Hector Bremner, set to go it alone in his bid to become Vancouver’s next Mayor
EXCLUSIVE
As we wrote last week, Monday evening May 7th, Vancouver City Councillor Hector Bremner was informed by Gregory Baker, the President of the Board of Directors of his party, the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association, that his mayoral nomination application had been rejected. No reason was given.
After extensive dialogue with members of, and sources close to, the nominally right-of-centre Non-Partisan Association, and a frank Friday afternoon discussion with Mr. Bremner’s indignant campaign manager — longtime respected political campaigner, Mark Marissen — as well as numerous other individuals with insight into the reasons why a rejection of Mr. Bremner’s application was always in the cards, that Mr. Bremner’s bid to become his party’s mayoral standard-bearer was finished even before it began, today on VanRamblings we will reveal a few of the reasons why the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association rejected Mr. Bremner’s mayoral nominee application, tempered with commentary from Mark Marissen, and explanatory political context provided by VanRamblings.
1. Pay for Play
Or, Mr. Bremner’s alleged cozy relationship with a Vancouver developer
This past week, lawyer Michael Avenatti — legal counsel for adult film star, Stormy Daniels — released a document he referred to as a Summary Brief, alleging that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s lawyer, created a shell company called Essential Consultants to receive payments from a firm linked to a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, and corporations with business before the Trump administration, e.g. AT&T, involved in a merger with Time-Warner, a merger President Trump had heretofore opposed. Mr. Cohen was paid $800,000 by AT&T for “access” to the President.
In total, Mr. Cohen has received monies in the millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars, from Mr. Vekselberg — a confidant of Russian leader, Vladimir Putin — and others, monies it has been alleged were used to pay off 130 different “complainants” set to bring suit against Mr. Trump.
Pay for Play? Mr. Cohen launders money received from Russian oligarchs, and multi-national corporations in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, and just like magic Mr. Trump’s “problems” go away, as do the problems of the multi-national corporations Trump fixer Michael Cohen has promised favours to, in exchange for payment of millions of dollars.
Pay for Play? Nice and tidy — until you get caught.
Mr. Bremner. Sources within and close to the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association administration have told VanRamblings they believe Mr. Bremner, and members of his election team, have “cut a deal” with a prominent Vancouver developer, that in exchange for funding the novice NPA City Councillor’s bid to become Vancouver’s next Mayor, Mr. Bremner has promised “special favours” to the developer, should he win election.
In times of old Pay for Play was called, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” a central feature of political administrations, municipal, provincial / state, or federal. Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver party have often been accused of a cozy, perhaps quid pro quo, relationship with Westbank developer Ian Gillespie, and real estate marketer, Bob Rennie.
Christine Boyle, OneCity Vancouver candidate, running for Vancouver City Council
In contemporary society, and particularly in the politics of personal destruction realm, there is a propensity to demonize political adversaries, and developers in particular — a central feature of political life in our city, we’re sad to say — but not for pure-hearted politicos like Christine Boyle, a OneCity Vancouver candidate for Vancouver City Council — who will top-the-polls on election night, Saturday, October 20th — running a committed social justice, affordable housing, activist, get-things-done-for-us platform.
Politics is just like life.
Every now and then you’re going to run across someone you really like, someone you admire, someone with whom you gain an immediate rapport. When VanRamblings sat as a member of Vancouver’s Board of Variance, there were any number of developers, architects and designers for whom the members of the Boards of Variance on which we sat, gained some deep affection. Did that affection ever translate into “a deal” for the avuncular, good-natured appellant appearing before the Board. Never!
VanRamblings would suggest the same thing is true with Mayor Robertson, and the members of his Vision Vancouver team. Sure, there’s a closeness between Mayor Robertson and Ian Gillespie — in 2011, when VanRamblings’ friend Mike Klassen ran for City Council with the NPA, when Michael and another NPA candidate entered the waterfront Fairmont Vancouver hotel owned and operated by Mr. Gillespie, both were unceremoniously ejected, in a rough process at that — but does Mr. Gillespie’s support of his friend Gregor Robertson translate into a rubber stamp for whatever development Mr. Gillespie brings before Council?
VanRamblings would suggest that the answer to the question above is an emphatic no! All you have to do is take a look at the Westbank development near 70th and Granville, where Mr. Gillespie got next to nothing from Gregor Robertson’s majority Vision Vancouver City Council, who mandated a significant reduction in density, much-reduced heights for the condominium towers Mr. Gillespie proposed, and a break-the-bank Community Amenity Contribution.
Far too easy and far too cynical to accuse our political masters — and the very strong and principled women who sit on Vancouver City Council — of corruption, or collusion with developers, many of whom are true visionaries and despite their wealth maintain an altruistic love for our city. Perhaps Mr. Bremner’s involvement with “his” prominent Vancouver-based developer supporter is innocent. Seems that the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Non-Partisan Association don’t think so — all of which means, yet another nail in the coffin of Mr. Bremner’s truncated NPA candidacy for Mayor.
2. Wet Behind the Ears
Or, Mr. Bremner is a novice politico, with little or no grasp of city files
Sources within the NPA administration have expressed concern that Mr. Bremner not only lacks gravitas at City Council, he seems to have little or no understanding of the files that come before him at Vancouver City Council, and seems unwilling (or unable) to learn. NPA sources have told VanRamblings “it’s not good enough that Hector skates by on charm and good looks — there has to be some there there and, quite frankly, we find him wanting, not seasoned enough by far.”
Lack of experience, a poor grasp of the files that come before Council, and a ‘style over substance’ Bremner candidacy had party officials concerned.
3. An ‘Incident’ at Council
Or, Mr. Bremner referred to a woman presenter to Council as a girl
At a May 2nd City Finance & Services meeting chaired by Councillor Heather Deal, co-founder of Good Night Out Vancouver, Stacey Forrester, made a presentation to Council, requesting funding from the city.
As may be heard at approximately the 59 minute, 13 second mark on the video of City Council’s standing CF&S committee meeting, Ms. Forrester introduces herself to Council, stating, “I am also a nurse by trade, having spent many years working in public health, and harm reduction, here in Vancouver,” referring to Good Night Vancouver as a “a pilot programme that has a street team roaming the Granville Entertainment District to help foster a safer environment for club and bar-goers during the area’s busiest hours, the first initiative of its kind in Canada.”
Ms. Forrester completes her address to Council at the 01:05:33 mark of the video of the CF&S meeting, after which Councillor Bremner begins his questioning of Ms. Forrester, stating …
“Thanks for the work that you’re doing. Councillor De Genova has stepped out, but her and I got a ride-along a couple of months ago in downtown, and we were there sort of overnight, and there we were, like, at two in the morning, and it was getting kinda late, and there was a girl, she’s about your age, and she was pretty drunk.
And the officers that we were with respond to the call, the establishment has kicked her out, she’s outside, she’s standing in the pouring rain, no jacket, she’s drunk, can’t find her ID, she doesn’t have her coat cheque, they won’t give her her jacket, it’s just turned into a whole mess.
And what I was surprised by, was struck by, really it came down to the VPD – who literally went out into the street – their flashlight flashed a cab, a cab came over, we put her in a cab. We sent her home.”
Do you see where the problem is — a problem identified by NPA members of Council — in Councillor Bremner’s rambling address to Stacey Forrester? A problem that caused enough concern to another Councillor sitting across from Mr. Bremner, that a tweet went out into the ether expressing astonishment and disgust that Councillor Bremner had just referred to a nurse presenting to Council as a “girl” — not a woman, but a girl.
Although the tweet has since been taken down, concern has been expressed to VanRamblings about Mr. Bremner’s conduct at Council, and the untoward nature of his referring to a woman with agency, as a girl.
One would imagine that there are some men out there, and perhaps some women, who would suggest that Councillor Bremner’s faux pas — unadmitted and not apologized for — is much ado about nothing. But that is decidedly not so for the women with whom we have spoken, who brought the video of the May 2nd City Finance & Services meeting to VanRamblings’ attention. The NPA Board of Directors are aware of the expressed concern.
4. A Legal Foofaraw
Or, Mr. Bremner insists a lawyer attend his Green Light Committee meeting
Applicants for a Vancouver Non-Partisan Association nomination must complete the filling out of a 51-page document. The Green Party of Vancouver employs a similar — but only 24-page — vetting document.
At the Friday afternoon meeting VanRamblings had with Mark Marissen, Mr. Bremner’s campaign manager, Mr. Marissen said …
“We had concern going in (to the Green Light Committee meeting). As you may be aware, at the last NPA AGM, Glen Chernen (ed. note, an approved NPA candidate for Mayor) placed a number of his people on the Board. Given the number of articles published recently where Glen Chernen has alleged a conflict of interest with Hector’s candidacy, and given the ties that HALT has to Glen, we all thought it best that Hector have a lawyer present for the meeting with the Green Light Committee.”
Sources close to the NPA Board told VanRamblings that the Board was “apoplectic” that Mr. Bremner wanted a lawyer present, that such a request is unprecedented in the party’s history (as it would be for the other Vancouver civic political parties, we have been told by representatives).
The Board of Directors fired off a letter to the Bremner team, a letter drafted by legal counsel for the Board, stating that “in the interests of procedural fairness” Mr. Bremner would not be allowed to have a lawyer present for the vetting process conducted by the party’s Green Light Committee. At this point, neither Mr. Bremner’s team, nor members of the NPA Board of Directors — or party members — were relieved or happy.
5. We Don’t Want Any of Them Damn, Di ….
Or, where Mr. Bremner’s concern about racism in the party derived
A couple of weeks back, Hector Bremner’s campaign manager, Mark Marissen, was called to a luncheon meeting with a well-heeled NPA supporter, long a fixture in the party’s infrastructure. According to Mr. Marissen, the person with whom he met expressed a concern about the “500 sign-ups by members of the Muslim faith” who were supporting Mr. Bremner’s bid for the NPA mayoral nomination. Marissen was aghast at the comments of this individual, he told VanRamblings at our Friday meeting.
In fact, sources close to the NPA expressed a similar concern to VanRamblings, not relating to any issue relating to race, but rather …
“We know that Hector has signed up 2000 new members,” an NPA insider told VanRamblings. “Our party’s concern isn’t with the ethnicity or racial makeup of the members Hector signed up — whether it be the 500 members of the Muslim faith, an equal or even greater number of members of Vancouver’s Asian population, or members of the evangelical community who have signed up in droves to support Hector — our concern is that, going forward, few of these new sign-ups are likely to play a role in the party, are unlikely to go door-knocking, man the phones, or play a role in the coming civic election campaign.
Many of Hector’s sign-ups not only have English as a Second language, they speak no English at all. The party feels that Hector isn’t trying to grow the party, but simply stuff the ballot box to secure the NPA nomination for Mayor. To the members of the Board, that’s a concern.”
Also of concern, NPA sources have told us, relates to a feared move of the party to the right, were Mr. Bremner to secure the NPA mayoral nomination, at a time and in an election cycle when the party is again trying to position itself, as it did in 2014, as the wider appeal New Progressive Association.”
Note should be made that none of the concerns expressed above were discussed with Mr. Bremner during his meeting with the NPA Green Light Committee, nor did any NPA Board members approach Mr. Bremner, at any time, to express such concerns to him directly.
The affable and handsome political campaigner, Mark Marissen
Mr. Marissen rejects all the concerns expressed by NPA party members …
“Look, I didn’t initially come into this looking to work on Hector’s campaign. My candidate, and I thought he’d make a great Mayor, was Fred di Blasio, a high profile member of British Columbia’s indigenous community, a graduate of Queen’s College at Cambridge University, a Telus Vice President, and before that an AT&T VP. Fred’s happily married to Lana Parrilla, one’s of the stars of ABC’s Once Upon A Time TV series. Fred’s a good guy, and I thought he’d make a terrific Mayoral candidate — but after giving the idea much thought, he told me, ‘Not at this time, Mark’. And that was that, I thought, until …
“One day I heard Hector speaking at Council. I was impressed. I know Mike Wilson, who did a bang up job on Hector’s by-election win last year, and it got me thinking … since I’m in campaign mode, I thought to myself when listening to Hector, “Here’s a guy that could go all the way, and become Vancouver’s next Mayor’. So I signed onto Hector’s campaign, and I’m glad I did. Hector is a terrific candidate.”
Marissen’s primary concern relates to the unfairness of the process laid out by the Non-Partisan Association, many of whose members he has great affection for, he told me …
“Ray, you know as well as I, that the candidate who signs up the most members, and gets those members to the nomination meeting to cast their ballot, wins. Politics, in that way, is simple. When it comes right down to it, it’s a numbers game. And that’s the way it should have been. We signed up the most members, we would have gotten them out to the nomination meeting, and on May 29th, Hector would be the NPA’s Mayoral candidate. But it didn’t exactly work out that way, did it?”
At which point, Mark got up from his chair outside the Starbucks on Granville, shook my hand, a big smile washing over his face, predicting, “Hector’s going to be Mayor come October. Just you wait and see.” And then Mark disappeared into the crowd, and VanRamblings was left agog.
Over the course of the afternoon, another item came to the fore.
UPDATE | Hector Bremner posted the above on Facebook at 10am Monday, May 14th.
The NPA posted a confidential letter to Mr. Bremner this morning explaining the reasons WHY his nomination has been rejected by the party, allowing him to reveal the contents.
For Mark Marissen, there’s more than a taste, and a bitter taste at that, a feeling of déjà vu in the current contretemps his candidate is experiencing with “the old boys club” who run the affairs of the NPA, and a lingering resentment at the treatment his then wife, Christy Clark, was subject to when she put her name forward for the 2005 NPA Mayoral nomination.
VanRamblings is sympathetic to both sides in the current dispute between Mr. Bremner’s team, and the NPA Board of Directors — there are good people on both sides. Maybe, as Mark Marissen suggested, “the fix was in,” that John Coupar signed up 1250 members; Ken Sim, 1000; and Glen Chernen, reportedly, 750 members. Perhaps, in 2018, the NPA is looking to nominate a steadier hand as their Mayoral nominee.
Whatever the case, both sides to the dispute know that — at least in terms of political philosophy — there’s more that unites them than separates them. VanRamblings was looking for a “fair fight” come autumn, with the nominally right-of-centre Vancouver Non-Partisan Association on one side, and the coalition of Vancouver’s progressive parties — OneCity Vancouver, COPE, the Greens, Vision Vancouver and TeamJean — on the other side, both offering quite radically different platforms, but similar values of commitment to public life, leaving the decision as to the victors to the voting public, come Saturday, October 20th.
Alas. That’s not going to happen. Not that VanRamblings isn’t pleased that the ‘progressive parties” — now seemingly committed to the notion of a progressive coalition where all the parties in the coalition would agree on at least some tenets of a unified platform — look to emerge, together, as victors this coming autumn. No, we’re near ecstatic with what victory for Vancouver’s progressive coalition will mean for all Vancouver residents, and the provision of truly affordable social, housing co-op and co-housing; and a movement to expanded, and where necessary — as it must be for children aged 5 to 18, and Vancouver residents who live on an income below $40,000 a year — free transit, or at a much-reduced rate.
Final note. VanRamblings will provide both parties to the current right-of-centre dispute, the opportunity to have published here they’re reply to today’s column, or information either or both parties feel the voting public should or must know about the current dispute, heading into this autumn’s Vancouver civic election. And, oh yeah don’t forget: we’re here Monday to Thursday reporting out on Vancouver Votes 2018. See ya tomorrow!
