Have you heard the latest …
Apparently the best kept secret at Abbotsford City Hall – that even Dave Loewen could beat Bruce Banman in a dead heat for the Mayor’s job if Bruce were crazy enough to try to get re-elected – has made the rounds enough times that Bruce has now heard it.
Until he heard that the entire council wants to run for his job, Bruce had reportedly decided that the next political job he would like to try is that of Chair of the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD).
Bruce Banman
Having failed miserably at everything but the singing Bruce apparently thinks he’s got what it takes to rule the entire Valley.
After all … all he would need would be the support of the other Mayor’s in the region and, since Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz has already had her turn, he figured he would be a shoe-in. After all, being the Mayor of the city with the largest debt to services ratio in BC ought to get you something … no?
Of course Bruce has to be elected in his own city before he can run for the FVRD job.
Bruce Banman 2014 Campaign Kicks Off Nov 27
Justin Goodrich
Perhaps that’s why Bruce will be kicking of his re-election campaign November 27th at the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce. He is slated to speak to the Chamber at their luncheon (according to an ad which looks like a campaign ad in the Abbotsford Times).
Rumour has it he has hired former president of the Chamber Patrick Giesbrecht’s business partner, Justin Goodrich as his campaign manger.
Patrick Giesbrecht
Goodrich is senior partner with Giesbrecht, Goodrich & Co, which describes itself as “… a consulting firm specializing in communications, advocacy and public relations.” It adds that it has”… a focus on politics and public affairs.”
As the president of the youth wing of the Christian Heritage Party, Goodrich once opined that the separation of church and state was established to keep the state out of church business, not to keep the church out of state business.
Goodrich recently led a campaign for Abbotsford Community Services for which his partner congratulated him on Twitter.
Why This Matters
If indeed Goodrich and/or Giesbrecht are helping Bruce in an attempt to get re-elected that would certainly lay waste to any notion that the Chamber of Commerce is neutral when it come to politics. The political connections between the Chamber and City Hall have been well-documented over the years.
The notion the Chamber was in any way neutral was dispensed with years ago when the Chamber executive actively campaigned for:
Jason, Bruce Sally Ann Tweet
- Plan A and the $500,000,000 in long term commitments which goes with it
- George Peary’s Deal with the Calgary Flames and Global Spectrum which together cost us $10 million a year
- A $300,000,000 new water supply we didn’t need and couldn’t afford
- Two federal overpasses paid for mostly by Abbotsford taxpayers in order to increase access to Abbotsford businesses*
*The overpass campaign was particularly cute because it emptied what was left in our Development Cost Charges (DCC) fund and left us the only municipality in the Lower Mainland owing ourselves millions of dollars in order to subsidize existing business instead of spending the money on what it was legislated for – to have new business pay their share of infrastructure costs.
Banman Needs To Be Clear
If Banman has indeed started his campaign for re-election he should first of all make that statement soon, and publicly. Secondly he has to indicate at which public events he is appearing as a candidate and which public events he is appearing on the public dime. The twain shall not, in law at least, meet.
If he has actually hired Goodrich and/or Giesbrecht to manage his way back to City Hall after a disastrous first swing at it, we will have an ineffective mayor and his friends at the organization which has been at the heart of every really bad decision in Abbotsford over the last decade working together – a marriage made in heaven.