busy if when he is on a third place track and Kerry thinks he is using the Voices Collective.

Kerry Morris' brilliant tactics

Well at 9pm tonight on Shaw TV, Channel 4, you can all see what happens when Kerry Morris tries to make the Charge of the Light Brigade look like a sensible military maneuver.  It will be up on Shaw's website until the election.

Minutes before the meeting as we waited in the lobby, Kerry Morris made a big deal of calling his lawyer or pretending he was calling his lawyer to authorize a lawsuit against me.  He was trying to bully me so his endless drone of nonsense would dominate the debate.

Bad move Kerry, it just made me angry.

FB      shawtvvancouver

Youtube     shawtvvancouver

shaw.ca/Decision2014

shaw.ca/shawtv/vancouver


Probably not up until after 1st broadcast 9pm - 10pm tonight

Kerry Morris is not a convicted criminal

Three of my Blogs have altered as per request from Kerry Morris' lawyers.  It appears as if there was the original trial was appealed and Kerry won so the original charge was negated and erased as if it never existed.  Sorry for the mistake readers and I retract any statement that I've made that Kerry Morris is a convicted criminal. 

I did not check the Court of Appeals records to see if the original decision had been appealed.  I should have.  I am sorry for the mistake.  I look up the Court of Appeal decision and see what it says and verify what Kerry Morris' lawyers have told me.

Did Kerry Morris lie to voters in Mayor's Debate?

So DailyXrta published a story on Kerry's homophobic hate speech. It's business as usual for Kerry, apparently he under a lot of stress.  Good he doesn't want to serve as a Mayor for the next four years or something stressful that that. 

A Provincial Judge commented in one of Kerry's trials that "I found Mr. Morris to be evasive and non-responsive to questions put to him in cross examination. Further, I found him to be belligerent, antagonistic and argumentative (observations similar to those made by the officers) to the point where I had to instruct him to answer Mr. Flannigan's questions."

This is not what I, am saying but what a Provincial Court judge said in the official record of Kerry's trial.

In my opinion, Kerry lied in yesterday's Mayors Debate when asked by a voter to explain why he was taken away in handcuffs after allegedly threatening Telus staff when he said he was just sitting in on a couch, calmly waiting for a refund of a bill that he had overpaid.

Do you believe that armed RCMP officers apprehended Kerry Morris for sitting on a couch? Kerry likes to paint this serious incident as act of the lone individual standing up for consumer rights. I'm surprised that this didn't go to trial after seeing a portion of Kerry's court records.  

I'm surprised that they even let him go  since he signed a "Promise to Appear in Court" during a charge of Driving under the Influence and failed to show up for his Court Date until after an Arrest Warrant for "Failing to Appear" had been issued.

Kerry has an excuse for everything.  Does he deserve your trust and vote?  Why are Council Candidates Bookham, Clark and Nichol still supporting Kerry Morris?  Why have they not issued a public statement withdrawing any statements of support they have made in the past?  Do they deserve your trust and vote?

Update 30 Oct 2014:  Blog altered as per request from Kerry Morris' lawyers.  It appears as if there was the original trial was appealed and Kerry won so the original charge was negated and erased as if it never existed.  Sorry for the mistake readers and I retract any statement that I've made that Kerry Morris is a convicted criminal. 

Kerry's "apology" & more Kerry incidents

Well, I received the expected "apology" for his homophobic words but not the homophobic bullying he performed on an Officer of the BC Counts.  He claims this is a "privileged email" although Kerry Morris's need to copy his homophobic comments directly to the lawyer he was making comments about  removed the "privileged" status of this document.

Although I'm flattered that Kerry commended my research by stating "it would take months for a skilled researcher to find" when it only took this blogger a few days to find.  I guess my days working in the House of Commons researching events like the sponsorship scandal or even during academic research during for my Poli Sci / History degrees made me a skilled researcher after all.

Press wise, it has made into print media although not the North Shore News as it would disrupt their coverage of gardens and such other important things. 

Kerry blames "a period of extreme business stress" for his multiple uses of homophobic threatening hate language.  He would likely say the same if asked about his criminal conviction or when he threatened to take hostages at a Telus office or his breach to fulfill his "promise to appear" in Court for his trial.

It's a good thing Kerry isn't doing anything extremely stressful now like running for Mayor and telling people he can handle the stress of being Mayor for the next four years.

Update 30 Oct 2014:  I guess I shouldn't use the term "skilled researcher".
Blog altered as per request from Kerry Morris' lawyers.  It appears as if there was the original trial was appealed and Kerry won so the original charge was negated and erased as if it never existed.  Sorry for the mistake readers and I retract any statement that I've made that Kerry Morris is a convicted criminal. 

A portion of Kerry Morris' raged filled history

"Candidates standing for public office need to be prepared to 'take the heat', according to Morris", published in the North Shore News 10 Oct 2014. Kerry said it to justify why he had performed a campaign to harass a young candidate who he proclaimed, was on Mussatto's team. Live by the sword, guy.

As he keeps proclaiming "he's in the business." It's not an episode of West Wing. Six months of being "belligerent, antagonistic and argumentative" as a Judge called him in one of his  trials. Actually, it disqualifys you.

Simply, Kerry Morris does not have the temperament or even the basic ability to hold his temper in public to be able to represent the City of North Vancouver.

1) Morris was arrested and taken away in handcuffs after threatening to take hostages at the Burnaby office. Kerry now tries to deny the story but do you believe Telus office workers and our trained professional police officers when confronted by an belligerent rage-oholic ?  Or Kerry who when asked by a judge in his criminal trial why he had lied to police officers said "it wouldn't be in his best interests to volunteer that information".  It wouldn't be in his best interests to tell the truth at any time when he has various incidents or convictions to cover up.

2) Kerry Morris started coming to Council meetings about a year ago, last January after a particularly scary outburst, RCMP officers had to be placed outside the meeting to guard the public against a potential Morris "outburst" that may have turned into something a lot more.

3) During a civil trial, Kerry Morris, felt particularly belligerent and agitated after an Officer of the Court had cross examined him in one of his trials.  Kerry got mad, outraged at the slight and as usual blew up. 

He sent an email to his lawyer and copied it to the opposing lawyer who Kerry Morris had made the presumption of being gay.  

Kerry Morris wrote comments to this Officer of the Court which most people in the 21st century would call hate speech which to this day are still in the Court Registry.  I bleeped parts of this, 

"Bill, to the extent you are able, and bearing in mind that I would never tell that missirable little pr*ck what a perm-headed fa*** I truly believe him to be, tell him to f*** himself in the most polite terms you can find. You might remind him that since he embarked on my character assassination at trial last week, I feel little inclination to soften the blow to the gay little pud-knockers feelings more like telling him the way all I know see him to be."

 This was all in a public document that any reasonable person would going to the official court record, Kerry copied this to the person he made the hate speech about in a threatening and intimating way.  All misspellings are Kerry's.

This is just a sampling of Kerry's last decade. A more intensive research effort would reveal a lot more, I bet.  Kerry is now 57, this is no youthful indiscretion but a snapshot of Kerry's life.

After reading this and in my experiences of Kerry Morris over the last year, it was obvious to me that he should not be allowed to hide this from the voters who he is asking for their trust and vote.

Perhaps someone in Toronto should have taken action before Rob Ford was elected Mayor there.

Authorized by George Pringle, Financial Agent, 604-971-0665

How am I deciding who to vote for?

Of course, a question I get asked a lot is "who would you want on your Council if elected?" 

Here are my and your choices but use different factors as to why I won't or will vote for candidate(s) to shorten the list a few times.  

So here what we have to choose:

Back, Holly
Bell, Bill
Bell, Don
Bell, Dorothy
Bookham, Pam
Buchanan, Linda
Clark, Matt
Clark, Rod
Fearnley, Via
Harvey, John
Heilman, Joe
Janis, David
Keating, Craig
Makris, Ianni
McGrenera, Kathryn
Nichol, Amanda
Sostad, Ron
Valente, Tony

First, I'm not voting for incumbents, 4 of 18 gone.  Council has been far too nasty and not professional enough for me. A new Mayor with a new Council.

Second, I prefer candidates with real business experience and not a public employee career as they have a whole different mindset.  When Holly Back wants to spend more money on something in her business she has to decide how to raise that money, she can't just raise the prices like Councillors raise our taxes every time they want to spend more money.

Third, I'd like to see 3 women and 3 men so a short list of eight appears.  I'd also think it that Ianni and Dorothy should sit on Council together to learn how to get along.

Back, Holly  hollyback.ca
Bell, Bill electbell.com
Bell Dorthy electbell.com
Clark, Matt votemattclark.com
Fearnley, Via viafearnley.ca
Heilman, Joe Joeheilman.ca
Makris, Iani  voteforianni.com
McGrenera, Kathy kathymcgrenera.ca
Valente, Tony www.tonyvalente.ca

So three have to go and their campaign and campaigning will have to help me decide!  Toss in a comment on who should go.

Remember Actions speak louder than words!

Update 28 Oct: Via wins the award for the most imaginative campaign material for her banner she has brought to meetings.  I think she has moved into my list of 6.

I am extremely disappointed in Dorothy and Bill Bell.  I've sent all the Council candidates information on Kerry Morris' failure to appear in court and the issuing of an arrest warrant  and on his homophobic hate speech.  Nothing.  Are Dorothy's crusades reserved for candidates she thinks are candidates for the Mayor?  Does she not think homophobic hate speech is acceptable?

Rod Clark, Pam Bookham and Amanda Nichol have stood up and endorsed Kerry Morris for Mayor.  Does their judgement meet the standards you set to earn your trust and vote?

Update 30 Oct It is clear to me that Bill Bell has not been away from City Hall long enough to act differently than the incumbents I won't vote for.  The "spin" he and Dorothy Bell use in their campaign is unacceptable to earn my vote.  So I'm down to:

Back, Holly  hollyback.ca
Clark, Matt votemattclark.com
Fearnley, Via viafearnley.ca
Heilman, Joe Joeheilman.ca
Makris, Iani  voteforianni.com
McGrenera, Kathy kathymcgrenera.ca
Valente, Tony www.tonyvalente.ca

A Tale of two Cities

I took a walk through the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver last July.  The usual panhandlers, spaced about a block away had turned into 3 to 4 blocks of people just sitting in or passed out drunk, in front of stores and bars on the sidewalk. Not a happy little street fest.

I turned around a corner and there was a guy shooting up.  I guess Insite doesn't work for him.  It allows him to break into cars, steal his drug money, illegally buy his drugs and shoot it up in government safety so he doesn't kill himself.  But he can't be bothered.

I know you're thinking, are you getting like the VOICES collective's webpage who will just forward an article on a 59 story tower going up in Burnaby and say "THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING IN NORTH VANCOUVER!!" using their obvious fear mongering for election purposes, referring to a 6 story building in Lower Lonsdale. No, it is a tale of two cities which how we in North Van deal with the issue far better than Vancouver or the taking the path that some Councillors and Candidates want us to take.

In Vancouver, their Mayor wants create a big re-development area of over a billion dollars with half coming from the Federal and Provincial governments.  Foolish dreams of more government money to the likes of Insite and the corrupt Portland Hotel Society and their poverty industry.

In its core is the quest for "affordable housing", Mayor Robertson's Vision is that a large segment of the Downtown Eastside won't see a serious revitalization.  He will continue, speed up if he can the BC Housing / Provincial Government programs to bring the crowd of Single Occupancy $375 welfare hotels to minimal standards.   As we've seen from the example of the Pidgin Restaurant which was protested by poverty activists as they saw "an west that was invading the east". By increasing and improving supply at the really low end of housing but really it is just sprucing up the ghetto met with resistance by those who leech from the massive government funds that flows to the poverty industry.  Those trips to Disneyland aren't cheap.

Subsidized housing for the needy and alcohol / drug plagued persons can be seen as laudable but why does it have to be on some of the most valuable land in BC?  Surely, we can build far more housing further north where the land is cheaper?

In North Vancouver, we pretty much have taken the opposite approach and stopped Lower Lonsdales' descent to being a extension of the Downtown Eastside.  While the mass change in liquor laws have pushed out the old beer halls / seedy hotels in favour of the neighborhood pub, Mayor Mussatto's Vision was to pump up the supply by packing in more people into less land.  He failed as the demand curve rose just as much as the supply curve increased but at he stopped it from turning into a slum.

It's important that we enhance the property value of those who invest in residential property and condos.  People have invested their life and mortgaged the rest of their life to buy their homes.  It is devastating when property values fall. 

At least we in are in the process of revitalizing Lower Lonsdale with 3 to 6 story mixed use buildings, creating a new storefront start of a downtown with the coming jewel of the crown, the new  Shipyard Plaza.  Opposed by a few voices, "nattering nabobs of negativity" as Jean Chretien used to call them.

The Voices Collective would like things to stay the same as it decays into a ghetto that rivals the Downtown Eastside chasing the fantasy of Affordable Housing in North Vancouver in our little 5 square miles.

Campaign Time

I have insomnia.   As Tuesday is the start of the pre-election I wanted to shift my time and get up at 5am every day to get on a regular schedule.  A tough thing when you've been retired for almost 3 years.

Well, asleep by midnight and awake by 1:30 unable to get back to sleep.   A long day awaits as I will try to get to bed at 9pm to have a normal night's sleep and can't fall sleep in my chair as I tend to do in the middle of the morning.

Crossing my fingers!

Campaign funding (Donations) 1

I have not applied for nor would I accept any donations, support or endorsement from the Labour Council (or any union organization that has a relationship to any of the City`s employee`s unions).

I do not believe it is proper for an union to be taking funds that are involuntarily taken from their members (who have no choice of being a member) which should be only used to support workers on a legal job action.  To take that money to try to influence the voters choice of who will be their boss is inappropriate.  

We saw in the case of the recent teacher`s strike that the BCTF had drained their coffers so much trying to get the NDP elected that they did not have the funds to properly support their workers during a strike.  I think there is something wrong with that.  I will not participate that kind of activity.

Donations Received

31 Oct Facebook Advertising                $68.00
28 Oct Turner Media (advertising)    $575
21 Oct                $200(in kind 1000 rack cards)
20 Oct                $500          Steve Barrett
20 Oct                $300           Cameron St. John
17 Oct Turner Media (advertising)       $1000
17 Oct                $100.00    Hurricane Grill
16 Oct                $1000.00 RPMG Holdings (Onni Corp)
14 Oct Facebook Advertising                  $67.33
10 Oct Facebook Advertising                  $ 31.53
10 Oct K&A Printing   (buttons)             $140.00
7 Oct Facebook Advertising                     $29.12
6 Oct                   $100.00    United North Van (transfer)     
6 Oct Facebook Advertising                     $  37.77
5 Oct Tony Valente Fundraiser               $  27.49
1 Oct  Go Daddy                                          $11.49
1 Oct  Translink (bus pass)                       $52.00
1 Oct                  $200.00   Lower Lonsdale Business Assn
29 September  $200.00   George Pringle
5 September    $200.00   (Bill Bell Photography in kind)

Announcement Press Release

Last week, I appeared in the NS News after sending them a press release announcing my run for Mayor.

The article contained the quote "two factions led by NDP supporters who battle weekly on how to spend more of our taxpayer dollars," which Kerry Morris took as meaning him as he thinks everything is about him.  The full quote actually was“I see a Council with two factions led by NDP supporters who battle weekly on how to spend more of our taxpayer dollars.”

Kerry Morris is not a member of Council, he has 64 more days to pretend he will be the Mayor rather than just another third place finisher we shall never see in City Hall again.

I was referring to Mayor Mussatto and Councillor Bookham who denies she is the leader of organized faction or electoral slate.  I say "Actions speak louder than words".  You can read my North Van Council Watch article to read the actions of her VOICES party and decide for yourself.  I expect a pending Freedom of Information request to the City will reveal some additional info.

Here is the full press release:

A vote for George Pringle is a vote for Amalgamation

26 August 2014-08-26

North Vancouver – I will be making my second run for the Mayor of the City of North Vancouver but with the Unite North Van Electoral Organization this time.

“I see a Council with two factions led by NDP supporters who battle weekly on how to spend more of our taxpayer dollars.”

Rather than run honestly under a party name such as in Vancouver with Vision and the NPA, they feel they have to hide candidate affiliations under fake slates which are not arms length as required by Election Law.  It’s time to start a trend of dealing honestly with the voters.

“I will be running with a party name, Amalgamate North Van right on the ballot to inform voters clearly the most important issue to me.  A vote for George Pringle is a vote for a binding referendum on a detailed amalgamation plan devised by the citizens.”

Second, I will propose that the Lonsdale Energy Corporation be made a department of the City which would make it fully transparent and subject to Freedom of Information laws rather than a secretive private corporation with the City owning all the shares. There would be provincial enabling legislation required.

Third, we need a rest from all development.  We need a rest to allow the many problems that the rapid development and population increase we’ve endured over the last decade has caused.  I will propose a moratorium on all new development on any property of that is more than six stories, counting any platforms.  A six story building on a 3 story building is a 9 story building!”

During the 2011 election, I pledged to reduce my salary by $20,000, eliminate the car allowance and donate any funds to local charities that I receive in attending Metro Van meetings. I will do at least the same this time. Setting the Mayor’s pay at double the level of what a Councillor receives seems right to me.

I am a disabled military vet who has been forced in retirement early.  I don’t need a big salary to live.  For me, elected office is like when I was a infantryman in a harness of a machine gun sled on a glacier in far northern Norway.  You do it to serve, not to make money. 

Pringle, George Amalgamate North Van

-- 30 --

Is Kerry Morris violating his own donation policy by taking developer cash? (Major Update)

Kerry has an extensive donation policy which he has posted on his website.

1. Businesses and or residents who do not have and/or operate from a North Vancouver City (“City”) address are not eligible to make a donation(s).
2. No single personal or corporate donation may exceed $300.00 in value.
3. The aggregated value of all multiple donations made by any one person or corporation must not exceed $300.00 in total.
4. Any donation amounts made in excess of the limit set out above will be returned to the donor as soon as the excess is discovered.
5. In the event a corporate donation is received from a developer or union, these monies will be returned in total.
6. I Kerry Morris hereby notify any and all corporate donors, if you should make a donation to my campaign of greater than $25.00, I will recuse my self from voting on any matter which comes to council chambers brought by your specific enterprise. While this position is not a legal requirement, for me it is a moral requirement.
7. All potential donors are encouraged not to make a total donation per resident of business in excess of $25.00
8. Any funds received by the campaign which are in excess of the amount spent on the campaign under the rules, will be donated to a Woman’s Centre, Shelter or Crisis Centre operation in need as soon after the election as is possible under the applicable campaign finance rules and legislation.

But as Kerry Morris has shown, he knows little about municipal taxation laws, I doubt his understanding of campaign finance laws is up to the job.

Kerry has rented an 2199 sq ft office which was listed for sale for $2,395,000 but recently reduced to $1,950,000 with a monthly $677.80 strata fee. I've heard that Kerry is paying $2,000 a month rent for a property that would rent for $3000 to $3500 a month with a year long lease if not a lot more.

The Local Elections Campaign Financing Act Section 13 subsection b states:

"13 " (1) Subject to this section and any applicable regulations, the following are campaign contributions:

            b.  if property or services are provided at less than market value to a candidate or elector organization for campaign use, the difference between the market value of the property or services at the time provided and the amount charged;"

So if Avison Young Real Estate Corporation is charging a rent of even $1.00 less than the market value, they are making a donation to the legal entity of the Campaign to Elect Kerry Morris Mayor.  It is totally legal under Provincial law if it is disclosed.  Avison Young Realty could charge Kerry $1 and record the difference of that and the market value as a donation and that would be legal.  If Kerry were to fail to disclose that as a donation, he could be charged under the Act.

Disclosures are not due until 60 days after the election so the public/voters won't know how Kerry's campaign is being funded and who has funded it.  

BUT Kerry has stated his rules of his campaign as quoted above. So if that donation is over $25, he would have had to already informed Avison Young and the owners of that building (Pinnacle Developments?) that he would be declaring a legal conflict in any situation involving either of them?

This donation is also in violation of Kerry's policy #1 as Avison Young is in Vancouver on West Georgia.

This donation if over $300, Kerry is in violation of Policy #3 since he pledged not to accept donations of over $300.

This information is being forwarded to the Chief Elections Officer and Elections BC to ensure that Kerry submits all his donations in his disclosure.

The local Women's Shelter should be waiting for their check and you can be sure that I will doing some heavy scrutiny of all filings make by Kerry. 

UPDATE 25 August

VOICES Caucus Leader Councillor Pam Bookham came out in defense of her VOICES candidate Kerry Morris with this tweet:

"Pam Bookham ‏@pambookham

@PringleforMayor George, I want a Mayor who can negotiate effectively on behalf of taxpayers. All leases are negotiable."

Pam tries to deflect the point and re-position the discussion away from Kerry's possible upcoming breach of the Law by saying look how great Kerry will be by breaking the law when making deals with developers.

I tweeted back:

"George Pringle ‏@PringleforMayor

@pambookham Provincial law isn't negotiable, @KerryMorrisCNV can haggle free rent from Pinnacle Development - Declare Donation or go to Jail"

I'd like to expand my point past the twitter limit to make it even clearer:

Mayor Mussatto negotiates a donation from Pinnacle and declares that donation under Provincial Law, that is legal.  

If Kerry negotiates a deal with Real Estate Agent Avison Young acting for the property owner, likely Pinnacle where he pays under market value, they are in fact legally donating to Kerry's Mayoral campaign so he must declare that donation which is probably over his $300 limit and he should apply his policy.

The Law is there is stop corporations from secretly donating money or goods to candidates and bypassing public disclosure.  It is a simple fact that Pam and her VOICES crew or Kerry cannot deny.   The question of Kerry violating his own policy and trying to mislead the voters is one that we are all the collective judges and we can vote against Kerry if he is trying to pull a fast one.

60 days after the election, Kerry has to submit disclosure forms.  All his expenses have to be listed so he will have to legally declare what he did.  The Chief Electoral Officer, in response to a complaint has to investigate this and determine the market value of the rental.  If Kerry has not accounted for the difference, he can be charged under the Act and even if elected could be removed.

Don't take the chance Kerry, right now ensure every small thing is accounted for. Make sure you have a really good Financial Agent that will force you and your workers to do everything legally.

In the 1997 federal election, we had a Financial Agent who wouldn't let someone take a little portion of coffee cream from the nearby coffee shop to the campaign office coffee station without recording that as a donation.  Get someone like that.

Difficult decisions are the privilege of those in or seeking elected office.  It is time for you to stop being a clown in the Council Chambers and become a serious candidate.

I will be running for Mayor in the City

In 2011, the day before the nomination deadline, I decided to run for Mayor.  I had just finished serving on the Task Force for Civic Engagement which focused on voter turnout.  In 2008, Mayor Mussatto had been acclaimed and rather than been in the middle of the pack in a run for a Council seat, I decided to make sure there would be a Mayoral election by running.  After all, taking all the anti-Mussatto vote of about 25% would serve me well in a 2014 run for a Council seat.

But the VOICES people couldn't take the chance, although very slight, that I would win and ran Ron Polly against me to ensure I wouldn't take that 25% of the vote  and use that when I would be running against their Party's candidates in 2014.

Now in 2014, Kerry Morris has declared his campaign for Mayor.  I get a really bad feeling about Kerry. He walked into his first City Council meeting with the pretense of being a concerned citizen but  it really a pre-campaign phase of a Mayoral run.  I thought it was a run for a Council seat as he was not capable of a Mayoral run much less of being the Mayor of my city.  Last April Fools, I published an article on my blog, http://northvancouncilwatch.blogspot.ca, to mock Kerry's pretentious side by presenting him as intending to run for Mayor, as that was the most ridiculous scenario I could think of.

He threatened to sue me and when I ignored him I heard nothing.  Then he announced he was  running for Mayor. Feels like the actions of a bully to me, a toothless bully.

Mayor Mussatto and I have many ideological differences, in fact there are few things we do agree on but we have a respect for each other about our differences in opinion. Something that has been missing from our Council during the last decade that I have been a Council Watcher.

Goodbye Ottawa!

A decade ago today was the worse election in Canadian history. Well worst for me as my boss, Ted White, MP was not re-elected and I was out of a job.  The silver lining was that I got to move back to BC but to North Vancouver not to the Island where I had lived for almost 20 years.  I really didn't like living in Ottawa, they had sidewalk plows to clear the route to work in the winter and hot humid days in the summer.

The office politics in the House of Commons is far more intense than in any any office job I went there at 40 years old while most others were were in the 18-22 zone.  It was long hours and very tiring for me as a disabled military vet but I was one a few political science grads in my UVic class to actually work in politics.

Well, it's back to the election trenches, we're in the advance to contact stage to stretch the infantry metaphor.

After all politics is continuation of war by other means to turn von Clausewitz's famous quote around. I've always taken von Clausewitz's lesser quote as my first fundamental of politics, after turning it around a bit of course, he said "War is not a science but an art and thus its sublime cannot be taught."  Thanks Klaus, there goes my Poli Sci degree and Public Admin classes.

Pringle4Mayor - the 2014 verison

Well, I'm officially rescinding my statement that I won't be running in the fall election. My reasons still stand. I can't do door knocking due to my disability. I didn't say it before but I need to spend $4000 - $5000 on dental work so there went most of my campaign funding.  I guess I will have to do some aggressive fundraising.

Unite North Van and amalgamation wise, I wanted to do some promotion and running for Mayor is the way to do it as that is the only time most people pay attention.  As well, with an unacceptable Kerry Morris providing the alternative to those who don't or can't vote for Darrell Mussatto, they have to be given an option.

So I will be there to point out that the Morris campaign fear mongering, even worse, inaccurate fear mongering as that is even more wrong.