May 9, 2005
The NDP is once again caught by their own hypocrisy. This evening on Global Television, retiring NDP MLA Joy MacPhail attacked the BC Liberal Party for encouraging supporters to call in to this morning’s radio debate.
When asked if the NDP engaged in such activities, MacPhail responded: “New Democrats don’t do this. They don’t!”
Unfortunately for MacPhail, the fact that the NDP does this has already been reported publicly:
The Vancouver Sun reported on May 2 that NDP candidate Rob Fleming’s campaign manager, Darcy Lindberg, had sent out an e-mail in advance of a radio debate on CFAX radio encouraging supporters to call in to ask questions during the debate. “We want to make sure that we have our own people lighting up the phone lines as well,” said the NDP e-mail.
The e-mail further goes on to describe that Rob Fleming is “choosing to enlist 15 or so volunteers to commit to waking up and phoning in with a question. By tomorrow we should have some questions made up for you to choose from, or, if you decide you would like to ask your questions, e-mail me and we can work with that!”
But this just doesn’t stop at the candidate level; the NDP regularly sends out bulletins far and wide to their membership inviting all members to call in to radio shows.
Case in point: The NDP “Hotwire” bulletin e-mailed on May 4, 2005, clearly lays out an agenda for radio call-ins that day. The bulletin notes:
Support the team
9-10 am CKNW with Bill Good
Candidates debate for West Van-Garibaldi with NDP candidate Lyle Fenton.
You can listen live on CKNW 980 AM or tune in at www.cknw.com.
And you can participate in the program by calling the open line at
604.280.9898 or 1.877.399.9898 or email at good@cknw.com.
NDP Leader Carole James is on record admitting that her party frequently tried to stack talk shows with NDP supporters. In an interview with the Kamloops Daily News on January 27, 2005, when asked about party members call in to talk shows, James clearly responded: “That’s common practice.”
Plain and simple, for the NDP to claim that they do not engage in this activity is pure hypocrisy. But then again, after denying their legacy of the last ten years, such simple denials are par for the course.
