Good for you! It's nice to see yet another example of successful entrepreneurship in the Province; more so when feeding of British Columbia politics without doing so at the taxpayers expense!

"Retained" by the Sun or "Restrained" by the Sun?

I deny being the source for these rumours, Sean, you should know better than to take anything I tell you seriously. I was pure wild speculation on my paper and seeing if you would bite on the story.

PS Good luck with the new job

Well done!

Nice to see that you will be getting paid for what you do well Sean. Just lamenting an excellent independent journalist getting sucked up into the Canwest beast. I know, Economics 101, but kinda sad just the same.

I wish you good luck with it as well.

Just on time for more CanWest softball coverage of the Gordocity's re-election bid.

you are a victim of your own success--you have provided a great service to political addicts in this province and i wish you the very best--just be true to your great inquiring mind. thanks so much

I knew you had a price...

From one political junkie to another, good on yah! Keep asking the tough questions. Keep expecting real answers. The next election is incredibly important. We love you. Take care. Head up, shoulders back...we'll be ready to ask the same penetrating questions of you that you have been asking of others.

Sean, all the best and congratulations on getting a job that is recognition of all your hard work, digging for stories and diligent journalism.

Keeping this website up on your own for so long without financial backing or advertising proves that you will maintain your integrity whoever your employer is.

Good luck and keep giving them hell!

*ducks things the other leftie's might throw her way*

Congratulations, Sean. Really. I'm sure you deserve it. *S*

Way to go, Sean. You found out how to do what Jordan and I couldn't: make real money using a blog about politics!! Good Luck from Langley Politics Dotcom!!!

Wow, incredible, Congratulations! I think this is very well-deserved indeed, given the invaluable service you have provided here for such a long time.

Good luck - your stories have been interesting and fun to read, often shedding some new int riguing light on the craziness we've come to expect in this province.

Keep the Sun honest, just like you have so many politicians and would-be politicians.

Thanks for keeping us all in the know.

Congrats Sean. But a word of caution... watch out for the SPIKE that the Sun used so artfully in the 2001 election, particularly pertaining to Lorne Mayencourt and a story that was due to run in the days preceding the election.

A sad day for the independent journalist but a day of recognition of your talents. Do not relent on your coverage; be true to the spirit of the publiceye.

Good luck to you and we will miss you.

Congrats....I guess. I had only 4 sources of BC news I considered worth reading. Now I'm down to 3. Goodbye Sean, I won't be reading you anymore; none of CanWorst's garbage enters my house. Good luck, and thanks for everything you've done!

Congradulations on your new job, Sean. I hope you can do some good at the Sun which frankly has been a bit silly in recent years, ... especially their coverage of health and education. Hopefully another person can be found to keep updating this site.

Sean,
Congratulations! We will all miss your coverage and insights and the raucous responses to your perceived simultaneous left AND right biases.

Best of luck with the new position!
Erin

Congrats Sean. Best of luck shopping around for an upgrade to the old box I've seen you driving around.

PublicEye was the only reliable dealer for my BC politics fix out here in Toronto. Does this mean I have to buy an online subcription to the Sun?

But you were the only journalist that covered C grade politicians like myself.... What am I going to do now?;) Congrats, you're site will be missed. You're analysis, however, should be a perfect fit with your new employer. Good luck.

Sad. I guess when Canwest can't muzzle someone, they buy them.

You deserve the compensation Sean but I'm sad that democracy in BC took another hit.

Headline to come.... "CanWest buys out the Tyee!"

Sean,
Your site is one of many that I surf scavanging for news and rumours from al sides of the politcal landscape. Often juicy, sometimes thin on facts, and always entertaining (especially the rightwingers who post here!) the Public Eye dispatches always had tongues wagging amongst the political junkies I know. The Sun? Well, I guess a man has got to eat. Good luck, and don't forget the social and political value of conjecture and gossip!

Who knew the business model for a profitable blog was to close it down?

Congratulations on the new gig, Sean. I can't wait to see what you get up to. Oh -- and am I the first to refer to this as "shuteye"?

Congratulations, I hope we don't have start paying next month:).
Mr. Holman, keep up the good work, you know we appreaciate your work. Best of luck.

Congratulations, I'll watch for your by-line in the Sun.

btw, Relayer, what are your other three sources for BC news?

Hey Sean,

It's Dagmar.

Way to go. Keep up the good work at the Vancouver Sun.

All the best,

Daggy

Congratulations Sean. You will be missed. We can only hope you will be allowed to keep your integrity and balanced view. Too bad it has to be the Sun, but a guy's gotta eat!

Congrats, this is capitalism and entrepreneurship at its finest. Way to go Sean.

Congratulations Sean! And kudos by the bushelfull. Hoping you'll continue your fine and unique brand of journalism at the Sun.
I only recently came upon Public Eye Online and am saddened to hear its now coming to an end -or is it? Are there plans for a new editor?
It'd be a shame to see this site go the way of the dingo.
All the best Mr. Holman.

Congratulations Sean! If you do find the juicy ones getting spiked, you know what to do . . .

Well Sean,you are definetely a victim of your own success.I for one am glad to see CanWest doing there part to keep a handle on the negative optics coming into this election.We can not afford to have loose cannons with no central control coming into this election,particularly since you are very well regarded and consisdered to be quite neutral,your stories carry considerable wait.I believe in your breaking the Prem Vinning story it was clear to all that your site was too dangerous and defamotory for its own good.It will do you good to have someone looking over your shoulder and working for the right side,we need are guns trained on the enemy not ourselves at this time.In times of war there cannot be dissension of the troops,perhaps after the election you can resume your posts,until that time conform or be cast out. In journalism we must make choices and altruism does not put food on the table.I will miss your site but am not sorry to see you go,I would wake up each day nervous as hell as to what might be awaiting us and what the fallout would be. Glad to have you on the team.

Congratulations Sean. We have all enjoyed your site both for its news value and its entertainment value. I am sure we will be hearing more and more news and insight from you in the coming years.

Bruce Hallsor

congrats indeed sean. but if this site losses its nuetrality, and it will under the sun, i will have lost yet another source of news i trust. oh well, such is life. another site will take your place. thanks for the work so far sean. and good luck.

Am I the only one wondering how Sean and Vaughn will co-exist in the same paper? After all, Palmer's pretty used to being the big man around the Leg. Could this be a subtle hint by the big boys at the Sun that Vaughn’s tired shtick is getting a little old?

(I have to add, as an aside, a polite comment. I consider myself left wing, so please, friends, take this kindly. But why is it that so many on the left find it impossible to make any discernable use of punctuation on the Internet? Is the occasional use of capitalization too much to ask? Please, attack me if I'm wrong,)

A salary hard earned Sean. Congratulations. Be careful lest it corrupt. See you in the pointless forest. Your handbook packing biggest fan.

...to bad, another one gone to the dark side.

Cheer up, there's still The Tyee, and Have You Had Enough Yet.com , and www.kootenaycuts.com , and of course, the CBC.

Good luck, Sean. You've worked hard, worked smart, used extraordinary initiative and clearly tried hard to be fair and balanced. Not much more that we can ask from a great reporter and I'm sure you'll do great stuff wherever you go.

I wonder if this move suggests that the Sun is trying to respond to the growing chorus of criticism? Your move certainly presents a dilemma for those who respect your work so much precisely because you're an antidote to the pap served by the mainstream media, but you do deserve a wider audience.

Congrats Sean!

Thank you for raising the bar!

The Sun might have found something here. I might actually have to buy it if they don't edit the content out of your column.

Never say never!

PS - Unlike many others I don't buy the Sun because it bores me to death, not because of some right wing plan to destroy the universe. (althought I am pretty sure that is the plan).

Can we expect to see a bylined column in the Sun, or should we look for your work in some other format?

So relayer, are you saying that you only get BC Fed approved news?

Well hopefully you bring the same tenacity and keep asking the real questions that the other soft-ball can-west reporters won't ask. Also hopefully you can get someone else to update this site. Anyways congratulations and good luck!

To the light luke! Not the dark side!
Sad to see you succumb to the almighty buck,oh,i guess that was the point after all!
Congrats ,i trust you can still freelance?

Mr.Holman,

I join most of your readers in lamenting the loss of your remarkable investigative reporting.

Some months ago, I gave you a leg up on the Tom Morino affair your fellow muckraker Charlie Smith wrote a national story on that no one in the media had the nachos to pursue west of Toronto.

Now that you're at the Sun, I trust your editors will never allow you to tell the electorate who they'll vote for if the support the DRBC?

Mr. Morino's character and what Charlie Smith called his "friends in high places" will not escape the scrutiny anyone who runs for office should be submitted to.

Watch for my Tom Morino blog no later than the end of this month along with all the links to support the expose.

Good luck Mr. Holman although I trust I'm the one who'll need a bushel full of horseshoes when I break the remainder of this incredible story.

Claude

Congrats Sean! Excellent work and I'm looking forward to reading your articles in the Sun!

Dion

OK--

Just make sure you rent that ol' Charley Varrick flick if you feel yourself drifting over the line.

(Hell, it's only 10 bucks from Amazon....maybe I'll keep a copy in a plain brown wrapper with 'Rockpile - Victoria' scrawled across the front together with paid-in-full postage, of course, just in case).

During my heydeys we once had a young lad who decided to strike out on his own and do a little muckracking.

Started to cause us some embarrassment and a tad bit of competition.

The suits came up with a plan to buy the young lad's company and tie him up with a series of carefully crafted performance and non-comp agreements.

Unfortunately things didn't work out too well (for the lad). His customers lost and his credibility crushed for "selling out", it seems like our company didn't have too much use for him after a short period of time.

Hope you had a good lawyer bud!

Truly a sad day but one all bloggers aspire towards

now who's going to explain BC politics to Joe Easigwood on a semi-related basis?

I agree with Giver's (post above) sentiments in that "this (the content of this story) is capitalism and entrepreneurship at its finest," only that I view "capitalism at its finest" to lack any positive value. Rather, I see Canwest's newest purchase as a prime example of the imperialistic tendencies of Capitalism. That a large hegemonic media giant has swallowed another post of real free and democratic discourse is not out of character for this system. The concentration of diverse ideas into centres of homogenization is necessary in a liberal/capitalist society and a reoccurring trend of empire.

Good riddance

Me too! good riddence!

Good luck!

It should comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone that someone like adam and the rest of the NDP supporters are completely incapable of understanding the concept of starting something from nothing, and by your own hard work, initiative and talents turning those efforts into something that earns you some income. There is something to be said for making your own way in life, and getting there without a handout in the process. It’s called taking responsibility something that real men do.

Best wishes, Sean. Your site updates were appreciated and will be missed. Good luck at maintaining your edge. Hope the Sun and CanWest won't be successful in beating the drive and initiative out of you and turning you into yet another oh-so-comfortable member of the BC establishment (a la Messers Palmer, Baldrey, Smith).

I'm surprised. Your website here was going great guns.

The Prem Vinning joke is a little old.

Most political blunders are wanted to be forgotten - mostly by the offending political hacks.

It actually wasn't a joke. It was a humiliating screw up by Campbell and his team of idiots.

I'm going to miss you, Prem! Will you be popping up in some other forum to give us our "Great Guns" giggle of the day?

Now we know what Sean looks like. That's one smart mugshot in the Sun. The column wasn't a bad read either!

Well Sean, I am glad you are working but would love to hear from you what it is like working for a corrupt press, and the biggest Liberal propaganda machine disquised as a newspaaper.You must have to hold your nose.

But the Sun has a great Business section, and business pays for social programs, student loans and the right to smoke pot at a gay marriage in Bountiful, BC while driving Jean Chretien golf balls towards the Jumbo ski development.

Man, is it just me, or are Holman's first two Sun columns dreadfully boring? Where's the dirt?

Sigh.

I miss this site.

Well, just look for Sean in the Scum and you can read his usual hot wire on those unions.Dennis Skulsky is loving it and Sean can continue to work with the "big boys" and you can get your fix!

So the light has come on for Beautiful BC . Public Eye is gone and he is now under contract to The Sun. I hardly think they would like him digging too deeply into some of the New Era gangs deals.
As a independent he could and did say things and stuff was passed to him as he was independent.

He did what he wanted to do, as he waited for a paying job to come along.

Gosh, I wonder if V.Palmer is concerned about a new guy on the political writers circuit? I rather doubt it.