Ray Lam was/is a Facebook friendslut. It is maddening how political people sell themselves and their platform by building a faceobok page and then proceed to add as many peple as possible as friends, even though they do not know them.
If you want to sell yourself set up a Facebook group.

Can we discuss the politics of media and how social networking sites, amongst other things, are sources for shameless political marketing?

Furthermore, and on a grander scale, Harper’s Conservative gov’t using sophisticated software to mirror and predict voting patterns/ profiling people and communities to learn how best to attck them?

Platforms are more about who has the money now than anything else. Maybe that was where David Eby fell short- too grassroots/small campaigner who was countign on the good people who feel strongly about housing/homelessness

http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/02/facebook-friend-sluts.html

Dave ran a good campaign, and fell at the last because he made little effort to build bridges into other communities (primarily, but not exclusively, ethnic), largely as a consequence of him not knowing enough about the issues and neighbourhoods of this city beyond his own. He’s obviously a curious and active mind, and I’m reasonably sure he’ll make the effort to get a broader picture of the city in the future. He was worth my vote this time around, and I hope I have the chance to vote for him in 3 years.

But seriously, calling his Joel Solomon-backed campaign “too grassroots” or “small” is kind of silly. Did anyone on the Gregor membership list not get an Eby card? Imagine what Hadani Ditmars could have done with that list.

Hadani Ditmars campaign, albeit run on a small budget, disappointed me. Her literature spoke of how she an acclaimed and award-winning journalist. It did not mention how she could collaborate with a group to change our city for the better.

On Saturday, she, like some of the other candidates, hovered by the doors.

I was insulted that candidates would think that a hand thrust into my body to shake, might alter my vote. On the way out, when i mentioned to Hadani that i found the behaviour assaultive, she laughed at me and turned away.

All the money, connections and lists would not have helped her get my vote.

Dear failed park board candidate,

It’s terrible that you didn’t make it, as your response to losing has been so thoughtful and measured. Your grace in defeat is an inspiration, even if the defeat was so very unfair. Someone with your tremendous track record in the community (your specific involvement in Vancouver is so vast you only had time to list a single local effort, the “Save the CBC Orchestra” effort, in your campaign brochure) deserved more than mere nomination: you should have skipped directly to elected office. If only people had understood how much you have to offer! Sadly, “intrinsic understanding[s] of the connection between culture and environment” are usually mocked by people as empty rhetoric that takes entirely too long to say nothing. Philistines the lot of them.

It’s shameful that those ethnic voting blocks came out and voted, and to have the temerity to vote for someone they knew and trusted! Since politicians of the old, non-human kind of politics are obviously untrustworthy, those communities should have known better than to be taken in by their endorsements. Prominent community figures, being blind to real excellence, might use familiarity and history to make a decision on whom to support, and thus not arrive at the correct person: Hadani Ditmars.

And a hearty “pah!” to those who say that the written instructions to those ethnic voting blocks are, in fact, no different than the written instructions that all of those non-ethnic politicians were handing out to the non-ethnic voters – the difference is obvious to anyone with eyes.

Your new kind of politics is the way forward. A politics where people earn trust from members of the community by effort is palpably inferior to one that is based on the preciousness of prose and the capacity to digress on international issues that have no bearing on the discussion at hand. A politics where endorsements and campaign allies are based on merit and exertion is offensive to those with higher souls and deeper sensitivities. Anyone with the ability to correctly judge all the left’s efforts as mere fiddling without even needing to involve them self in any of these efforts should not be judged merely by engaged citizens. Seek the Mandate of Heaven; it is only fitting.

mmmmmmm… comment number 8 was sinfully delicious. sore losers suck, reminds me of that kevin potvin loser…

xox

What I like about Frances’ post is that is really separates the candidates for Vision into two camps – the candidates that are in it for the long haul, the ones who are involved because they want to make a difference, not because they want to add to their list of personal achievements or because they believe whatever they have achieved to date somehow means the world owes them something.

Needless to say, these two species of candidate are to be found in any political party.

I’m certain if these candidates were to have won a nomination, they would be singing the praises of the democratic process and downplaying the impact of worn-out tactics of yesteryear on the result.

And so, from where I sit, Ray Lam, David Eby and many other unsuccessful candidates this time around are class acts. It takes almost nothing to be gracious in victory – it takes guts and character to be gracious in defeat.

And as for Mr. Manifesto, who actually thinks Facebook is anything OTHER than a marketing tool, I hope you’re on your second cup of coffee this morning….

Dear ptak 604

Thanks for your post.

I’m not really interested in a protracted internet slinging match with someone who posts anonymously. But if you’d care to identify yourself and give me a call, I’d welcome a real dialogue about substantive issues. Meeting in person would be even better. God forbid we might even shake hands!

Whatever you think of me or my qualifications, based on reading a small brochure, I invite you to ponder the many voting irregularities that voters of all stripes and colours have been complaining to me about. I’m sure you would agree there are issues that need to be addressed for future campaigns and nomination votes. In this context I am frankly relieved to be “a failed park board candidate” for Vision Vancouver.

And I certainly agree with you that there were other kinds of voting blocks besides the more obvious ones.

I’m heartened by your passion and your prose style – although you do seem rather angry (I do hope writing to me has helped relieve some pent up steam – rather than say, taking it out on the poor fellow next to you on the bus).

I must say that when I was being pilloried by the right wing neo-cons when my book on Iraq came out, I was happy to note that the most virulent responses were the ones with the worst spelling, grammar and lack of imagination.

You, dear ptak, sound like you might even be a fellow scribe! Are you? If so, what do you think about the current federal arts cuts?

My point about the left fiddling while the world burns is that with all the infighting we lose precious energy to fight for the really important
issues.

I’m sorry if you think Iraq and Afghanistan are irrelevant. Of course they’re not exactly park board issues are they? But I have to say, my experience planning a community garden project for women and their children in post invasion Baghdad, where rival militias duked it out daily, was great preparation for the world of Vancouver civic politics!

So dear ptak604, whoever you are, and whomever you voted for (I know it wasn’t me!) I implore you please don’t tempt me with another deliciously scathing post – at least not until I’ve finished my next writing deadline (you know how we writers love to procrastinate)

But if you’d care to meet for coffee on the weekend – bienvenue!

All the best to you ptak604

Hadani

Dear Hadani Ditmars,

Thank you for your posts detailing how we have to get past the name calling. I enjoyed them, especially the part where you pictured me violently beating a fellow transit passenger. Sadly, you also implied I was some sort of professional writer. This when I’m so very attached to my amateur status.

Your apologies on Iraq and Afghanistan are unnecessary. These are clearly places of importance, just not in the context of a park board nomination race. Your community garden experience in Iraq, on the other hand, may very well have been. It’s a shame you only saw fit to mention it after being goaded by an irritating and anonymous blog comment.

I do feel for you on one point: complaining about being stabbed in the back by Raymond Louie seems far too common an occurrence in Vancouver politics. But with that point made, you had to undercut yourselfon the issue of bargaining power with COPE. I’m sure your estimable presence on the ticket shook the pillars of Heaven, but I’m reasonably sure that Vision’s 16, 000 members and wildly popular mayoral candidate might be more direct sources of power in that negotiation.

I would be dishonest if I did not agree with your point about voting irregularities. There were far too many on that day, and I have drafted up a letter to the Vision executive about that I plan to send once I’ve inserted more scathe and barely-contained violence. I hope that exercise gets me through my next commute without murdering anybody. Pray for me, Hadani.

By the way, did you mention you wrote a book on Iraq? One would never know.

Hello all,

I am very grateful for all the support but we are getting a bit off track. In any race, nomination or election, there will always be successful and unsuccessful candidates. The unsuccessful ones, like me in this case, all go through the same stages of mourning:
~Denial “wtf!? Did I hear it right? Mike, give me the print out of numbers!”,
~Anger “This is bullshit! Everything in my closet is in shades of blue and green!”,
~Bargaining “maybe if I iron it out…the Banana Republic will accept the refund.”,
~Depression “they won’t accept the refund…what kind of a gay man has 6 of the same shirt in different shades of blue and green?!”, and
~Acceptance “okay…fine…I’ll just buy new clothes and start working for the successful candidates.”

The key thing to take away in all this is: we need to accept the loss and get back to work. There was a flock of 37 of Vancouver’s most progressive and passionate community organizers running to Vision – we all knew that 21 were going to be unsuccessful. Despite all our differences in policy, ideology, and background…we have to remember the following: we all came to Vision because we wanted change.

The changes we want are still within reach. However, the first step is to get the Vision team elected. There are committees within Council, Park Board, and the Board of Education. What we need to focus on now is getting progressive candidates elected that will listen to us and work with us. During my campaign, I made promises: better youth services, sustainable living, and sustainable transportation. I have no intention of falling back on those promises; I’ll just have to do it without the title or salary.

Among the successful candidates, we have a living example of progressive leaders reflecting an array of Vancouverites (ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, political affiliations, and experiences). Embrace that. Then embrace me, because I could still use a hug.