Hello, I am a New Democrat from Saskatchewan, (we don't mind being called New Democrat up here in Canada), and I am helping out with a Leadership campaign for the Provincial NDP.
The candidate I am supporting is Ryan Meilie, he is the young candidate who is a doctor who entered the race late, who is not well known in the party, but that is beside the point. New information came to light after the membership registration deadline for voting in the leadership, and this is the kind of information that is not good for the party, and can not be ignored, and I am asking my Kossack friends what would be the best way politically to handle this situation. I will get to the details of the wrong doings, by the far out front runner in this leadership race after the fold.Ryan Meiliehttp://
In the New Democratic Party of Saskatchewan, all people who have memberships by the deadline, are eligable to vote for the party leader. Essentially, those who sell the most memberships, have a good chance of winning. It turns out the front runner, bought hundreds of memberships from an Indian Reserve in the Province. I knew about these questionble memberships for over a week as it was flagged to a former MLA that every resident on a particular reserve purchased memberships. Now the story has reached the media, although the party won't mention which candidate is being investigated.
http://www.cbc.ca/...
The provincial New Democratic Party is investigating allegations that party memberships have been sold improperly in northern Saskatchewan.
The party's CEO, Deb McDonald, says the party has had phone calls from people in the north who expressed concern.
However, she wouldn't say what those concerns were or how many people had complained.
"We can't be sure the memberships that they're speaking about — whether it was only one camp that has sold these memberships," she said.
Since I am supporting a campaign, I don't want to say too much of what I know, as I want this investigation to be held properly.
There are some comments at the bottom of the CBC news story, that ads more information to this story.
Crotchety wrote:
It isn't racism to report membership irregularities.
Yes, the irregularities are centred on one or two First Nations. But the accusation is NOT about band members "selling their vote for liquor" but about some person or persons purchasing memberships for individuals without their knowledge or consent.
The riding association in question had fewer than 100 members in January and now has more than 1200. Several purported party members in those First Nations say that they never bought a membership. An astonishing number of these members all have the same phone number. Most have no phone number at all.
If, as it appears, something illicit is afoot, it isn't the residents of Flying Dust and Waterhen who have behaved inappropriately.
Any racism here isn't attached to the people raising questions, but to the idiot who thought that the names and identity of these 1,000 band members were there for the taking.
It is ironic, of course, that the leadership camp which has positioned itself as the campaign of political pros should be the one to caught up in such an episode of amateur hour incompetence. So much for the big professional machine that can bring us to victory in 2011.
If this is the kind of strength experience brings, perhaps a little inexperience is just what the doctor ordered.
My concern here and has always been that the candidate in question, who left the NDP and Saskatchewan to work for a big Alberta Oil company, who joined the race at a chance for power will completely destroy the party with his poor ethics and judgment. As someone who read Kos's book, Taking on the Sytem, and I am looking for your advice for what to do.
Please help.