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Letters, words and power

This week Mr. Craig James is featured in the Victoria Times Colonist complaining that he has been receiving a flood of nasty email from  anti HST supporters.

“B.C.’s chief electoral officer is blaming Fight HST supporters for sending him hundreds of hate-filled violent emails, some of which call for his slow, painful death.

Craig James said he has received more than 392 threatening messages since late November, when, as head of Elections B.C., he rejected the first application to recall Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong because it exceeded a 200-word limit.”

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Elections+boss+gets+flood+vile+email/4095326/story.html#ixzz1Aqf4jusn

 
 
Gary E. at How Bad is the Record asks the question, if James was receiving these emails back in November, why did he wait until now to complain?  It only serves to feed the people’s distrust of this man and what he has done to our once proud, non-partisan, Elections BC.  That organisation had a proud history of administering Elections in this province, staffed by knowledgable, dedicated public servants, until Mr. James was annoited appointed as Acting Chief. 
 
The Recall Proponant for Oak Bay/Gordon Head, Mike Hayes released a Press Release I just read over at Gary E.’s.
 
Press Release
Contact:
Mike Hayes, Recall Proponent  250-507-2204
Colin Nielsen Petition Coordinator  250-812-6593 
         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
           Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Recall Committee Decries Threats But Questions Timing 
Oak Bay-Gordon Head Recall Proponent, Mike Hayes, issued a statement, today, in reaction to published reports by Acting Chief Electoral Officer, Craig James, that he has received threatening and abusive email.”  Hayes said that the Recall Ida Chong Committee condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of anyone using threats of violence and intimidation in our open and democratic society.
“There is no place in a civilized and civil society for that kind of behavior,” said Hayes. “It is difficult to find words that express my contempt for such abusive rhetoric.”
However, Hayes said that he questions the timing of the Press Release from the Acting Chief Electoral Officer.  “Why has he waited until the closing weeks of the Recall Petition Period to make a public statement about abusive emails and threats he received in November?” Hayes asked. “It would appear that he is trying to discredit the Fight-HST Campaign and the Recall, currently underway in Oak Bay-Gordon Head.”
Hayes pointed out that the Chief Electoral Officer is supposed to be an independent office of the Legislature.  “James does his Office, and the wonderful staff at Elections BC, no favours when he appears to be meddling in the democratic processes he is responsible for overseeing,” said Hayes. “It is, quite simple, wrong.”
Hayes said that the controversy over James actions around the 200 word limit issue, as well as the timing of his announcing RCMP investigations into seven people who signed the HST Petition, just before the launch or the Recall campaign, all show a lack of understanding of his role, at best, and outright interference, at worst.
“How can the people working on Recall, and all those citizens who have signed the Petition, have confidence that this “independent” office will fairly oversee this vitally important democratic process?” Hayes asked. “I would challenge Mr. James to disclose all the emails he has received and to show how many he has received since the Recall Petition was approved and the Campaign has been underway. If the bulk of the abusive communication was a reaction to his changing the word-count rules in November, then I think it would fair to question why he has chosen to make his disclosure at this late date.”
  
I would like to share with you my own abusive email, which I fired off in glorious rage on November 25, 2010.  Mind your children aren’t reading, this is abusive stuff!
  
Dear Mr. James;
 
You have no mandate at Elections BC.  You were not legally appointed by an all party committee of the Legislature.  You were appointed by the lame duck Premier of a corrupt government.  You must step down from your position immediately.
 
Since your appointment you have consistantly made biased decisions against the will of the majority of citizens of BC.  You have wrongfully dismissed the one person who was qualified to replace Mr. Neufeld.  Every decision you have made regarding the Recall and Initiative Legislation has had the direct effect of supressing the democratic process in this province. 
 
You made biased rulings in favour of government with regards to Initiative Advertising (the website).
 
You fired the most senior qualified person who should have gotten your job.
 
You failed to obey the letter of the law with regards to forwarding the approved petition directly to the Standing Legislative Committee, improperly defering it to the courts.
 
You sent threatening and harrassing letters to citizens who signed the petition twice.
 
You failed to communicate the rationale for any of these decisions to the Electorate directly, instead releasing any information quietly to limited parties.
 
You have been improperly gadding about the globe, doing “Volunteer work” for the World Bank, trying to get them access to Parliaments, when you were being paid to caretake Elections BC.
 
You have now rejected the first Recall petition on petty and mean-spirited grounds. 
 
Sometimes Sir, the spirit of the law supercedes the letter of the law, but that just seems too sophisticated for you.  Mr. James, you shame the non-partisan tradition of your position, and you must resign immediately!
 
I know!  I ought to be ashamed of such abuse.  Somehow though, I’m not.  I would love to see any abuse that you may have sent Mr. James way in the comments…
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8 comments to Letters, words and power

  • Just as an adder here Kim. Vaughn Palmer (you know him. The guy who is worried about his job because citizen journalists are better at his job than he is, so he calls us kooks) came out with a column saying that the mainstream media put the question to James then ran with their own story. So my question to Palmer would be “why can’t the mainstream media put up front page news as to how the campaign is going?” Why is the biggeat news story of the century in BC not being reported like the Clark Balcony? Or Why is the mainstream so full of bias and “Yellow Journalism”"

    [Reply]

  • Kim

    Extremely good questions Gary.

    [Reply]

  • May Mickelow

    I didn’t send him any threatening letters however, I reposted the website evidence showing the BC Elections website pre the petition being delivered to him (the day, morning of the delivery) that clearly shows that he did not change the rule until AFTER they delivered the petitions and I believe that I said something about his honesty but I’m sure that that isn’t abusive or threatening…..is it?

    [Reply]

  • Can we assume that police investigation of the “392 threatening” messages resulted in hundreds of charges? Or, were they not threatening, just discomfort producing. I, for one, asked Mr. James to explain how he could be involved in so many other positions when the legislation prohibits outside appointment. Was that request one of 392 perceived as threatening?

    [Reply]

  • ron wilton

    Craig James is the quintessential snivel servant.

    [Reply]

  • Craig James prolly didn’t get the “abusive” messages until two months later because as usual he was hiding in Africa or somewhere rather than doing the job he was improperly appointed to completely sabotage! Ever notice how he does something like, refuse to forward the HST petition to the Ledge AS REQUIRED by law as proven in court and then leaves and becomes unavailable for “comment,” until for some reason comment seems timely to derail democracy and support the Campbell Crime Family’s agenda (like freak out old ladies, scare recall canvassers, exploit the tragedy in Tucson, etc.)

    [Reply]

  • Kim

    I have the feeling that, as Norm said, most of the letters were more uncomfortable than threatening.

    ron, I don’t think it’s fair to characterize all civil servants in that way, alot of them work hard to keep things running, often under budgetary pressure.

    [Reply]

  • Kim

    Koot, exactly. I HAVE noticed that. Mr. James seems to spend more time working for the World Bank than he does working at EBC. Which is against the rules. And completely immoral. Is that abusive?

    [Reply]

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