Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Night They Drove Ol' Christy Down...

VirgilCaneIsTheName
AndIServedOnTheDanvilleTrainVille


You remember that old Robbie Robertson tune, right?

You know, the one that may, or may not, have been written with an assist from the recently departed Levon Helm.

Well, in the first verse there's a line about how 'Stoneman's calvary came' to Dixie in the last stages of the American Civil war and, by then, no walls the Southerners could construct could stop the Union general and his calvary from running amok everywhere.

And, appropo of absolutely everything, it appears that 'stonewalling' and our current premier, Ms. Christy Clark, are suddenly, finally, together in the news - where they belong.

In fact, Justine Hunter raised the matter in her Globe piece today when she quoted a marketing expert from SFU on the matter of the two week super-secret stonewall that was carefully constructed before the 'sudden' resignation of Ms. Clark's former right hand man Ken Boessenkool earlier this week:

For two weeks, Premier Christy Clark was aware of allegations of misconduct by her top political appointee involving a female subordinate. But Ms. Clark refused to explain Tuesday why her chief of staff Ken Boessenkool remained on the job until media inquiries about the incident led to his dismissal...

{snippety doodle}

...That secrecy only makes matters worse in the public’s eye, said marketing expert Lindsay Meredith, from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. “From a damage-control standpoint, the one thing that will get you in a lot of trouble is stonewalling,” he said...



But here's the thing.

In my opinion, Ms. Clark's demonstrated ability to 'stonewall' is not a new thing.

Or, to put it more bluntly, I believe she has actually been stonewalling we, the people, of British Columbia for a full eight years.

By way of illustration and explanation, the following is from Sean Holman's invaluable 'Public Eye Online' archives from Sept 17, 2004:

Yesterday, Children and Family Development Minister Christy Clark resigned her cabinet position and announced she wouldn't be seeking re-election. In a scrum, which could have been - at times - entitled a sentimental journey, reporters asked her about the reasons for that decision. The following is a rush transcript of that scrum (which would have been available a lot sooner, were it not for Public Eye's more pressing Times Colonist column deadline)....

{snippety doodle-dandy}


Media: Was your decision in any way linked to the legislature raids - that issue that your hursband and your brother have been involved with? Was there an exasperation because of that that helped fuel your decision?

Minister Clark: No. If I had any sense that anyone in my family had been implicated in this, I would have resigned in January (2004). But there's no reason to think anyone was implicated. And I think recent news has probably clarified for us that this story was probably a lot more limited that certainly initial speculation indicated...


Hmmmm....

One can only wonder....

Was there ever a 'Danville' stop on that BC Rail Train?




Now, this is the place where we go back to that bolded stuff above, in red, from the eight-year-old scrum quote once again...

"...If I had any sense that anyone in my family had been implicated in this, I would have resigned in January (2004)...."


Why go back to it?

Well, because of the following, from the transcript of a RailGate-associated RCMP wiretap of a conversation between Mr. David Basi and Mr. Bruce Clark (Ms. Clark's brother) wherein they discuss a 'Request for Proposals' (RFP) for the BC Rail 'Spur Line' in the fall of 2003. The transcript was finally released to the public in early 2011:




David Basi: "So basically, um, what we have is the draft RFP."

Bruce Clark: "Okay."

Basi: "Um, that uh, we have t' make changes and y'know, uh, um, we can draft it anyway we want now, right: so..."

Clark: "Whose, wh', whose hands is it in?"

Basi: "It's, it's in our hands right now."

Clark: "Okay."

Basi: "Uh, and then it'll go back to transportation. And then they'll look at it and then they'll uh, um, issue the official RFP."

Clark: "Okay. What are the time lines like?"

Basi: "Uh, two weeks."

Basi: "So, I can sit on this thing for two weeks. So if you come back next week then you can take it and look at it, show it to them. They can, they can, y'know, change some of the words around, that's obviously, some buzz words they wanna see in there, right?"

Clark: "Yeah."

Basi: "And these, these companies know how to, how to, y'know, get the fluff out of this shit and how to tailor it to themselves, right?"

Clark: "Of course."

....{snippety doo-dah}....

Clark: "Wonder, wonder if it would be better if you got it couriered from here or not?"

Basi: "I don't care. Whatever you want. I don't care."

Clark: "Okay, well maybe I'll get you to courier it to Europe for me, or something."

Basi: "You want me to courier it to Europe?"

Clark: "Sure, you could do that."

.....{snippety doodle-dandy}....

Clark: "Or uh, or, or can it be faxed or something or?"

Basi: "Oh it can be faxed, yeah. Do you wanna give me a fax, secure fax number?"

Clark: "Yeah, I'll get you a secure fax number and we can do it that way."

Basi: "Yeah, you get me a fax number and I'll fax it to you.

Clark: "Sounds great my friend."


Now.

You may (or may not) remember that the proposed sale of this spur line was halted in the spring of 2004 because the RCMP informed the government that Ms. Christy Clark was still a part of at the time (as then 'Deputy' Premier) that the process was compromised because confidential material had fallen into the wrong hands.

So....

Time to crank-up the jackhammers and finally smash that wall of stone to rubble and see what is really behind it?

I say the answer is yes.


_____
This one's for my friend Mary.


.

8 comments:

Grant G said...

Thanks Ross K....Very Clever..


May I pile on please..


For Mary.


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2012/04/mary-mackie-heart-of-gold.html

West End Bob said...

Great post, RossK - Thanks!

I thought Joan Baez was the Drivin' Miss Dixie tune originator, tho. Thanks for the enlightenment and clever post title, BTW . . . .

Bill said...

Yes for Mary and all her energy and doggedness and those that have followed her in reporting on the theft of BC Rail by the BC Liberals.

It was a "transaction" so tainted it just will not go away. It was a theft in which a "family" of too many politicians, backroom friends and others of privilege and trust in our province criminally failed us. They and the big paid MSM stonewalled in the hope that we would give up on the truth.

Most of the dots are easily connected but even with the truth (as in this Basi/Clark transcript) still many want us - the minions to move on, to get over it, so they can get on with more plunder and the enjoyment of their spoils.

Mary had great perseverance and passion for truth but I don't think any patience for stonewalling.

North Van's Grumps said...

And in less than a month, both Dave Basi and Bobby Virk, walk FREE from the chains that have restricted their movements day and night.

Kim said...

Yes, I was thinking of Mary as I read the text and thinking, in particular, how much she would have enjoyed this post.

And yes, let's bring on that jackhammer...

Don F. said...

Hey Ross,
Looking back at the events of even the last week let alone her career should give cause to demmand she step down for the good of the province. It just becomes more clear daily that the good of the province is not something that concerns these people.
There appears moreso every day a maniacal drive not only by Christy but all who surround her.???
It certainly is time for someone or something to put an end to this for nothing good will result from it continuing, it has gone too far.
If it indeed has come down to jackhammers so be it. It feels a little too much like the drunken party where someone dies before everyone sobers up.
Don

kootcoot said...

Where is StoneWally when Christy needs him?

I dream of a denouement here in BeeCee like the ending to the two hour special season opening episode of Law and Order S.V.U. last night (I confess to being a rabid Law and Order fan, forever, and do realize that doesn't qualify me to practice law in any jurisdiction.)

This episode which picked up where last season left off, with Captain Cragan waking up in bed with a dead (and very lovely) whore and ended with a perp march for the ages, including the Attorney General of New York, and a whole herd of officials from the D.A.'s office, the NYPD and assorted cops.......the Madam of all Madams!

Add another body to the pile on FOR MARY. I still miss her so much, especially when I sit down at my keyboard and remember I can't reach out to her for advice or just to share a story or feeling.

I take solace in the realization that she had such a long and productive life that touched so many people in so many good ways.......my heart still goes out to Nadina and Jake, too.

RossK said...

Grant--

Pile away.

_____

Bob--

Joanie's version is king hella...It's weird, but Robertson and Helm got in a big row about that song...The latter rarely sang it after that waltz gig at Winterland (which was re-dubbed in the studio btw).

_____

Bill--

Agreed. Mary's words, in fact, were jackhammers against walls of stone.

_____

NVG--

Good point Mr. Stone to call our own

_____

Kim--

One of my favourite things ever as a blogger was to have Mary send me a very polite Email asking me if I would 'mind' if she were to repost something that I wrote at her place...I always took it to be a great compliment.

_____

Don--

In all honesty, I am betwixt and between...because I guess there is still a (very slim) chance that, with a new leader the LINO's could stop digging and do something that could get them out of their deep, deep hole by next spring...With Ms. Clark that would appear to be impossible....So?

_____
koot--

To quote those prophets from 'Bad Religion'....Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction

And Mary smiles everytime you pound the keys - I'm sure of it.