We've all done it apparently. Purposely running a red light that is. I'm talking, of course, about B.C. Liberal leader Christy Clark's regrettable decision to run a red light very early one morning after being egged on by her 11-yearold son. The illegal manoeuvre was included in reporter Jonathan Fowlie's lengthy profile piece in Saturday's Vancouver Sun.
Most everybody agrees Clark made a mistake, given she let an 11-year-old tell her what to do while having a reporter in the car to witness it all. For a smart person, that was a profoundly dumb move.
What surprises me about this story, however, is the collective "we've all done it" reaction to running a red light when no one is around (albeit with no reporter and hopefully no children in the car). Not to be self-righteous, but I've never done that. It's one of those things I just can't do - at least not in my car. On my bike, sure.
I have, however, done many other questionable things, which I'll get to in a moment. Clark will struggle but get past the now infamous red light decision, but what if a first-time candidate had made the same boneheaded mistake with a reporter in the car? Given the recent spate of turfed candidates from the B.C. Conservatives, one from the B.C. NDP and an earlier resignation from a B.C. Liberal candidate in Surrey, would such an incident lead to a party firing a candidate?
Yes. There are rules for wannabe politicians and a different set for incumbents. If I wanted to take a stab at politics, I wonder if there is anything in my digital past and present that could surface to haunt me. Few people are squeaky clean. Myself included. I've been inebriated in public, I've inhaled and injested questionable substances, I got behind the wheel once when I probably shouldn't have, I've streaked in public (it was a beach on Pender Island and only my friends were present except for that large B.C. Ferry passing by), I've skinny dipped in a lake where public swimming is prohibited, I attended a Ted Nugent concert, I've let my kids hear me curse ("No, honey, I said duck."), I've lied to my kids, I once voted for Brian Mulroney.
I've long stopped doing such things (except for accidentally cursing in front of my kids) and wish my younger self could have been wiser and wasted fewer days suffering from hangovers. They're just not worth it, kids. Trust me on this one.
Facebook didn't exist when I was in university or when I lived abroad for four years, but cameras did. I've been "tagged" in old pics that friends have scanned and posted to the social networking site. They're all cringeworthy, but so far nothing too embarrassing except for some questionable hairstyles. Hardly political career killing. While I can't control what I've done in the past, I can control what I write in the present. I like to employ what seems to be an underused technique called "self-editing." Apparently, Rob Herbert, the turfed Conservative candidate for Vancouver-West End is clueless on this front and somehow missed the gazillion media stories about the viral impact of anything posted on the Internet. Herbert used the word "bitch" when talking about Clark and Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin on his Facebook page and Twitter account. In an interview with the Vancouver Sun during which he apologized, he said: "You think it's like speaking to someone in your living room, but you don't realize that there is a global audience."
Is he 12? Ian Toothill, also a recently turfed Conservative candidate in Vancouver, obviously didn't realize he broke Godwin's law when during a Twitter exchange, he tweeted, "Who's really to blame? Hitler or the people who acted on his words?" Godwin's Law, better known as the Rule of Nazi Analogies, is an assertion by American lawyer Mike Godwin that "given enough time in any online discussion - regardless of topic or scope - someone inevitably makes a comparison to Hitler or the Nazis."
The third tossed Tory is North Van's Jeff Sprague who is in the midst of a drunk-driving investigation. Again, if you're already in power these incidents would not lead to a dismissal. They would require a simple mea culpa. Is this fair? I have no idea.
What I found more than strange were the narrow-minded comments former NDP Kelowna Mission candidate Dayleen van Ryswik made a few years ago about First Nations and French Canadians. Why was she even an NDPer to begin with is a mystery given she said: "Seems the only group of people universally hated around the world other than the Americans are the french and FRENCH CANADIANS.the bigots are the french and not us.. I'm getting so sick of having french stuffed down my throat.this isn't Quebec.it's western Canada.we speak english here.."
Hardly touch feely, bleeding heart left winger stuff. More Tory-esque really. How did the NDP miss this one?
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