Speaking of Emerson..one hears there is to be a group love-in tonight for the Dishonourable Member from Kingsway - sponsored by that longtime Tory/Liberal/You Name It, Patrick Kinsella. Should be an interesting guest list!

Lets hope Adam is able to offer more in the form of deliverables to his provincial clients then he did to the Federal Liberal candidates in Surrey.

Come on Jim, you don't give Adam enough credit. He is from the esteemed school of high self importance attended by others like lpcbc President Jamie Elmhirst. Without Jamie the federal liberals would have lost all the seats on the lower island. After all his handpicked candidate Sheila Orr managed to finish third while the other great liberal candidate and jamie favourtie david mulroney narrowly lost to the ndp. The federal liberals are fortunate to have such seasoned political managers on their team.

Don't give Jamie ALL of the credit, Brian Kieran helped out quite a bit as well.

With their support of Jeff and Sheila in the last Provincial election they are pretty much batting 1000.

Thank you for your kind and constructive comments Mike. It was a tough go on the Island in this campaign, but I'm actually pretty proud of winning the most Liberal seats in BC this last election since the Trudeau tidal wave in 1968. See you on the campaign trail next time, whoever you are.

I am honoured and indeed humbled to have elicited a reply from such a senior political figure in our province. However, I would argue "winning the most seats" had more to do with the strength of the liberal team headed by david emerson and assembled by mark marrissen as opposed to anything you or the "braintrust" at party headquarters was able to influence. The significant young liberal resources invested into the campaigns of david mulroney, billy cunningham and brenda locke yielded nothing but losses. That was without doubt a stroke of political genius, a brilliant move.
Unfortunately you and I never cross paths during the campaign. I toil in the trenches (with the rest of the peasants) while you sip champagne eat caviar and have enlighted theoretical conversations with such brilliant political minds such as sheila orr and david (i use to be a tory) mulroney. Do you think our dear mr. mulroney will switch back to the tories in an effort to regain his lucrative federal legal contract.

Hey look I can be Jamie too!

Mike:

Very amusing comments. I worked on the ground in Victoria and Saanich during the campaign. I like ground level campaigning. Not a lot of champagne sipping or caviar eating going on. If you never saw me, where were you?

The last two elections, I've been a riding campaign manager locally. Before that I was a a low level campaign grunt, learning the ropes. That's what campaigning is all about. It's not glamourous, but its what happens on the ground that counts.

I agree that winning the most seats had nothing particularly to do with me. That's not my job. I'm president of the party and Mark Marissen and Sharon Apsey were campaign co-chairs. They did a really good job. I happily took orders during the campaign.

David Mulroney has been a Liberal for several decades. Was David Anderson's riding president for several years in the 1990's. Not sure where your Tory accusation comes from. He's a great guy who will remain an active Liberal, because that's what he is: a Liberal.

Sheila and Brenda and Billy were all good candidates who came close, but didn't win. Happens in politics. I respect anyone who has the guts to run for public office from any party.

I'm going to get back to work now, but it's been nice talking to you.

Again, I am very humbled you have take time from your busy schedule to address somebody of my lowly stature and standing in society. You may have graced us with your presence on the campaign, after all a good general always visits the troops in the field. Its unfortunate you couldn't be bothered with lowering your head to see how the real work is done and take notice of low lifes like myself. I forgive you, it smells in the trenches, its an odour somebody of your stature is not accustomed to. Its funny however, that you were at campaign central in Vancouver on election night before the polls closed locally. I suppose you were there to ensure the campaign was hitting on all cylinders and to ensure the greatness of your presence was taken into account when the history of our times is written. I guess it was not appropriate for a man of your stature and standing to rally the peasants (sorry volunteers) to the cause on the local campaigns. Somebody of your pedigree could surely have inspired more people to vote liberal, after all you have such solid roots in the federal liberal party on the lower island. As for Sheila, it certainly does take a lot of "guts" to pull yourself away from other important commitments to run and come third in a riding where liberals have traditionally finished second. Thats a magnificent accomplishment and one that is worthy of a new promotion within the liberal party - do I sense a replacement for Sharon (but lets get her a disabled sticker this time for parking, after all she does have a bad back and a host of other ailments). We are really fortunate to have somebody like sheila sacrificing herself for public service. Regarding the great liberal david mulroney, you just may want to talk to some people who had the federal legal contract before the federal liberals were elected in 1993. They have a far more interesting and telling story to tell regarding mr. mulroney's sudden conversion to the federal liberal cause. Come to think of it, being david anderson's riding association president or sitting on his executive doesn't rank up there as a great accomplishment. Didn't this riding association have one of the poorest turnouts during the delegate selection process for the now former prime minister paul martin? Perhaps mr. mulroney and other on the executive couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters as delegate selection meetings etc. Thats for the riff raff anyways.
I should get back to work, I am a lowly paid employee, not a high profile lobbyist of your strength and nobility. Tell me, will it be rough not being on the invite list for state dinners for foreign dignitaries etc. as you were previousl? You may have to go back to eating regular food and drinking tap water like the rest of us.

Mike:

One last post on this. I was asked to come to Vancouver on election night to help provide commentary and analysis to the media. I worked on election day in both Victoria and Saanich-Gulf Islands before hopping on a flight at my own expense to go Vancouver.

You have a somewhat odd view of the presidency of the party. The job pays nothing and I am just as happy to perform my duties in opposition as I was in government. If there are a whole bunch of perks associated with the position, I apparently haven't been as good as you at pin-pointing what they are.

I've been an active grassroots member of the party for over a decade. This is all volunteer work for me that I do because I believe in the party and what it stands for. I worked out of the Victoria and Saanich campaign offices during the campaign. If that's not "the trenches", I'm not quite sure where they are located.

You're obviously very angry about something. I'm not sure what that is because I don't know who you are, but it's easy to find my email address online and you should feel free to get in touch with me directly if you'd like.

Cheers.

Thank you again for the courtesy of a reply. This will be my last post. You are much too modest when you refer to your "volunteer" duties as president. After all, I am sure it was a great burden to have the title president when you are lobbying on behalf of clients who have issues with a federal liberal government. This must have caused untold sleepless nights for a person of your stature. Sipping champagne at state dinners is a heavy burden that only a few people can truly appreciate. Thankfully you are committed to working hard for the party in opposition. Hopefully the rank and file members of the party will give you the mandate to continue to serve.

Wow. I just talked to Adam Johnson yesterday at the Scott Brison reception and he didn't mention anything about joining Earnscliffe. The reception was pretty good with plenty of beer and wine for everyone. Scott Brison gave a speech but kept getting upstaged by Hamish who thought he should be the center of attention instead. After listening to Brison ramble on, I'm inclined to agree with Hamish. Mark Marissen did not attend the reception. Apparently Burrard Communications will be expanding into the entertainment management and Mark is in Cancun Mexico helping Mike Witherley audition as backup singer for Sammy Hagar's new band. Anyway Mike Hillman and Greg Wilson got really drunk and started singing acapella doowop songs with Roy Bornman, which upset Hamish so much that he brought out his sword and threatened to rectally impale them if didn't stop singing "Blue Moon" over and over again. Scott Brison begged me to get him out of there so I drove Brison to the Astoria Hotel where we tried to convince Wendy 13 to run as a Liberal in Vancouver Kingsway. Sadly I never got to see Kim Haakstaadt try to teach Bill Cunningham how to tap dance, which I'm told was the high point of the evening

could it be roy bornman was lip synching a song for his brother entitled "spider man spider man, does whatever he thinks he can...."

Mike must be so upset because he tried so hard to get superstar candidate Jag Dhanowa nominated but failed. As for "working in the trenches", I didn't see Mike helping anyone, anywhere.

Jenn, the "superstar" candidate was sheila orr, the one who finished third in the riding. I don't recall "superstar" jag running in the last election. If thats the best the great jamie's crew can do in saanich, "superstar" jag and "superstar" sheila, the liberals have a long way to go baby!!!

Hey Jen, you must be one of jamie's groupies!! boy, the mighty sure have fallen. defending a loser candidate like sheila orr who managed to screw things up so badly she finished third. gary lunn didn't even need to campaign. you know you have hit rock bottom when you have to start attacking non-candidates like poor old jag danowa. lets see, jag cost sheila the election because..... Quick jenn, fill in the blanks, make master jamie happy.

thats funny tom. i never thought of a person as a non-candidate. whats next for these powerful federal liberals under the leadership of jamie and crew. come on guys, we need some more entertainment, this is priceless.

jamie, that volunteer time in saanich during the campaign in 2004, how many zero's were on the volunteer paycheck you received?? thats the spirit. could you get me a "volunteer" position like that? jenn, were you one of those "volunteers" as well?

Guess who - Tell us more about the drunken fools at the Brison reception! Something tells me that when this gang gets together something always happens. Much like a 1970's sitcom.

These people are so high school - don't they have a leader and new employment to find?

As for big honcho Elmhirst, should he resign as well? A review of his posting reveals that he is very insecure, hasn't had sex for a long time and perhaps needs to have a doughnut.

Not all people are in the Jamie Elmhirst fan club, get used to it.

There were no drunken fools at the Brison reception. Guess Who was just pulling your leg. Everyone behaved themselves. No acapella singing, no tapdancing. Just Hamish interupting Scott's speech from time to time.

I think Hamish should run for PM.

Dear Jen your post was brought to my attention today. Do not drag me into this political spat.

For future reference I generally post under my own full name.

Mike, you're not listening, are you?

Lisa and the gang: turn those frowns upside down! Or is it fun being such bitter, nasty losers? Wankers!

"I think Hamish should run for PM."

He's being groomed for the office as we speak. He will be enrolled in a bilingual elementary school as soon as he's old enough.
We need someone who speaks French better than Brison, whose French is not quite Stockwell Day calibre.