Sean - surely there must be some mistake - I fail to see former Vancouver-Kingsway BC Liberal MLA Rob Nijjar's name in the winners' column!

Gee...I Wonder? Might it just be Peter Ladner!

Was there an acclaimation for the former Vancouver-Kingsway MLA Rob Nijjar by unanimous vote? I have not seen the name of the young and articulate MLA in the list above. What would NPA be without him?

No sleep lost at all. In Maple Ridge we are securely in the hands of His Worship, Mayor Gordon Robson! Ably assisted by Councillors Craig Speirs and Ken Stewart.

The real winner as always is the good people of Vancouver, who will continue to enjoy 8% property tax increases, $13 million phone systems, and state of the city addresses complete with makeup and teleprompters.

For a person who has quit the NPA and joined Vision Vancouver, I wonder why he cares so much about the NPA. We all noticed Peter who is not a member of the NPA and member of Vision show up and observe at yesterday's AGM

It is too bad that a former BC Liberal backbench MLA Rob Niggar did not make the NPA Board, Maybe they felt he had nothing to contribute. Does anyone out there know what sort of work he is doing days?

The big winner last night was Vision Vancouver.

In what will, at this rate, surely heat up to the Clarke/Owen hashmarks on the thermometer, the internecine warfare between beltway parties, those being Sullivan's and Ladner's, will kill off any good will left within the NPA well before November 2008.

Team Ladner was well oiled, organized and outgunned Sullivan's crew by some margin indeed. Sam's speech was repetitive. Although I found statements by some key Ladner generals a bit much..."Nope, we hadn't called anybody about slate voting, we just want a good Board". You called my sister and brother-in-law the previous week, twice, dimwit!

But the bigger story is a common theme with Silent Sam...he just forgets who really brought him to the dance...his inability (actually, refusal) to cover his own die-hards is now in open field for all to see. His own inside group are still naive enough (read: stubborn enough) to continue drinking the Kool-Aid. Where was the ubiquitous George Higgins in all this? Master of all he surveys across the Sullivan landscape? Well, now he can add a nice big, fat loss to his view finder...Sam had at least two extremely good candidates (Cadman and Smith), and couldn't even manage to strongly support them. Meanwhile, three emails from Team Ladner (last week) later......

Sam Sullivan is a failed Mayor, who hasn't the ability to even protect his own people, how can anyone possibly expect him to protect (or properly serve) the citizens of this City?

It's high time the NPA started in earnest to look for someone else. Sam was a huge mistake. Vision is loaded with talent on their Board, and are looking at high-profile, credible candidates for all positions--already. As is, Peter Ladner might be able to win the NPA nomination...but the election? Be serious.

Over to you Gregor.....

Well "Buddy", We are in a Democracy not a Dictatorship and that the NPA AGM was shown to be a Dictatorship and Closed to the Public with Exception to the Media and if you would like to attend a Vision Vancouver Event by all means so. This NPA AGM shows they have No Confidence to support Sam Sullivan for another Mandate. Vancouver must not continue to be under Sam Sullivan, His Big Brother Style approach does not fit for Vancouver. Vancouver is in a State of War with Eastern Vancouver vs. Western Vancouver and we need to stop that we must bring Balance to Vancouver and make it equal for everyone.

Vision Vancouver is a Centre Party and will bring Balance to Vancouver.

"It is too bad that a former BC Liberal backbench MLA Rob Niggar did not make the NPA Board, Maybe they felt he had nothing to contribute. Does anyone out there know what sort of work he is doing days?"

Does anyone care what Niggar is doing these days?

What is this? Some cheap imitation ET Tonight?

There are much more important questions to be asked in regards to the NPA.

Is this guy that important?

Can someone over at Vision please lock Petey's keyboard?

Thanks so much.

Conspiracy theories aside... this is a good result in terms of talent on the board, although I agree that some good names didn't make the list. At the end of the day, the people who were elected seem to share some traits that the NPA needs right now: useful skills and experience, with the ability and willingness to put them to use. Taylor, Choi and DeValone have a record of rolling up their sleeves and getting things done. Some others on that board in recent years were just phoning it in, biding their time while padding their resumes. I like this new group - lots of smarts, some political experience, and keen to contribute. Nothing wrong with that!

As for the supposed Sullivan-Ladner showdown, take that one with a grain of salt. Things are not always as they seem... Reminds me of last year, when a couple of NPA members floated the theory that Mark Marrissen was organizing a pro-Christy slate to take over the board. There were strategic reasons to promote that rumour, but in the end it proved to be false:

http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/001424.html

Vision Vancouver is not a centre party. They are left wing socialists without Tim Louis et al.

For Sam Sullivan being a dictator that is the furthest thing from the truth. Speaking of dictators - Stephane Dion is a dictator like Josef Stalin. Where else would stupid deals like the one made with Elizabeth May come from or making life hard for Justin Trudeau so he can accommodate this goal of more women in parliament. All decisions a dictator makes.
For Vancouver to be equal maybe you should move to Main and Hastings and live amongst the real citizens. Citizen Sam was an east-side Vancouver kid born and bred. Only confused Stephane Dion Liberals who grew up in Kerrisdale would say we want equality.

Active NPA Member sounds like he's had lots of Higgins/Fontaine Kool-Aid. Good effort to spin though. Enjoy your thumb...

Last night was a clear show of dominance by Peter Ladner's crew, and good for them. He now becomes de facto Leader of the NPA...why? Because there has been a leadership vacuum since November 2005. How did Sam expect to win anything again when he surrounded himself with Ladneristas and Clarke left-overs?

No, my dear friend, call last night what it was:

"THE SILENCE OF THE SAMS".

I heard Peter Ker controls this organization from behind the scenes.

Why the hell are the Ladnerites trying to take down Sam? The last time a Westside establishment person tried to take down an Eastside/drug problem-focused mayor, we know what happened. What the hell has Sam done that is so terribly wrong? By what benchmark is Sam ineffective relative to, for example, Campbell? And how many friends does Tsakumis have left after pissing off the all the Conservatives, BC Liberals and half the NPA? What's next? The St. George's Old Boys?

There’s a little Peter Allan Kerr in all of us. He’ll be a stellar back roomer one day.

Peter Ker has a lot of chutzpah. The Dion people will soon be grooming him as Stephane's press secretary. As for Alex Tsukamis, Mark Marissen will convert him to a Federal Liberal and parachute him into Surrey North as a candidate. At least that's what my crystal ball tells me.

And to think I've spent years whining to my bathroom mirror that NDP backroom navel gazing and scheming is a bore and a downer. It just goes to show that the grass does indeed look greener on the other side, until someone gives you a close up look that is.

And to think I've spent years whining to my bathroom mirror that NDP backroom navel gazing and scheming is a bore and a downer.

To think that we thought that when Budd looked in
the bathroom mirror, the mirror suddenly cracked.

Where was Colin Metcalfe, Warren Smith and Steve Simpson?

What an embarassment for Warren and Andrea Smith.

A huge blow to the Socons that are behind Sam...Did they really think Rob Nijjar(Jennifer Clarke) would delivered the Indo vote?

I guess all of those hours spent learning Punjabi were a waste of time for Sam...What is next Hindi?

I am sorry, Banquo, if you feel that I have "pissed off the Conservatives, B.C. Liberals and half the NPA" and that somehow that was cause for freindship breaking.....I haven't lost a single friend over any of that, except for Sam himself. I regret that but he should not have promised a stellar mayoralty and delivered a train wreck.

I call it the way it is--period. The high demand for my opinion may bother you, and I have heard the same accusation levelled against Norman Spector and Bill Tieleman (and Rafe when he started years ago) and how their respective pedigrees were upset. It usually means that they were telling the truth. It's a strange phenomenon that truth is such a rare commodity in politics, but it is indeed in short supply. What I do, often, is engage, cajole and provoke others opinions to engage dialouge. You are obviously a misologist and that's unfortunate. That's my job.

My criticisms of the provincial Libs are legitimate: Olympic maths, Ken Dobell, no answers to (answerable!) political accusations emanating form Basi/Virk--all legit and pertinent criticisms. My criticism of the Tories: the soCons will kill the party--don't believe me? Notice an election call? Number one reason people don't entirely trust them even though they've done a very good job otherwise. As for Sam, well, if you need to be spoonfed the fact that nothing he has done since he became Mayor has been of any use or has resonated with anyone except his lickspittles, opportunists, and the I-need-to-pad-my-resume crew, then you need your head examined.

I remain great friends with many who are hierarchs in each of the aforementioned and I am proud to call them friends. We call each other often enough, and I never miss an opportunity to show how much they mean to me as friends. IF you were even of friend of mine, most particularly those that needed an ear at three in the morning, you would no better than to make asinine comments about me, my freinds or my old school, where we are thriving thanks. Reasonable people can often disagree.

I piss YOU off, in particular, because I am right about what I have written and it bothers you. Well, tough titty. Sam is in a self-imposed tank and no amount of bile against me is going to change that. The fact that the other night he could not carry star candidates like Andrea Smith and certainly George Cadman, is indicative of the great depth of Sam's station. I called it along time ago, and that bothers you and others. Too godamned bad.

And as for active NPA member, what happened last year was 'false' according to you....but not to many, many, many others.

Good weekend to all.

To think that we thought that when Budd looked in the bathroom mirror, the mirror suddenly cracked.

ROTFLMAO! Red Dog, you are soooo funny!