The Times Colonist on Elections B.C.
"It's troubling -- and wrong -- that Elections B.C. is being restructured when the party in power has weakened its independence.
"It is also troubling that the Liberal government failed to take the basic steps to preserve the non-partisan nature of the office that oversees elections, recall campaigns and initiatives in the province....
"The government knew for eight years a new chief electoral officer would be required in June, but failed to take the basic steps to ensure a smooth transition. Its failure has created controversy around Elections B.C.'s handling of the anti-HST petition and, now, this restructuring.
If, as expected, recall campaigns are launched, more concern about the office's independence is likely.
The restructuring should stop until a new chief electoral officer is in place. And the government should be prepared to recall the legislature this fall to ensure that happens as soon as possible."
The rest of the editorial can be found here.
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10 comments:
Great advice but let's face it Paul, we are dealing with a guy who cares little about policy unless its to his benefit. If he worked even a little bit to assist the average taxpayer in this province it would be a complete reversal to what he does now. Time to go Gordo, you have overstayed yourself, and take a number of spineless MLA's with you
apart from a tiny sliver of the folks on the blogasphere no one else in bc will care enough to attach any real significance this very troubling issue. the sheep will be easily distacted and fed pablum as usual by the msm, including the cbc.
1) Palmer: Who will watch the watchdogs?
2) Holman: A bunch of Hicks?
Connect the dots: George Morfitt and Ron Hicks may (or may not) have found some troubles in EBC during their review. A quiet and immediate cleanup was required (by Mr. James) before a new CEO is brought on; however, that cleanup is hampered by the spotlight on EBC because of the referendum fooferah.
Rather than running around screaming conspiracy theories (here's looking at you, Crankypants) there is a simple way to verify the legitimacy of the actions made by the CEO: release the report.
It's a little rich for the NDP to now be chastising the acting CEO, given that according to Holman: "the report is now being considered by the legislative assembly management committee." (May 5, 2010).
Foofaraw: a great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant.
Sorry, poor spelling ;)
Anon-Above.
Did the NDP fire Ms. Johnson? Or, more to the point, did the LA Management Committee call for her dismissal?
Regardless, I would suggest that the editorial, while solid and reason-based, should have called not for a 'stop' to the restructuring but, instead, a 'reversal'.
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Craig James has no business doing anything but keeping the Chief Electoral Officer's seat warm and polishing the furniture until Neufeld's replacement is chosen by a parliamentary committee.
It is obvious that he was installed into this position to do the dirty work of Gordo & Co. In my opinion, this is why the MSM is avoiding the whole issue.
"Did the NDP fire Ms. Johnson? Or, more to the point, did the LA Management Committee call for her dismissal? "
Dunno: but at least two of the four NDP MLAs on the Legislative Initiatives committee also sit on the management board. They don't seem too bothered by the acting CEO's decisions. Maybe they're keeping Krog out of the loop on purpose.
There was almost 40 staff at Elections BC prior to the start of this “re-organization” Frankly I think I think a good shake up is long overdue and I do not see an overhaul being a bad thing. Further they have an all party committee that must agree to a suitable replacement. It is actually important that both sides of the house have confidence in Elections B.C.
Hopefully they will go after the Public Affairs Bureau next with as much enthusiasm. Some of these organizations are massively bloated with bureaucracy. I realize the resident Victoria crowd will always bemoan any reduction in the amount of bureaucrats drawing tax dollar funded pay and pension but for some of us we see this move as good riddance to dead wood. Let’s bring in some new blood that both the NDP and the BC Liberals can equally support and find ways to make this organization more efficient to taxpayers. 40 staff when you have fixed elections every four years is an insult. Does anyone know if they are all BCGEU Union as well ? That would be most telling.
I suspect anonymous at 10:54 is actually a "not as clever as he/she thinks" PAB minion. The reference to PAB, which he/she knows will never be cut by Campbell is a pretty transparent attempt to legitimize his BS about the dismantling of Elections BC by the Liberals, while the ACTING ahief Electoral officer,is presently, mysteriously, in Kenya.
Could this be why Craig James is in Kenya?
http://www.cpahq.org/CPAHQ/Mem/Programmes/Timeline/2010/September_2010/Annual_Conference%20Kenya.aspx
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