NPA forced out of the shadows

Allen Garr

It's hard to believe that just three short years ago, the Non Partisan Association was a low-key, no-logo kind of organization, an anonymous money pump, the invisible hand in our civic political marketplace.

Over the past 36 months, through efforts here and elsewhere, the NPA has emerged from the shadows into the clear light of day. The names of its principal power brokers are as familiar as those of the politicians it gets elected. We know, for example, that J.P. Shason is a rich landowner who runs Gastown Printers. He is a friend of Gordon Campbell and worked closely with the provincial Liberals selecting candidates. He profits from their printing business and, more recently, contracts with the party to do telephone polling.

In the phone polling business, he is assisted by NPA board member Grant Longhurst. Longhurst ran the NPA election campaign last time around. He is another Gastown businessman and member of the Community Alliance-the organization that has been causing Mayor Philip Owen gas pains over his drug policy-and is not at all unhappy that the NPA has given Owen the hook.

Then there's Jamie Brown, for a moment an assistant to then-NPA-mayor Gordon Campbell before he trotted off to join his famous father Peter's stock brokering business at Canacord Capital. Jamie Brown is president of the NPA and the go-to guy for media calls. The problem is, being a shy fellow, Brown seldom calls back.

Brown was the trigger man who, along with fellow board member Dale McClanaghan, was sent off to pay Owen the house call last month that got all this recent silliness going. Owen took exception to Brown and McClanaghan putting the squeeze on him, and they took exception to him. Words were said and letters written that I'm sure we all regret, none more than mayor-apparent Jennifer Clarke, who would have preferred a much quieter transition to power.

Most recently, we stumbled across an NPA press release cranked out last week. It was probably written by Longhurst and approved by Shason before it was signed by Brown. It was the final kiss-off for Owen and "his long time public service with the NPA."

At the same time, in one of his rare public statements, Brown dismissed concerns that, because of the kerfuffle, prospective candidates would be avoiding the NPA in the upcoming election. Au contraire, he said to one reporter, the NPA logo still works: "people still believe there is a lot of political capital in the brand."

And in that one crystal-clear assertion, Brown was able to tell us tons about the NPA and the hold it has on the people it elects.

Cherie Payne is a bright young lawyer seeking an NPA nomination to school board next time around. In a press release outlining her reasons for choosing the NPA, she writes that the NPA is useful to candidates who "do not have the personal profile or personal wealth to run as independents." Exactly Brown's point.

This explains why even elected NPA councillors, particularly the perpetually politically twitchy Sam Sullivan, are reluctant to be cut loose by the brand and end up in no-name land supporting Philip Owen.

As the NPA emerges from obscurity, it appears to be much more than a group of well-meaning folks putting forward the best people to run the city.

Anyone who thinks giving Owen the boot is simply about renewal has been living on another planet. Never mind young Jennifer Clarke's political ambition and fundraising abilities.

Bear in mind that while the NPA attempts to pass itself off as an organization more interested in people than policies, there is no doubt the mayor's drug strategy has gotten up the noses of a few too many heavies on the NPA board who want to be rid of him.While in the past, the NPA may have operated like this in relative secrecy, this time we know who those guys are and what they're up to. bygarr@direct.ca