SUNDAY PROVINCE COLUMN

Mayor Sam's time is up

David Berner
The Province
Sunday, March 16, 2008

A recent survey posted on my blog -- with the results in parentheses -- reads as follows: The Nutty Mayor has done a magnificent job and deserves re-election by acclamation (2); is the worst mayor in Vancouver history (40); has been OK, but nothing special (10); lives in a world not known to other reasonable people (14); is entirely self-serving (14); is a prince among princes (4); should wear a red jacket and be a downtown ambassador (4); has the NPA by the balls (4); is my favorite politician of all time -- I get out in a few days (5); and other (4).

The "other" category includes three votes for "is mixed, with cashews," and one submission of "I would have to be declared criminally insane to vote for him again."

At a charity event this winter, a banker leaned over to me, as the mayor was addressing the multitudes, and said, "You know, when he was elected, I was very proud of our city. But it didn't take me long to realize that it's all about Sam."

Yes, it's all about Sam.

Take the mountain climbing. No mention of the 19 people who carried him to the summits.

Take all the answers he has to the drug problems, answers that almost nobody will endorse except those paid out of private funds.

Take the $10 million he claims the feds are giving him for his wacky drug ideas, a claim for which there is no reliable evidence on this Earth.

Take his fumbling attempt to first patent the name "eco-density," and then deny that he was doing exactly that.

Take the disastrous public relations mess in attempting to communicate the idea of "eco-density" to a wary public, which has now declared it "echo-duncity."

Take the hundreds of thousands of dollars he has raised, ostensibly under the NPA flag, only to use on . . . you guessed it, himself.

Take my mayor, please.

Not to worry.

Horses of various stripes are already chomping at the bit.

Peter Ladner has forced the mayor and his party, the NPA, to return ever so reluctantly to democracy and actually have an openly contested nomination, instead of the coronation they were assuming would pass unnoticed.

NDP MLA Gregor Robertson, Vision City Councillor Raymond Louie, and NPA Parks Commissioner Alan De Genova have already stepped into the fray.

Which brings us to Senator Flip-Flop, former mayor Larry Campbell, who has supported Louie, Carole Taylor and now Alan De Genova in quick order. Why do some people have written on their foreheads, "I must be a kingmaker?" Isn't it enough to enjoy the pension and the opportunity to be quiet for a change?

Ladner, Robertson or Louie would all make perfectly capable and inoffensive mayors in the mould of Philip Owen -- reliable, dignified to a degree and reasonable managers of the till.

Beats the heck out of what we've got now.

david@davidberner.com

© The Vancouver Province 2008