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When politicians promise to run clean campaigns, what does it mean?

August 19th, 2014 · 26 Comments

When the NPA made a big splash out of signing Code of Conduct pledges last week promising no personal attacks and a campaign based on the issues, it made me curious about how frequent something like this is. (I thought I heard a suggestion at the signing that it was the first ever in Canada.)

As it turns out, they’re somewhat common and becoming more so, to the point that the state of California, for instance, has a recommended code of campaign conduct that it suggests for aspiring politicos. (That code, along with others I found along the way, goes further than the NPA’s, with promises not to misrepresent either the other side’s positions, i.e. interpreting some minor vote as being that the candidate is opposing some motherhood issue vehemently, or to misrepresent themselves.

But, as people I contacted for my story suggested, as much as regular voters say they like clean campaigns and as much as candidates promise them, those campaigns can be hard to stick to once parties feel like they’re backed into a corner. Also, they note, it doesn’t mean that negative is off limits — it’s perfectly okay to be negative about the opponent, if that negativity is about real positions they took or real mistakes they made.

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  • boohoo

    It means nothing.

  • Paul Tolnai

    I’m sure you’ve seen the personal ridiculing here Frances. It seems that in politics if you aren’t right, you can still win by making a laughing stock of your opponent.

    Sometimes that policy backfires. (See: Kim Campbell 1993.)

    I think Vision has to be dirty because their track record is so bad, they can’t run on it. Instead they have to launch personal attacks.

    I think most political foes want to run a clean campaign. I know my first campaign was started with a friendly handshake with the opposing side and even a few drinks together.

    Something tells me the Vision brain trust have no interest in doing that, lest they be put on even worse footing.

    This will be an interesting ride, that’s for sure.

  • Agustin

    Didn’t the BC NDP try something like this recently?

    I applaud the efforts to clean up campaigns, but I don’t know that it’s a great way to win.

    When someone figures out how to win with positive campaigns, maybe they can also figure out how to get diving out of soccer.

  • Paul Tolnai

    Agustin, the BC NDP seem to want to rewrite history… They may say they were running a clean campaign, but they were doing anything but.

    The promise of a clean campaign only works when you really run a clean campaign.

    And let’s be honest, clean campaign or not, it was theirs to lose and Mr. Dix did an excellent job of losing it for them.

  • Silly Season

    Dix didn’t lose because he ran a ‘clean’ campaign.

    He lost because of two things:

    1) putting too much political capital into ensuring David Eby won Clark’s riding, hoping it would have a ripple effect across the province and

    2) his disastrous last minute ‘no Northern Gateway’ stance, a statement that completely went against his earlier proclamations, and frightened voters above Cache Creek. Again, in concentrating on the green vote, he forget his traditional base of support.

    Additionally, in trying to appear ‘premier ready’, he compromised his own real (and perhaps, not very likeable) tough talking personality, further confusing the electorate. He could have attacked the government on its record—that would have been a legitimate strategy. That’s not mean. That’s doing the job.

    I expect any opposition to the current council to point out the weaknesses—and also excite us with corrective actions and new, better ideas that are worthy of our great city.

    No more food truck good news stories, thanks. We are more than a town of hipsters, regardless of what planners think, or want.

    Do I ask too much?

  • Bill

    @Agustin #3

    “When someone figures out how to win with positive campaigns, maybe they can also figure out how to get diving out of soccer.”

    I think they should first figure out a way to get scoring into soccer.

    As for “clean” campaigns, politicians will continue to run them however they think gives them the best chance of winning. It is impossible to set out an objective code of conduct that would satisfy everyone since only the individual voter can determine what is relevant to their own decision making.

  • F.H.Leghorn

    Can we please stop pretending that anything they say matters. Most of them are in the talk business, not the decision-making business. Besides they’re all the same no matter what party they belong to (for the time being).
    Whether they’re are good-looking air-head or a thoughtful candidate with impressive professional credentials, once they hit the campign trail they’re for sale.
    If you want to influence their thinking get out your checque book. Never mind the petition drives or demos or letters to social media sites. Politicians pay attention to two and only two things: what do the biggest donors want; and can I get on their board if I lose the election?
    The voters? Screw’em. Only one in three can be bothered to vote and our marketing people can play them like a violin.

  • Jenables

    Foggie I have to agree. The sad thing is, they are elected to represent the people… the people don’t understand that if they want integrity and fairness, they have to collectively pony up to elect someone to do that for them. Is that the way it should be? Hell no, but the people who are paying are the ones whose needs are being met and that is no coincidence.

    I will never, ever, understand why the BCNDP couldn’t state the truth about the liberal’s record. So much under-reported mismanagement and corruption to choose from. No exaggerations or personal attacks necessary. Did they think the papers would do it for them??

  • F.H.Leghorn

    Didn’t matter what the NDP did or didn’t do or who was their leader. Everybody remembers the last time. The NDP is composed of two groups: the members (cranks, whiners and dreamers for the most part) and the public employees unions (BCGEU, BCTF,CUPE, and the rest of that shiftless rogue’s gallery). And we all remember the train wreck that ensued when Harcourt sneaked them in under the radar.
    Jenny Kwan didn’t help by obeying Jim Sinclair’s orders to stick a knife in a sister’s back. Let’s make her Minister for Children and Families, they thought to themselves. That should keep her out of trouble. Turns out they were wrong about that too.

  • Lewis N. Villegas

    I’d like to see politicians come clean on the issues, besides all the other stuff. I wrote about my experiences in Vancouver neighbourhoods, and City of North Vancouer, here:

    http://wp.me/p1yj4U-m0

    If it is going to be a ‘change election’ lets make it about changing the way the city engages its residents.

  • Jenables

    I would remind you of the unmitigated disaster that the bc liberals have done to everything in bc that was built by and intended to serve the public good, leaving bc in excessive, mounting, continual debt to the private companies we unwillingly sold our assets to, or the current, raping the environment will fix everything forever mentality (LNG.. a once in a lifetime opportunity with absolutely no pitfalls! You have two seconds to decide before this opportunity is gone forever! Phht… My brother used to try those tricks on me when we were kids) but then the can of worms would be open. Let’s not.

  • Agustin

    Paul, #4: points taken.

    But do you think a campaign can actually win by staying completely clean? Do you know of any examples?

  • Buckywest

    I heard Kirk LaPointe on the CBC the other morning defending his announcement. In response, Kerry Jang, as is so typical, totally evaded the point of discussion and dissembled in questioning the NPA’s stance on low cost housing, the Kinder Morgan expansion, etc. etc. I have witnessed this of Councillor Jang in the past, both in the media and in person – a total inability to address a/the question at hand, a regular Sideshow Bob.

  • Chris Keam

    “The Best Party tactics are to stay silent under fire, remaining positive and courteous. ”It is a challenge, to be honest,” admits Jón. “But if opponents say ‘you are an asshole’, I ask them not to state it as fact, but as their opinion.””

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/19/iceland-reykjavik-mayor-best-party

  • spartikus

    Instead they have to launch personal attacks.

    These things being subjective, does Paul have an example of one?

  • Jenables

    Just curious if you doubt the sentence before that one Spartikus? That vision’s track record is bad. I actually would like to know what your personal opinion is on that.

  • Bill Lee

    Well, Frank Magazine spent much ink in Vol.4 #16 August 16, 2014 on Gregor Robertson’s breakup, mentioning in passing Mr. LaPointe, and excoriating Visionista Marcella Munro for her lashings.

    So there is a prominent outlet for ‘unclean’ but hidden snipes by media people.

  • Dr. Frankentower

    Once again my googly/intrawebs skills appear to have failed me. I don’t see a link to the actual “Code of Conduct” document anywhere on the NPA website or Lapointe’s blog. Seems a little strange that the NPA wouldn’t make it readily accessible to the public, given all the talk about “openness and transparency”, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions, so…

    Can someone please provide a link to the Code of Conduct document? Thanks.

  • spartikus

    I actually would like to know what your personal opinion is on that.

    I approve of some things they’ve done and have scratched my head at a couple of others. But for the most part I, like most people outside the echo chambers of social media, am agnostic.

  • Mark

    “Words are wind.”

  • F.H.Leghorn

    “Then mark I this conclusion in my mind,
    It’s all one thing – both tend into one scope –
    To live upon Tobacco and on Hope,
    The one’s but smoke, the other is but wind.”

    -excerpt from “On Tobacco”
    by Sir Robert Aytoun 1570-1638

  • Brilliant

    Just curious boohoo, is there a prize given out for the utter predictability of a poster’s response?. A gold ribbon you’re striving fir?

  • Dr. Frankentower

    Crickets? No-one can find a link to Lapointe’s Code of Conduct? Really?

    C’mon. I will buy you a beer at the next bulablog bash…

  • boohoo

    @23

    I looked, couldn’t find it. Saw a picture of him signing something, maybe it’s just his wish list for Christmas.

    @22

    Love you too.

  • spartikus

    Jeff Lee posted a legible photo of the Code of Conduct

    Tip: Twitter can also be used as a search engine.

  • Dr. Frankentower

    Ok, I pledge to buy spartikus a beer. Thanks! You deserve it for having to go to such great lengths to sleuth this out. I was afraid I might have to file an FOI request.

    You see, Mr. Tolnai, we can ridicule each other, and still remain friends.

    But I have to admit, I am sadly disappointed by the NPA’s much ballyhooed “Code of Conduct”. It appears to be short, innocuous, and inconsequential, like its author.

    So I was compelled to invent one of my own in a dutiful effort to keep dear, sweet Kirk (@12 in the next thread), and other heavily mortgaged parents like him, engaged in this election (I’ve been there, Kirk, raising a kid in a downtown east flat, and I know how stifling it can be).

    Unlike Mr. Lapointe and the NPA, I have no problem openly posting it online, so feel free to hold me accountable and mock me mercilessly should I stray from the high road, and find myself in the gutter, gazing up at the stars.

    So here goes…

    Dr. Frankentower’s Intrawebs Code of Conduct for the 2014 Election Campaign

    I pledge:

    1. I will take the piss out of the NPA and Vision every chance I get.
    2. I will be open and transparent about my efforts to deceive you.
    3. I will gladly suck the balls of developers for a 4 digit donation.
    4. I will build towers with thin skins and podiums with no privacy in every neighbourhood, and barbeque on my tiny skydeck in my tiny gonch while scrutinizing you with my huge military-issue binoculars, and maybe scratch my butt sexily if you’re lucky.
    5. I will paint the town’s figure ground in greenwash to cover up all the mould.
    6. I will quote Stats Can numbers from the 2011 Census, and refuse to admit that it is a poor, pale shadow of its rich former self.
    7. If I am wrong about something, or am accused of being a homophobe or some such abhorrent thing, I will cleverly play the victim card, and cry “smear job!” to confuse people who think they can identify with the group of people I went out of my way to offend.
    8. I will never, EVER, comment on a bicycle-related discussion (or a Pricetags post), because I don’t believe in feeding the egos of spandex trolls (or deluded old men).
    9. I will stick my nose up developer’s asses for a 5 digit donation, and claim to be smelling roses AND saving the world.
    10. I refuse to indulge in personal attacks, and will critique with facts that are quantifiable, relevant and befitting of a Councillor’s conduct, and which yield irrefutable conclusions about my opponents that only enable me, in every possible instance, to call them names like “arrogant”, “incompetent”, “disrespectful” or “deceitful”.
    11. In my public statements, I will offer up solutions to nothing of consequence in the lives of 96% of all citizens, so if undecided voters do drag their butts out to vote, it’s 100% certain that, at the last minute, they will be swayed like a weathervane.

    Finally, while I may quit the race from time to time, there is no way anyone can hold me accountable for anything I say or do, so I will never, ever, resign.

    This, I promise you.

    Signed, this 22nd day of August, the year 2014, in Vancouver

    Dr. F