Pubdate: Fri, 26 Sep 2008
Source: Nanaimo News Bulletin (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008, BC Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/948
Author: Mitch Wright
Note: Mitch Wright is managing editor of the Nanaimo News
Bulletin. A provincial and national award-winning reporter and editor, he
writes about Nanaimo and provincial issues every Saturday.

MEDIA FANS FLAMES OF CONTROVERSY

NDP now stands for Naked, Dumb Potheads.

I had to shake my head last week watching news coverage of the
'revelations' over the past indiscretions of now-former federal NDP
candidates Julian West and Dana Larsen.

Most media treated word that Larsen was an avid pot-head who loudly
advocated for marijuana legalization and that West had dropped trow in
front of a bunch of teenagers some 12 years ago like it was startling
new information.

But the fact is it's old news in both cases.

Larsen never made a secret of his pot-head past (and present), even
distributing a marijuana advocacy newsletter (on hemp paper, no doubt)
in recent weeks. He hosted and broadcast a weekly Internet segment
specifically about weed - growing, smoking, and so forth.

West's past, meanwhile, made major headlines in 1996, shortly after
the naked truth was exposed about his embarrassing (yes, I meant to
use that word) romp at a teenage environmental awareness camp. The
incident made news again several times since, primarily because he
continued to put himself (though not quite as much of himself,
thankfully) in the public eye as a member and candidate with the Green
Party (which he was at the time of the incident), and as a vocal
advocate for electoral reform.

Certainly, in both cases, the information must be made public again,
considering the men in question are asking for the public's trust in
running for federal office. Voters need to know the past history, both
the good and the not-so-good, of their candidates if they're to make
an informed decision at the ballot box.

But the story really shouldn't have been front-page news yet
again.

As usual, the TV stations were the worst offenders, presenting the
information as if they'd had an investigative reporter on the case for
weeks digging up the dirt.

In reality, all anyone had to do was punch the name Julian West (who
is a Vancouver Island University mathematics professor in Nanaimo)
into any Internet search engine and the details would have popped up.
Of course, put that search in now and you get page after page after
page of salacious coverage of this 'new' scandal.

Where's the coverage of how many of our 308 incumbent representatives
have criminal records? Drunk driving arrests? Abuse charges? We've
already sent a rogue's gallery of these characters to Ottawa. Adding
West and Larsen to the mix would just spice up the parliamentary party
with some skin and a spliff, especially if committee meetings ran up
against 4:20...

But seriously, the fact that either actually earned their respective
nominations raises questions about the NDP's obviously lax
candidate-screening process, but also about the real intentions of the
individuals themselves.

Did either actually think they could make it through a federal
election campaign without their skeletons tumbling out of the closet
in a noisy clatter? Especially considering both secrets were already
so poorly hidden?

And given that both former candidate's pasts were more or less already
out in the open, I have to wonder what they were trying to accomplish.

Call me a conspiracy theorist (you certainly wouldn't be the first,
nor likely the last), but I'd say they're both trying to discredit the
NDP - and perhaps by default, send those iffy voters over to the
Greens or the Liberals.

Larsen's weedy ways are far more aligned with the Green's earthy
approach, while in West's case (remember, he was a longtime Green
supporter and candidate), he waited just long enough to resign his
candidacy so that there will be no NDP to vote for in Saanich-Gulf
Island - his name will remain on the ballot.

By the way, Saanich-Gulf Islands is the riding of choice for
candidates with a penchant for public nudity.

Briony Penn, also a former Green now running under the Liberal banner,
wore nothing but her pride as Lady Godiva during a 2001 horseback ride
through Vancouver to protest Saltspring Island logging.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin