Alex Tsakumis on Carole & Sam in Today's 24 Hours

WHAT NOW?

By Alex Tsakumis'

Rebel With A Clause'

In the aftermath of Carole Taylor's announcement that she will not run for Mayor of Vancouver exists the most compelling evidence that Sam Sullivan isn't simply in deep, dark trouble.There has never been a greater collective deflation of spirit than when Ms. Taylor said that she'll pursue other matters. The one person who would have been 'the natural' at doing the job that has been desecrated further since Larry trotted off to the luxury of the Red Chamber, will not be the one to polish Vancouver's badly tarnished star. Instead, Ms. Taylor will blend her time between familial bliss and corporate challenge.Consequently, Sam Sullivan would do well to look skyward (or is that downward?) and thank whatever or whomever it is that he believes in this week, because had Ms. Taylor run, he and his cabal of resume-advancement lapdogs and yesteryear has-beens would have all been out of work A Taylor run would have certainly helped a couple of Tory operatives working out of the local minister's regional office with their (tax-paid) time management (read: juggling) of federal duties and shilling for Sammy. Then again, every single major position either of the Mayor's personal campaign or that of the NPA is occupied by a prominent member of the Conservative Party. Two of three of his campaign co-chairs are simply window dressing: Mr. Sullivan shamelessly panders to the Asian Community and the meandering 'green movement'. The third co-chair, of course, is, you guessed correctly, another prominent Conservative. Liberals have bolted, en masse, from the NPA bailiwick for the less stormy climes of Vision Vancouver, and rightly so.The viciousness, with which some of the Mayor's local Tory pals were referring to Ms. Taylor in the last month, is surely a contributor to her abrupt withdrawal, too. I received one of those calls myself over the holidays. “Alex, we've got so much s-t on your girlfriend … she's the worst Chair the CBC ever had” (Note to reader: I've never dated Ms. Taylor). Besides, alleging that Carole Taylor was a lousy CBC Chair, is akin to referring to Jesus Christ as a failed carpenter.The Mayor's people know how bad his fortunes are and they will stop at almost nothing to get him re-elected, including tearing someone down - personally. I witnessed this last election, first-hand. The political muskets, loaded with immaterial personal tales about Jim Green, were at the ready. It was sickening.Is it any wonder why Ms. Taylor seemed so willing to save us three weeks ago and now seems repulsed, as we are, by the politics of division and nastiness that the Mayor's team lives for?We could once disagree with one another, politically, without being disagreeable. This notion is what Mr. Sullivan has torn from the heart of this city.Ergo, leaving Vancouverites with a sizable problem: having made abundantly clear how much they would abhor another three years of Sullivan nothingness, what now?