XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
      
   They just can't seem to shake the dirty political stigma.  Maybe some of them   
   are even proud to   
   employ dirty tricks.  Either way, I'd day British Columbians will want to   
   shake off those that   
   can't shake off dirty.   
   ________________________________________   
      
   February 10, 2011 - From Friday's Globe and Mail   
      
   B.C. Liberals need to uncover fraudulent memberships   
      
   Time is running out for party to avoid mire of controversy   
      
   When the representatives for the six BC Liberal leadership candidates met in a   
   Vancouver   
   boardroom this week to hash out details for the final weeks of the campaign, a   
   challenge to   
   disclose dirty laundry was tossed out on the floor: Anything else we ought to   
   know?   
      
   In the span of less than a week, the party's 50,000 new members have been   
   found to include a   
   junior hockey team, a cat and signups fueled by a restaurant's iPad incentive.   
   All ham-fisted   
   attempts to bolster membership sales, but the examples have put the party on   
   the defensive over   
   its ability to ensure that B.C.'s next premier wins a clean victory on Feb. 26.   
      
   Under pressure, the BC Liberal Party has brought in an external auditor to   
   sample the lists to   
   ensure they are genuine. But the auditor is not going to reach all the new   
   members before the   
   leadership vote - leaving the main machine for screening in the hands of the   
   candidates.   
      
   The better-funded campaigns have phone banks and other means of mass contact   
   with the party's   
   membership, which currently numbers 93,500. Their focus is on securing   
   support, wooing the   
   undecided, and reaching out to rivals' supporters to at least capture their   
   second choice. But   
   those canvassers also have the best handle on how solid the membership list is   
   and how many new   
   Liberals would be surprised to learn they'd joined.   
      
   However, the BC Liberals won't disclose how many errors they are finding,   
   whether through their   
   own scrutiny or as a result of tips from the campaigns. Little wonder there   
   are some calling   
   for Elections BC to take over the party membership lists.   
      
   What the Liberals should be afraid of is the experience of the BC New   
   Democratic Party a decade   
   ago. Ujjal Dosanjh won the leadership and became premier, but his victory was   
   mired in   
   controversy about mass signups that left the party bitterly divided. It is not   
   the only reason   
   why the BC NDP was virtually wiped out in the 2001 election - but it sure   
   didn't help.   
      
   The contenders for the BC Liberal leadership have brought in experienced   
   campaign advisers from   
   across the country, but the party itself has little expertise in this field.   
   There was no   
   evident succession planning either - it was unthinkable that Gordon Campbell,   
   leader for 17   
   years, might quit. So when he did make his startling resignation announcement   
   last November,   
   the party had to scramble to put together the contest.   
      
   Even now, with a little more than two weeks before the vote, the party is   
   still working out   
   critical details of how its next leader will be chosen. It has a heap of new   
   membership   
   applications that need to be processed, and if certain canvassers have been   
   turning in suspect   
   work - such as the 20 members of the Kamloops Blazers hockey team signed up   
   without their   
   knowledge by a Kevin Falcon supporter - the party hasn't got a system in place   
   to track down   
   the bad apples and hold them accountable.   
      
   Chad Pederson, the party's executive director, would not say how many Liberal   
   membership   
   applications have been vetted, and more importantly, how many have been   
   identified as suspect.   
   The party's review has been expanded in the past week, but it is also relying   
   on the various   
   camps to report questionable memberships. "The campaigns have been bringing   
   issues to our   
   attention that we have been flagging," he said, but none has been cancelled   
   yet.   
   Veteran campaign tactician Rod Love, who is working on Mike de Jong's   
   leadership bid, maintains   
   the process is sound, and the fuss over a few examples of fraudulent signups   
   is overblown. "You   
   get overzealous volunteers in every campaign," he said. "And people are trying   
   to turn it into   
   Watergate."   
      
   From his vantage point on the inside of the campaign, Mr. Love is confident   
   because his team   
   hasn't noted any remarkable irregularities. "What we are finding mostly is,   
   'Would you all stop   
   phoning me?' "   
      
   But from the outside, the BC Liberals have yet to demonstrate that their   
   voting process is   
   sound.   
      
   Here's what is at stake: The party must start mailing out personal   
   identification numbers   
   soon - likely in the next week - to allow members to vote by telephone or over   
   the Internet on   
   Feb. 26.   
      
   It will be handing over voting rights to choose the province's next premier   
   even as the   
   campaigns are still working through the lists. There is little doubt there are   
   more examples of   
   overzealous - the party bluntly calls it fraudulent - signups on those lists,   
   but the chances   
   of catching them diminishes by the day.   
      
   Especially if the contest is close, the victor will not want any hint of foul   
   play hanging over   
   the vote.   
   Party carefully screening new recruits for 'paw prints'   
      
   The BC New Democratic Party is also busy screening its new members before the   
   party's Apr. 17   
   leadership vote. With smaller numbers and more time - not to mention more   
   experience than their   
   BC Liberal rivals - the NDP can report some progress.   
      
   Jan O'Brien, provincial secretary, said this week that the party has contacted   
   10 per cent of   
   its 12,000 new and renewed membership applications filed on paper. (There were   
   thousands of   
   online memberships too before the Jan. 17 cutoff.)   
      
   Campaign insiders say the party has already tossed a "couple of hundred"   
   memberships that came   
   in without signatures, but Ms. O'Brien is mum on one key detail: She will not   
   say how many of   
   the 1,200 applications checked so far have passed muster.   
      
   The party introduced a number of changes after its leadership contest in 2000   
   to ensure better   
   tracking of membership signups. Membership forms were handed out in books of   
   20, and canvassers   
   had to sign off on their forms.   
      
   No one has been disqualified yet, Ms. O'Brien said. "So far no paw prints, but   
   we are on the   
   lookout."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)