Pubdate: Thu, 12 Sep 2002
Source: Georgia Straight, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 The Georgia Straight
Contact:  http://www.straight.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1084
Author: Charlie Smith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

NPA CANDIDATE FIGHTS STIGMA OF COUP D'ETAT

The defining moment of this year's Vancouver civic election campaign might 
have occurred six months ago on March 8. That was the day the Vancouver Sun 
carried a front-page, above-the-fold story with the following headline: 
"Jennifer Clarke's 'coup d'etat': Observers say NPA move to force out mayor 
may backfire". The story helped fuel an impression that Civic Non-Partisan 
Association Mayor Philip Owen's long-time colleague, NPA Coun. Jennifer 
Clarke, secretly plotted a takeover.

Political consultants often advise candidates to craft a believable message 
and reinforce it over the course of an election campaign. In 1996, 
provincial NDP leader Glen Clark cleverly portrayed himself as the tough 
little guy who was "On Your Side" against the corporations' favourite 
candidate, Gordon Campbell. The message resonated with the electorate, and 
the NDP pulled off a stunning upset.

In recent years, the NPA has dominated Vancouver civic politics by defining 
itself as a moderate, inclusive party and portraying its opponents as 
reckless left-wing radicals. NPA politicians have sometimes described the 
opposition Coalition of Progressive Electors as the "Committee Opposed to 
Practically Everything", citing as examples Expo 86, the Cambie Street 
Bridge, and the expansion of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This year, the NPA has tried to reinforce this perception by emphasizing 
its support for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games bid. Clarke's communications 
advisor, Norman Stowe, told the Straight last month that he thought COPE 
politicians would have a difficult time dealing with this issue.

But the persistence of the Vancouver Sun's coup d'etat story has often 
bumped the NPA off its traditional message. Since last March, Clarke's 
critics have repeatedly claimed that Mayor Owen was overthrown because some 
NPA councillors and party board members opposed his handling of the drug 
issue on the Downtown Eastside. Now the NPA is fighting back, which means 
this could become the nastiest civic-election campaign in recent history.

Earlier this year, city council unanimously approved the mayor's "four 
pillar" approach, emphasizing enforcement, treatment, harm reduction, and 
prevention. Clarke's opponents, however, have maintained that the NPA 
council gave Owen's policy a halfhearted endorsement to avoid political 
embarrassment.

"We're strongly in favour of the four pillars," COPE strategist Neil 
Monckton told the Georgia Straight. "Jennifer Clarke says she is, but we 
know she is not, and clearly that is why they dumped Owen."

The NPA has the advantages of incumbency, lots of money, deep ties with 
Vancouver's Chinese community, and a huge organization. However, as the 
civic campaign enters the critical autumn pre-election period, the NPA is 
having trouble erasing the impression that Clarke and her creme-de-la-creme 
friends toppled their leader. And Owen is not saying anything in the 
party's defence.

Moreover, the emergence of a new party, modelled on the old TEAM of the 
1970s and 1980s, has added an unpredictable element to this year's 
campaign. Former NPA park-board chair Art Cowie and former NPA councillors 
Nancy Chiavario and Alan Herbert told reporters that they formed vcaTEAM to 
promote "middle of the road" policies espoused by Owen.

Chiavario recently told the Straight that the NPA's biggest challenge is 
"getting over the stigma of their treatment of Philip Owen".

"I really believe that this is a huge transition election," she said.

On Thursday (September 12), vcaTeam will nominate its mayoral candidate, 
consumer advocate Valerie MacLean, the vice-president of the Better 
Business Bureau of Mainland B.C. She told the Straight that her party's top 
priority will be to stimulate the economy. Mac-Lean, an ex-RCMP officer, 
added that she supports Owen's four-pillar approach.

On September 5, ex-chief coroner and former RCMP drug cop Larry Campbell 
also highlighted the drug issue when he announced that he would seek the 
mayoral nomination with the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

"Mayor Philip Owen got it right with his four-pillar strategy to tackle the 
drug crisis," Campbell told reporters outside City Hall. "The people of the 
Downtown Eastside supported the policy, and a majority of the people in the 
city indicated that they also supported this policy. The members of the 
mayor's own party fought him every step of the way and finally drove him 
out of office in an attempt to stall the four-pillars policy."

Clarke told the Straight that this story is false. "I think that the 
opponents are trying to use that as a defining issue, but there is no 
evidence or truth to that," she said. "Philip had told the caucus and his 
board privately that he did not intend to run again-and that may not have 
been widely known-but that was something he said on many occasions."

Clarke claimed that in November 1998, Owen told her that he would run for 
the last time the following November. She said that in the summer of 2001, 
in a meeting in the mayor's office, Owen told her and Coun. George Puil 
that he was not running again. Clarke also said that Owen claimed that he 
wanted "off this merry-go-round" at a party fundraising dinner last autumn.

During the campaign, Clarke has tried to define herself as a moderate 
candidate concerned about transportation and in tune with the majority of 
Vancouver voters. When asked how she'll deal with the challenge from 
vcaTEAM, Clarke claimed that the new party won't be much of a factor. "The 
only thing they can do is split the vote either way," she said.

Clarke regularly dismisses COPE as civic accomplices of the provincial NDP, 
and she claimed to the Straight that when people sign up as COPE members, 
they also receive an NDP membership card. "I've heard that from a number of 
sources," Clarke said. "It's a double sign-up."

COPE's Monckton told the Straight that Clarke's claim is false. "We're not 
affiliated with any provincial party," he said. "I mean, there was the 
merger of the Civic New Democrats in 1993, but they ceased to exist in 
1998. [COPE Coun.] Fred Bass is a Green Party member."

Clarke, a nine-year council veteran, has tried to portray COPE's probable 
mayoral candidate, Larry Campbell, as a virtual stranger to city hall. "I 
will say that we have never seen him at any community meeting, charitable 
function, community function-ever at anything that had anything remotely to 
do with civic government," Clarke said. "So our paths have never crossed."

Campbell, on the other hand, said that as coroner, he had extensive 
dealings with the city's engineering, police, fire, and law departments. "I 
think it's time for people at city hall who focus on solutions, not in 
fighting and power games," he said.

Monckton claimed that COPE has already raised $250,000 this year and said 
that more money will come in after the party's September 18 nomination 
meeting. That would reduce the perennial funding gap with the NPA, which 
routinely outspends its opponents by a three-to-one margin. Pegg declined 
to offer details about NPA fundraising.

The NPA can also expect attacks on other fronts. The Vancouver Marijuana 
Party's mayoral candidate, Marc Emery, told the Straight that his party 
will run ads criticizing the NPA's relationship with the police department 
and opposing the Olympic bid. Vancouver Green Party candidate John Whistler 
said his party will focus attention on transportation issues.

According to UBC political scientist Paul Tennant, there was a dramatic 
increase in the number of candidates for city council when the NPA's 
influence declined in the early 1970s. He also told the Straight that one 
of the biggest dangers for the NPA is if something unpredictable occurs at 
its October 2 nominating meeting.

Pegg said the NPA has more than 6,000 members. Political activist Hanson 
Lau told the Straight that Chinese-Canadian party members will turn out in 
force to try to nominate candidates of Chinese descent. He also said that 
he is en-couraging Chinese members to adopt the "80/20" initiative backed 
by Chinese-American community leaders, which was designed to increase 
Asian-American representation in U.S. politics.

Lau estimated that approximately 20 percent of Vancouver's registered 
voters are of Chinese descent. He said that if 80 percent of those voters 
can be persuaded to support Chinese-Canadian candidates, then the community 
will increase its representation on the NPA slate and on Vancouver city 
council.

"The Chinese community is slowly getting wise to this kind of reality," he 
said.

Lau said that the 80/20 initiative is necessary to convince the NPA council 
to stop letting city staff control the drug policies. Another Chinatown 
political activist, Charles Lee, told the Straight that he has given up on 
the NPA because its "four-pillar approach" promotes safe-injection sites 
and other harm-reduction measures and does little about treatment, 
prevention, and enforcement.

"My view is we don't have a four-pillar approach," Lee said. "We have one 
pillar and three toothpicks."

UBC's Tennant said that in recent years, the NPA has done a much better job 
than COPE in attracting support from ethnic communities. However, Lee said 
that this year there is a lot of anger in the Chinese community against the 
NPA.

"I assure you, there will be a strong independent candidate who speaks up 
for Chinatown and for everybody who feels it's inappropriate to march on, 
in my view, down the slippery road towards liberalization of drugs," Lee said.

The NPA has kept control over Vancouver city hall for the past 16 years. 
But dissension within the Chinese community is just one sign that the party 
could face a huge challenge on election day on November 16. COPE has more 
money in this campaign, and vcaTEAM could siphon votes from the NPA's 
traditional supporters.

Meanwhile, hardliners say the NPA is too soft on drugs. Harm-reduction 
advocates say the NPA wants to revive the war on drugs. It's not an 
enviable situation for Coun. Jennifer Clarke, desperately trying to portray 
herself as the moderate voice of reason.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager