Call Me Confused
The Northern Liberal (and everyone else) has a post up which could cause quite a few headaches for the Bob Rae campaign. Despite his claims that he has long since broken ranks with the NDP, it appears that Bob Rae made several donations to NDP candidates in the 2004 and 2006 general elections.
Here's a list of donations to election candidates made by Bob Rae, from the Elections Canada website:
2006 Election
Jan 20, 2006: Irene Mathyssen (NDP) - 300$
Jan 16, 2006: John Godfrey (Lib) - 300$
Dec 22, 2005: Rochelle Carnegie (NDP) - 250$
2004 Election
June 28, 2004: Tony Martin (NDP) - 250$
June 25, 2004: David Christopherson (NDP) - 250$
The postal codes for five of these donations are listed as M6S 2A7, the same postal code as listed under the donation of Robert Keith K. Rae of $10,000 to Bob Rae's leadership campaign. The Mathyssen donation lists the postal code as M6S 2M7, but I assume this is a typo. Add it all up and it's pretty undeniable that it's the Bob Rae who made these donations. I sent an e-mail to the Rae campaign to give them a chance to respond but didn't hear back from them.
As for what this means, I'm not quite prepared to crucify Bob on this one. If I had a close personal friend or family member running for the NDP or Tories, I'd definitely write them a cheque. And Bob Rae certainly has a lot of friends in the NDP. However, it's certainly going to leave a lot of Liberals uneasy that Bob was cutting cheques to NDP candidates in close races with Liberals just a few short months ago.
UPDATE: Interesting...
Bob has spoken at length and on many occasions for some years now about his split with the NDP and what is wrong with that party, so his support for any candidate is the result of personal and not political ties. He spoke out in speeches, interviews, his two books in the late 1990s and in op-eds including one in the Nat Post entitled "Parting Ways with the NDP": "If Svend Robinson's foray had been a solitary event, it might have been possible to brush it off as yet another escapade from a histrionic crank. But he is the foreign affairs critic of the New
Democratic Party. The NDP criticizes the Third Way, opposes the World Trade Organization, sits on its hands when Tony Blair praises the advantages of markets, and denounces any military action against terrorism whether by the United States, Canada or Israel. This is not a vision of social democracy worthy of support."
So that is a fuller picture of Bob and the NDP.
He has given to others including Pettigrew, Graham, and Godfrey and his own comments are in the piece below. He also donated a few hundred to the provincial liberal party in Ontario over the years.
2005 - Robert Rae $280 to OLP
2003 donated $200
2001 donated $185
Here's a list of donations to election candidates made by Bob Rae, from the Elections Canada website:
2006 Election
Jan 20, 2006: Irene Mathyssen (NDP) - 300$
Jan 16, 2006: John Godfrey (Lib) - 300$
Dec 22, 2005: Rochelle Carnegie (NDP) - 250$
2004 Election
June 28, 2004: Tony Martin (NDP) - 250$
June 25, 2004: David Christopherson (NDP) - 250$
The postal codes for five of these donations are listed as M6S 2A7, the same postal code as listed under the donation of Robert Keith K. Rae of $10,000 to Bob Rae's leadership campaign. The Mathyssen donation lists the postal code as M6S 2M7, but I assume this is a typo. Add it all up and it's pretty undeniable that it's the Bob Rae who made these donations. I sent an e-mail to the Rae campaign to give them a chance to respond but didn't hear back from them.
As for what this means, I'm not quite prepared to crucify Bob on this one. If I had a close personal friend or family member running for the NDP or Tories, I'd definitely write them a cheque. And Bob Rae certainly has a lot of friends in the NDP. However, it's certainly going to leave a lot of Liberals uneasy that Bob was cutting cheques to NDP candidates in close races with Liberals just a few short months ago.
UPDATE: Interesting...
Both Rae and Boyd were thrilled with the NDP's showing in the election, winning 29 seats across Canada -- 11 more than in the last Parliament.UPDATE 2: The Rae campaign got back to me with the following:
Bob has spoken at length and on many occasions for some years now about his split with the NDP and what is wrong with that party, so his support for any candidate is the result of personal and not political ties. He spoke out in speeches, interviews, his two books in the late 1990s and in op-eds including one in the Nat Post entitled "Parting Ways with the NDP": "If Svend Robinson's foray had been a solitary event, it might have been possible to brush it off as yet another escapade from a histrionic crank. But he is the foreign affairs critic of the New
Democratic Party. The NDP criticizes the Third Way, opposes the World Trade Organization, sits on its hands when Tony Blair praises the advantages of markets, and denounces any military action against terrorism whether by the United States, Canada or Israel. This is not a vision of social democracy worthy of support."
So that is a fuller picture of Bob and the NDP.
He has given to others including Pettigrew, Graham, and Godfrey and his own comments are in the piece below. He also donated a few hundred to the provincial liberal party in Ontario over the years.
2005 - Robert Rae $280 to OLP
2003 donated $200
2001 donated $185
posted by calgarygrit at
1:48 a.m.
22 Comments:
I agree, if Bob Rae was just helping some old friends out I could hardly blame him for it.
However, its bad optics. And in politics, the truth of an event doesn't matter as much as the optics of it.
By
Eric, at 2:38 a.m.
I think the worrisome part here is the dates of those checks such as Irene Mathyssen was issued on January 20th, only three days before the election when a Tory victory looked increasingly likely. Never mind the riding of London-Fanshawe was a very close riding. I am less concerned about his donation in Willowdale since the NDP had no chance at winning here and the Conservatives were no threat either.
By
Monkey Loves to Fight, at 3:20 a.m.
Any chance the donation comes from his wife? Or son? Only because on the only cheques we have, both my husband's and my names are on the top. Sometimes, I designate his name as the donor, depending on who I want to take the tax receipt for. Sometimes my DH doesn't even know "we" wrote a cheque til months later!
I'm not a Rae fan, but we need to know who wrote the cheque before we burn him at the stake.
By
Aurelia, at 9:49 a.m.
This is the same reason that I didn't trust Belinda Stronach (among many reasons).
She donated large sums of money to Paul Martin mere months before throwing her hat into the ring for the Tory leadership.
By
Michael Fox, at 10:41 a.m.
Two things about this blog post of CG's:
a) Just as I commented over at Cerberus, that some of you Liberal bloggers are now going after Rae hard is a sure sign that he has in fact merged as a real threat in this race.
b) I'll again go counterintuitive on this, just as I did with reflections on Bernard Lord's political career. That Bob Rae supported both Liberals and Dippers in the last election shows that he can bring in support from both, doesn't it? It's also been my observation that Liberals care more about Dippers getting out of the way than they do anything else. Well, Rae has not only gotten out of the way, he's fully behind the Liberal effort now. That's what Liberals want all Dippers to do, don't they?
By
Dennis (Second Thots), at 3:03 p.m.
Gotta love Rick Mercer.
"Honestly, Bob Rae wanting to be Liberal leader seemed so bizarre I figured it was just a matter of time before Bob would be on the TV revealing the tragic results of the CAT scan.
Nothing against Rae of course, I’m sure he means well – it’s just that his record as NDP premier of Ontario will never go away. It’s like Herpes. That’s forever."
He goes on to say that Rae is clearly the frontrunner though and Iggy is back of the pack.
But he throws in this funny line too which is why the Liberals will win the next one whoever wins this race:
"Our current Prime Minister also thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room – although when you consider the type of room Harper usually finds himself in, you can hardly blame him. When Harper exits a caucus meeting it’s not entirely clear if the title “smartest guy in the room” immediately shifts to his parliamentary secretary or the jade plant."
By
Ted Betts, at 3:35 p.m.
I'll again go counterintuitive on this, just as I did with reflections on Bernard Lord's political career. That Bob Rae supported both Liberals and Dippers in the last election shows that he can bring in support from both, doesn't it? It's also been my observation that Liberals care more about Dippers getting out of the way than they do anything else. Well, Rae has not only gotten out of the way, he's fully behind the Liberal effort now. That's what Liberals want all Dippers to do, don't they?
Actually as a centrist party we should be going after moderates from both the Tories and NDP, while ignoring the more ideological ones. Chretien was successful not by uniting the left, but by uniting the centre-left, centre, and centre-right.
Anyways the fact Bob Rae was thrilled to see the NDP gain seats should be worrisome. Also in 2004 he donated to NDP candidates in two ridings that had sitting Liberal MPs and in one case a cabinet minister and in both cases we lost two strong MPs to ineffective opposition MPs.
By
Monkey Loves to Fight, at 4:11 p.m.
cyber menace; I don't disagree. If I had to put money on a winner in this race right now, I'd be very tempted to wager on Rae.
By
calgarygrit, at 5:13 p.m.
"Both Rae and Boyd were thrilled with the NDP's showing in the election, winning 29 seats across Canada -- 11 more than in the last Parliament."
In fairness folks, this quote from the London Free Press article isn't actually a quote from Rae but an editorial comment from the journalist who wrote the story. If you read the story, all of Rae's actual quotes are personally about Irene Mathyssen, who was a former caucus member and I assume a personal friend of his, not about the NDP in a partisan sense. This would jive with the storyline that he was contributing to personal friends from both parties, not basing his support on partisan affiliations.
Not trying to be an apologist, but just saying if you are going to try make mountains out of molehills, you may want to stick to the facts and not run with random journalistic spin that happens supports your thesis.
By
Prairie Fire, at 5:38 p.m.
Regardless of whether it is "journalistic spin" or not...just the fact that we are even debating whether Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae is Liberal "enough", should be enough of an indication that Rae shouldn't be Liberal leader.
As someone who worked 7 weeks (without pay), knocking on doors through the sleet and the snow, for the Liberals last election, I'm damn sure that I don't want our next leader to have been donating to the competition last election, regardless of whether they are his "friends" or not.
By
JJ, at 5:46 p.m.
If Bob used the fact that he was doing Air India inquiry as an excuse not to run for the Liberals in 2004 and 2006, why would he be giving money to anyone? Especially the NDP????
concerned yl... it was not only his excuse for not running, but also for not joining the party, something he didn't do until April 2006.
By
nbpolitico, at 5:56 p.m.
If any Liberals feel that Bob Rae should resign his candidacy go to: http://www.petitiononline.com/Bobrae/petition.html
By
thescottross.blogspot.com, at 6:18 p.m.
I'm begging you... vote for Bob Rae.
By
Michael Fox, at 7:47 p.m.
Why are some former non-Liberal politicians such as Stronarch and Brison acceptable despite their former anti-Liberal tactics, yet Rae is supposedly unacceptable? The critics of Rae are just doing leadership race politics, he'll be embraced by all later as an example of the Liberal "big tent".
By
nuna d. above, at 8:01 p.m.
I'm begging you... vote for Bob Rae.
Yeah, all is forgiven in Ontario.
By
Joanne (True Blue), at 8:24 p.m.
Left Right and Center
said...
It's a non issue - MSM hasn't picked it up and the next election is going to be a referendum on Afghanistan. This puts Iggy at a disadvantage for obvious reasons, we're still not sure where Rae stands and Quebec opposes the war. . .
Whoa! Timing is everything. If sparks fly, [ below ], that can change overnight.
== From: the respected Economist =
America may yet come to agreement with France, which has joined some tough statements against Iran recently. But Russia and, especially, China remain stumbling blocks, opposed to sanctions. It is not hard to see why. Ilan Berman, an Iran-watcher at the American Foreign Policy Council, noted the huge scale of China’s economic ties with Iran in recent testimony to Congress.
He points out that China—which is ravenous for more oil and gas—now gets 15% of its energy from Iran, more than from any other supplier. To ask China to slam the door on Iran’s energy exports is like asking America to do without Saudi oil, says Mr Berman. In other words, it is unthinkable.
Mr Bush offered some respectful words for Iranian people on Tuesday. And Mr Ahmadinejad found many occasions to mention *justice and love* among peoples. But neither man is budging.
Mr Ahmadinejad also referred obliquely to the coming of the *perfect one* , meaning the *hidden imam*, that Shia Muslims believe will return to herald the end of the world.
More reason to worry that the president is a millenarian zealot. On the other hand, Time magazine has reported that America has given some of its navy ships orders to *prepare to deploy* near Iran. A bluff, perhaps. But it has raised fears of an impending strike and of a clash of something more serious than words.
== http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7938954
Damn! Now if we were all driving EVs. . . = TG
By
TonyGuitar, at 8:35 p.m.
Bob Rae also donated money to Pierre Pettigrew immediately prior to the last campaign. I think that's worth mentionning as well.
By
John Lennard, at 8:43 p.m.
Congrats on being quoted in the Toronto Sun's 'Best of the Blogs' this morning, Calgary Grit!
By
Joanne (True Blue), at 6:35 a.m.
I'm thinking that Bob Rae is not the only opportunist and perhaps less opportunistic than some others in this race.
I'm siding with the Cyber Menace and Miles Lunn.
The party has always been inclusive.
By
Down & Out in L A, at 10:16 a.m.
Still trying to figure out why I care but...
A lot of long-time Liberals were happy that the Liberal party lost the last election.
By
Michael Fox, at 10:39 a.m.
I don't support any specific one person yet, but I don't see a big deal over this. Actually, I see a plus - I support certain NDP candidates, certain CPC candidates, certain Green candidates, and certain Liberal candidates, so I like that Rae is not "Liberal only".
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 2:37 p.m.
So, I don't actually believe this will have effect.
By
www.webhablada.es, at 5:46 a.m.
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