On Wednesday evening, June 27th at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver, the Green Party of Vancouver selected its candidates for civic office: Vancouver City Council, Vancouver Park Board and Vancouver School Board.
As is usually the case in the realm of politics, as in life, the events of last evening did not proceed without a hitch. One VanRamblings correspondent called it a #shitshow — and so, in some respects, it was, but not out of malice, ill will or ill intent. Truth to tell, none of us are perfect.
Having attended all of the Vancouver municipal party nomination meetings to date, VanRamblings can report that what occurred at Heritage Hall Wednesday evening was not unique among Vancouver civic political party nomination meetings. Nomination meetings and hurt feelings go hand in hand.
The evening’s events started out well, as may be seen in the video at the top of today’s column, with longtime Green Party activist (& VanRamblings friend) Jacquie Miller introducing the 2018 Vancouver Green Party nomination candidates, a more inspiring, heart-filled, competent, caring and ready for governing contingent of our city’s most civic-minded citizens than you could ever hope to find gathered at one place, at one time.
When the candidates had finished speaking — each candidate was given one minute to speak — was when a storm of discontent started brewing at the Green Party nomination meeting, a storm that turned into a full blown cyclone by meeting’s end. Seems that the affable Ms. Miller, her vetting committee cohort and the evening’s co-chair, Anthony Hughes, and two other Green Party vetting committee members — all four members on the Green Party Board of Directors — had made a decision to recommend a limited retinue of candidates to fill the spots that needed filling, leaving the remaining candidates feeling as if they had been left out in the cold.
There was such a chill in the air following the announcement of the “recommended” candidates, that as voting got underway to select the winning candidates — that despite the warm weather of the evening, parkas seemed like fitting nomination meeting wear for what was to follow.
VanRamblings was told that the decision to recommend candidates occurred as a consequence of a belief by the Board, and longtime members of the Green Party of Vancouver, that preference be given to those who had served the party well over a number of years. Ms. Miller, in announcing the retinue of recommended candidates was careful to point out that Green Party members could vote as they might wish, and select the candidates of their choice, but asked that due consideration be given to the recommended candidates. Of course, there was a flaw in that argument.
Frances Raunet, unsuccessful Vancouver Green Party candidate for City Council
VanRamblings has known, and known of, Francoise Raunet for many years.
We run across each other frequently, as we live in the same neighbourhood. When Ms. Raunet was working on her Masters degree in International Studies at the University of British Columbia, we ran into each other regularly as she was ferrying her children to her home on the University Endowment Lands. At the moment, Ms. Raunet teaches at General Gordon School, the school where VanRamblings’ two grandsons attend.
In 2013, Ms. Raunet ran as a Green candidate in Vancouver-Point Grey (against VanRamblings’, and British Columbia’s, most beloved David Eby, currently our province’s highly regarded Minister of Justice and Attorney General). VanRamblings has always held Ms. Raunet — a Green Party stalwart if there ever was one — in the highest personal regard. Yet Ms. Raunet was not one of the recommended candidates. Strange that.
Francoise told VanRamblings that, having lost out on a Green Party nomination for Vancouver City Council (in a flawed process unbecoming of a party that prides itself on openness and transparency) that she intends to run as an independent candidate in the coming Vancouver civic election, where she knows she will not win. Clearly, Francoise is an accomplished woman of intellect and acumen and would make for a great City Council candidate — still, we think it a terrible mistake that she would seek to run against a party she loves and has dedicated her life to, even if she feels, quite rightly, that the party’s executive council let her down.
While Ms. Raunet’s perturbation at the course of the events of the evening and her unsuccessful attempt to secure a Green Party of Vancouver City Council nomination was muted, the same could not be said of Denise Brennan, the Executive Director of Creative Coworkers, a non-profit community space in Vancouver’s Railtown neighbourhood.
VanRamblings moved in Ms.Brennan’s direction when we witnessed how infuriated she seemed to be. Ms. Brennan turned to VanRamblings — if looks could kill, you would not be reading this column at present.
Ms. Brennan’s intent — both in publicly addressing her concerns on the flawed process for selecting candidates, the lack of diversity among the candidates (“And here I thought the Green Party was committed to diversity. Four women civic election candidates have been selected by the party, and seven men. So much for diversity, so much for fairness, so much for fair play, so much for progressive Green values, huh? I hope you’re all proud of yourselves.”) — would seem to be to hurt the party. Suffice to say, we would not wish to run across Ms. Brennan in a dark alley late at night.
Denise Brennan is likely to be trouble with a capital “T” for the Green Party of Vancouver this summer, to which we say, entitlement much?
In VanRamblings estimation, the process for selecting the Green Party of Vancouver’s civic election candidates was flawed — but as we pointed out at the nomination meeting, it was not a fatally flawed process. Green Party members voted, party members could vote as they wished, and based on the comments we heard from dozens of party members about the “recommendation process“, some members went out of their way not to vote for the recommended candidates. Still, all but one of the recommended candidates proved successful in securing a nomination.
VanRamblings has been around politics for more than 50 years, and what we’ve discovered is that, like life, politics just ain’t fair.
Are you a budding politician, and want to secure a nomination: put in the work. In politics, that’s called organizing. Successful Green Party School Board candidate Nicholas Chernen organized, acute enough in his bid to secure a nomination that he approached Green Party City Council candidates Pete Fry and Michael Wiebe, impressed the heck out of them, who ended up asking their legion of supporters to support Mr. Chernen, that he would prove to be a great candidate for the Green Party, and would be someone Green members might be duly proud.
Here’s the bottom line: the Green Party of Vancouver selected first-rate, supportable candidates on Wednesday evening.
VanRamblings will predict now that the competent and humbled-by-the-opportunity-to serve candidates who were selected will contribute to what is destined to be a breakout municipal election for the party, who look to elect all four candidates to City Council (there’s still a negotiation going on with the Vancouver & District Labour Council that could see that number reduced to three), and do well on both school and park board.
OneCity Vancouver candidate for City Council Ben Bolliger — who ran one of the most masterful nomination campaigns we’ve ever witnessed — was unsuccessful in securing a nomination, but you’re going to find that there’ll be no harder working and more dedicated worker on the campaign trail for all of the One City candidates for civic office than Ben Bolliger. And that’s how it should be. The same will be true for the unsuccessful nomination candidates for each of the other civic parties — and that’s how it should be.
There are many ways to serve your community other than elected office.
There are 33 advisory committees and agencies at City Hall — ranging from the library board, the engaged city task force, the all-powerful Board of Variance, and the seniors advisory, active transportation, public arts, civic asset renaming, and heritage, planning, and so many other committees and agencies of city governance where you can make a difference. There’s just ain’t no time to kvetch, when there’s so much that needs doing.
VanRamblings hopes that members on the Green Party Board of Directors, and the successful candidates and Green Party elected officials reach out to Ms. Raunet, Ms. Brennan, Mash Salehomoum and each of the disgruntled candidates who were not selected on Wednesday evening, to bring them back into the fold, to let them know how much they are valued, and the opportunities that lie ahead for them in the arena of civic governance.
Politics is not about personal ambition, either — at least it shouldn’t be.
Politics must continue to be about what has always been true: one enters political life to be a difference maker — and that political involvement includes volunteering, door-knocking, fundraising, hosting coffee klatches, donating monies, and even coming forward as a nomination candidate for civic office — because one desires, needs to serve the greater good.
