Scandal Hits the BC Liberals – John van Dongen
Posted April 25, 2009 by Sacha Peter - Link
Category: Analysis, Scandal
Comments (12)
This is the second post (previous post here) about the April 24th news items that saw Marc Dalton and John van Dongen get in trouble.
John van Dongen announced on Friday that he had his drivers’ license suspended because of a high number of speeding tickets on his record. As a result, Premier Gordon Campbell reassigned the portfolio of Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.
Bringing up van Dongen’s court records, we have the following:
The 1st charge is for excessive speeding; the case was dropped, as the prosecution (police) did not show up to court.
The 2nd charge is for speeding; van Dongen did not show up to court.
The 3rd charge is for speeding; van Dongen did not show up to court.
The 4th charge is for speeding; van Dongen did not show up to court.
Note the fifth record is not the Minister in question (note that Vaughn Palmer was not correct here in saying five tickets). This is a list of court appearances by van Dongen, but what is not displayed is the number of speeding violations that were paid for but not contested in court. If you send money to pay the fine, there will be no court record of the matter.
Ordinarily speeding convictions wouldn’t make the radar of anybody in the public (even the charge of excessive speeding, which is defined as going 41 km/h or over the speed limit), but the political problem for van Dongen is the apparent hypocrisy of implementing and talking about anti-speeding programs when you’re likely the top 1 percent in the province when it comes to being caught speeding. I will take the moment here to disclose that you can see a court record on me for speeding (and the prosecution did not show up, so the case was dismissed).
Almost the entire driving public violates section 146 of the motor vehicle act daily – does anybody out there go over 50km/h in most places in a municipality? You are technically breaking the law even if you are going 51km/h, and the police are well within their rights to write you a ticket for going 51 km/h in a 50 km/h zone – they just have to prove it in court.
This is why court systems exist – charges have to be proven. It is also why, despite Gregor Robertson’s previous experience, that charges that are in question should have to be proven in court – because it is the appropriate check and balance to the powers that the public have entrusted to the police – the police are not always correct.
Preaching against an activity almost everybody does (speeding) is bad enough, but when you take actions that are directly against what you preach is good public behaviour (i.e. everybody should obey speeding legislation), this will turn off a lot of the public and absolutely ruin credibility that you may have on subsequent issues. This is very similar to what happened in the USA when Democratic nominees were discovered to not have fully paid their income taxes – these were people that previously stated or implied that people should always pay their taxes. If the top politicals don’t abide by the legislation they create, why should the public?
One obvious solution is to eliminate the legislation – and removing Section 146 of the motor vehicle act would be a good start.
Politically, this will likely cost van Dongen his cabinet position, assuming the BC Liberals are re-elected. Locally, he is still very likely to keep his seat, but he will probably lose a few voters that will decide not to show up to the polls. Provincially is where most of the damage will be done – this is the second solicitor general in a row that had some adverse event happen to him (the first being John Les, who is under investigation), and as a result, the NDP can take this as a character issue. It may cost the BC Liberals the ability to take in voters that are sensitive to criminal issues.
It is also amazing how these two issues (Dalton and van Dongen) have mostly erased the memories of a horrible last week for the NDP. While it doesn’t appear that these two scandals will affect the inevitable outcome of the election, it may be enough to get more public attention onto the campaign – something that works more in the favour of the NDP than the BC Liberals.
This is ad hominem, imo.
Van Dongen should be judged on his public service record.
What he does in his personal life, is no one’s business. Just driving a car can be a hazard to pedestrians or passengers. Risk can never be eliminated. What is his accident record – probably none, otherwise the unions snits at ICBC would have leaked that. He may be second to a race car driver – we don’t know.
It is the mark of a civil society that you are given the benefit of the doubt in your personal life. Otherwise, welcome to the police state (favorite state of the NDP).
So, Glass, the top legal authority in the province should be able to conduct himself as he sees fit, just as long as he does so outside of work? Where does that slippery slope end? Personally, I think the man needs to be stripped of all cabinet credentials. I don’t care about whether or not he runs for the Liberals or NDP or Green or whatever. Let the voters now decide his fate. But as minister, screaming down our highways and back roads where children play and pedestrians and bikers commute is UNACCEPTABLE. Basically, the guy has been a loaded weapon in his car all this time and no one has said anything. It is discouraging to voters as we want integrity in our politicians. Obama makes our crew look like a bunch of chimps!
It used to be a scandal had to involve a hooker or a payoff or some type of major event that most of us would never find ourselves involved in.
Today it seems we are so short of scandals we must make an issue of everyday things. I mean some pictures on facebook having a good time with friends is a major offence? And we wonder why more young people do not get more involved in politics?
Now speeding tickets is the next “huge” offense? What will be the next scandal? In 1998 George Abbott was ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt so he should resign as the Health Minister? Why have politics become so petty? I know the various political spin doctors like “James” that patrol these sites will try to suggest that speeding tickets and photos on facebooks are serious offences that are shocking and disturbing to society but come on people this is just getting stupid and stupider by the day.
Going over the poseted speed limit is not scandalous. Everyone does it every time they drive. Everyone. Everytime. Hundreds of thousands of speeding tickets are handed out annually.
What is scandalous is when there is an attempt to cover-up or get special disposition, which Dongen could have done. He did not. He could have easily arranged an ‘administrative error’ to delay the release and discovery of the tickets a few weeks until after the Liberals are elected.
He did not.
Contrast this with former NDP candidate Tim Stevenson, who was charged with drunk driving through a dense urban neighborhood and tried to hide it for a year before he was outed. That is scandal.
It was not so long ago that night after night on the news we were treated to the latest statistics regarding racing on our streets. Pedestrians were being killed or maimed, the drivers and their passengers seemed to run 50/50 if they would survive the latest race. Everyone wanted these speeders stopped. Laws were to be changed if necessary and sentences made steeper as what we had did not do the job.
Now along comes van Dongen and we are supposed to shrug and say, “Oh, everyone speeds.”
I look at the record above and can only assume that van Dongen was hoping that the police would not show up at subsequent court hearings. I can also assume that he believes that the laws are not for him, but for the hoi palloi who pay more eventually for his arrogance. Racing for the ferry is not good enough. The man is paid (47%) more than earlier years and he can afford a hotel room in Victoria if not his own flat. I can imagine him on the highways to Abbotsford so late that night if he had made the ferry. (Do we know if he did?) All those open, lightly trafficked roads…zooom…zooom. His truck is capable of very high speeds (unlike mine).
The legislature sits so seldom that van Dongen and the few Liberal members that show up for debate and/or vote should make every effort to appear as the responsible public adults they expect us to vote for. Is that too much to ask?
So who is next? Will Mr. Campbell be caught speeding/swerving/driving drunk again. I still don’t believe that when he was busted in Hawaii for that one, that it was the only time in his 54 years that he had ever driven drunk. Stories about his father notwithstanding.
Homophobes, drunk drivers, high speed racers, obfuscaters, deceivers… it’s a sorry bunch the LINOs are. We all deserve better, no matter what political party they belong to.
And as predicted along comes Georgine yet another political opportunist. Comparing speeding on the hwy to street racing is one and the same in your books ? What is it with you people? Do you seriously think someone is going to ready your spin and think “well golly gee; I was going to vote for so and so but after reading Georgine I can see how this all leads to street racing; I am going to change my vote now…”
This is a political website and I would wager that 99.9 % of the visitors to this site not only have their minds long made up who they will be voting for; it is clear that at least ½ of you are either currently unemployed party staffers or are most certainly actively working on political campaigns.
Show me a party made up of “perfect” people and I will show you a party made up of you know what…..
Glass – I challenge you to find the ad hominem tu quoque in my original post – you won’t find it. I was very conscious of this since claiming hypocrisy is such an argument.
I have no problem with van Dongen speeding. The issue is how much moral authority you have when you have been preaching one thing, but taking actions that have been completely contrary to such preaching.
The other conclusion I drew is that Section 146 of the motor vehicle act is ridiculous legislation. It didn’t take this incident to show it, but maybe in light of the solicitor general himself getting his drivers’ license taken away because of it should be the stimulus to having Section 146 looked at and repealed – delegate it down to municipalities.
van Dongen did not crash into anybody, and he was not driving drunk – simple speeding is a true victimless violation of law. It warrants examination whether the law itself is wrong.
I happen to like Van Dongen personally; but the real issue is not one of private behaviour or of potential seriousness of the offense. The real issue is that legislators, and members of government, have a moral and ethical responsibility to uphold the laws they enact or oversee.
If they believe a particular law is not relevant to them personally then they need to consider why it is relevant at all. The same issue stands for the likes of John Les, who seems content to bend the rules of the ALR to suit his own needs – like making money.
If the BC Liberals don’t like the laws of the Province they have had ample opportunity to change them. Of course such an approach might have shown a disregard for their role of governing for the people, but at least it would show a little more honesty.
Sacha – I was not referring to your writeup which has been very carefully presented.
My comment is referring to the general media spotlight on Van Dongen.
I don’t think we should really view his record as something as a bad thing. I support John Van Dongen, and I assume that his record is that of a evidential mistake. We all make mistakes, and I don’t think we should continue to complain about people who make driving mistakes when most people drive 60 in a school zone.
These “scandals” highlight the Campbell Liberals ongoing outlook of ” do as I say, not as I do”. Had the Premier not have been so high and mighty about the Lam Facebook photos, this would have been a minor incident. But the Liberals have seemed to forgotten that for action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Came off a night shift the day Glenn Clark was re-elected. Caught ferry took a taxi to the American consulate showed them my nursing license. A few months later moved to Maui Hawaii.
In BC I averaged a 55 hour week nursing, and in an unrelated small business. Income tax took about half my cash flow, BC’s combined sales taxes 14% and municipal taxes even more. I was working 30 hours a week just to support the system.
Just did my taxes here. Difference between Hawaii and BC, last year’s income $22,500.00. (Factoring my wife’s $3792.00/Yr. health insurance bill which I accounted for as a “tax” added to my US income and county taxes.) Been here nine years and the 200k+ difference in taxation since immigrating has found its way to my investment strategy. Result I am more or less financially independent today despite the economic situation. In BC I would still be wholly dependent on an employer, or be working my tail off running a private home nursing care business.
Big government is an enemy to freedom. Although I am only one example, in my case a life of long weeks ended a couple of years ago. I work 25 to 30 hours a week and write science fiction. Pursue happiness so to speak. Government spending is rising in America soon taxes will as well. As a result US demand for goods and services from BC will fall as the economy here slows from the rate it was growing after Reagan was President.
Electing a NDP regime will only put BC into the same hopeless situation it was under Harcourt and Clark. Back then BC was the only jurisdiction in North America, including Mexico to have unemployment over 10%.
That is what the NDP and other “progressive” politicians do. They kill personal incentive and drive. They kill potential of hundreds of thousands of people to accumulate assets. Assets that often find their way into new ideas that drive an economy forward. It is how Bill Gates got started. In my case it is quite far out, I designed an electric “rocket engine” over twenty five years ago. Never had the loot to experiment until now.
Now I have reached 24% efficiency/ 6.2lbs trust per kilowatt with the thing, go figure…