**UPDATED 2:45PM PST (RESIGNATION – see below)**
As sensible people already know, it’s but the tip of the iceberg.
In one blog entry in May 2005, Mike Klander, liberal, presents a picture of Conservative leader Stephen Harper who happens to be standing or sitting beside Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, with the headline “Bed Buddies?” and the photo caption: “More than just friends?”
He goes on to speculate:
Yes indeed, politics does make for strange bedfellows…but is there more to it?
I would bet that his wife couldn’t make his eyes roll back into his head like that.
Pleasant.
He’s since closed his blog down completely, perhaps in abject shame and embarrassment and after a stern yelling at by leader Paul Martin who fears blowing their cover, but of course we’re able to find interesting tidbits anyway because of Google’s cache, reminding us once again why it is that the internet is so pernicious to liberals.
In a more recent entry on December 9 2005, he disgraces humans who don’t agree with him by presenting a picture of NDP leader Jack Layton’s Asian wife, Olivia Chow, and a dog, and compares her to that dog—a “chow” of course. “Separated at Birth?” he asks, as if so utterly arrogant that he is completely oblivious to the obvious insult.
In another, he laments his role as a Liberal Party hack, and whines, on Monday, November 28, 2005:
This Campaign Will Piss Me Off
The campaign hasn’t even started but I’m going out on a limb to predict the top ten things that will make me sick:
1. Being dragged out to a Liberal rally, lied to so I’m there 30 minutes early, and then forced to stand in a hot room that’s way too small to give the appearance that everyone wants to be there.
2. The terms “culture of entitlement”, “adscam” or “whistleblower”…blow this![…and number] 10: Olivia Chow
In an exemplary blog entry demonstrating that famous phenomenally “non-moron-like” and “nuanced” liberal intellect, he posts, on November 23 2005:
Jack Layton…A-hole of the Week
I’m going away for a couple of days so I thought I would find something smart and witty to put up on my blog before I left. Unfortunatley [sic] I couldn’t think of anything so I just want to say that I think Jack Layton is an asshole… for no reason other than it makes me feel good to say it…and because he is.
November 21 2005 he muses about the….
Top 10 Reasons the Liberals Will Win
2. Harper creeps people out
3. Our jet is bigger than theirs
4. Layton is a weasel
5. They have Ralph Klein(… and so on …)
The previous Thursday, he wondered aloud:
Ever Wonder…
Did you ever wonder why is that when you put a cowboy hat on an actor they look tough and rugged…and when you put one on a politician they look gay?
Mike Klander is not a run-of-the-mill no-name blogger who’s simply venting and advocating liberalism for Canada. He is a senior Liberal Party of Canada official. A senior executive. One of the Party’s leaders. He’s been a part of their team since the 1980s. A gut-level true liberal in every way, it would seem, and arguably a spokesman. You’d think he’d try to mask his disgraceful attitude and mouth and mind with a nom de plume or something but no, he’s proud enough of his pronouncements to write them publicly as a Liberal Party official named Mike Klander. Genius!
On the side, or along side, he runs a consulting business called “Klander and Associates, Government Relations”.
His firm’s web site’s front page describes Mr. Klander’s specialities:
Mike Klander is a highly specialized and well respected government relations consultant assisting clients both at Queen’s Park in Ontario and at the Federal Government level in Ottawa.
Whether managing a crisis, proposing a new initiative, monitoring legislation, or simply building political relationships, Klander and Associates can help your business or association navigate through government.
His “About” page goes into more detail:
Mike Klander
With over fifteen years of experience in federal and provincial politics, Mike Klander brings with him an innate understanding of Canada’s political process and an extensive national network. Prior to establishing his own government relations practice Mike held several senior positions within the Liberal Party.
As a senior political organizer Mike played a significant role in building Paul Martin’s Leadership organization in Ontario. Prior to joining Martin’s team, Mike helped build a national organization for Brian Tobin and also served as his Campaign Manager in Ontario.
As Executive Director of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) Mike was responsible for managing the day to day affairs of the Federal Liberal Party in Ontario. In that capacity he served as Ontario Campaign Director during the 2000 Federal Election Campaign. In his eight years with the organization he held several other positions including Field Organizer, and Director of Field Operations.
An organizer in every federal and provincial election campaign since 1988 Mike has developed a comprehensive understanding of the political process and how government operates. Building on that experience, he established Klander and Associates; an independent government relations practice representing clients both in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park.
Mike has served and continues to assist numerous clients including Research in Motion, Inco, BFI Canada, Imperial Tobacco Canada, The Greater Toronto Home Builders Association, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Air Canada Pilots Association.
As a volunteer Mike sits on the Board of the Ontario Special Olympics and Rose Cherry’s Home for Kids. He is also Executive Vice-President of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario).
He holds an Honours degree in Political Science from McMaster University.
Wow. That Honours degree in Poli-Sci really helped!
He lists the firms he’s helped in the past:
Research In Motion
Inco Ltd.
Imperial Tobacco Canada
BFI Canada
Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association
Lakeport Beverage Corporation
Air Canada Pilots Association
International Union of Operating Engineers
Greater Toronto Homebuilders’ Association
I hope they’re all very happy to be associated with him and his team.
It’s all very interesting. And it’s fun to compare this with the attention it would get if it were a Conservative Party official instead of a Liberal Party official who said and did all this.
Liberals live by an entirely different set of rules than the rest of us.
**UPDATE 2:45 PM PST**
Liberal exec resigns after blog comment
A high-ranking official within the Liberal Party of Canada has stepped down after he made disparaging comments on his blog about NDP Leader Jack Layton and his wife, NDP candidate Olivia Chow.
Mike Klander, executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party’s Ontario wing, resigned today after he compared Chow to a dog and called Layton an “asshole.”
The postings have been taken down.
Stephen Heckbert, a Liberal spokesman, says Klander’s blog was personal and did not reflect the Liberal party as a whole.
Heckbert says Klander has apologized to Chow.
Heckbert says Klander was a volunteer and did not play an official role for the Liberals during this election campaign.
UPDATE December 27 2005, 6:03 AM PST:
Liberal Party spokesman Stephen Heckbert (better Google him!) made it all make sense and so of course this will all go away now. Here’s what he said. Hold your hat!
Mr. Klander, who could not be reached for comment, has a strong record of inclusiveness, he said.
“Mike has been a long-time Liberal and holds the Liberal values of diversity and tolerance and inclusiveness so [making racial remarks] certainly wasn’t his intention. His intention was to have a humorous site with some biting humour that he and some fellow Liberals could [read]. He recognized there’s a couple of things that crossed the line.”
Ohhhh. Well then. We’re all such idiots for making such a big deal of this trifling thing.
Let’s see if I can summarize: He’s a liberal —in fact a “long-time Liberal”— ipso facto it’s OK to make racial slurs and homophobic slurs and demonstrate your abject intolerance.
Can we use this explanatory methodology moving forward? For example, next time somebody says Stephen Harper is “scary”, can a Conservative Party spokesman simply say, “um no, no he is not,” and then it will all just go away?
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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