Gregor Robertson seeks Vancouver mayoral nomination with help of backroom boy Brad Zubyk

Vancouver-Fairview NDP MLA Gregor Robertson's mayoral ambitions have been covered in the Straight for months, and today, he came out in public and declare his candidacy for the Vision Vancouver nomination.

He is the second declared candidate for the Vision mayoral nomination; long-time NPA park commissioner Allan De Genova declared his intentions earlier this month.

It's widely known within NDP circles that Robertson's being assisted by backroom boy Mike Magee, who has ties to the environmental movement.

Now, another backroom spin doctor who used to have ties tio the NDP, Brad Zubyk, has emerged as another person helping Robertson's candidacy.

Zubyk once worked as an NDP caucus communications staffer before launching a lucrative lobbying career in the 1990s. He's not currently registered as a lobbyist with the B.C. government and has informed the Straight that he hasn't lobbied for nearly a decade.

He also spearheaded the 1996 NDP leadership campaign of Corky Evans in his longshot effort to stop the Glen Clark juggernaut.

In a completely unrelated development (i.e. unrelated to Zubyk and not in the least connected to Magee), the Republican presidential frontrunner, John McCain, has gotten into a bit of political trouble because of all the help he's getting from lobbyists. So far, this hasn't become a big issue in the increasingly crowded Vancouver mayoral race.

However, if anyone knows of registered lobbyists who are working for any of the mayoral candidates (even if that lobbyist happens to be Stephane Dion's frontman Mark Marrissen), they're invited to post a comment to this article or send a confidential e-mail to contact@straight.com.

Here are some previous articles in the Straight mentioning Gregor Robertson's mayoral ambitions:

Crowded mayoral race creates room for COPE
Vision Vancouver vote opens door for COPE election candidates
Pre-election, Mayor Sam Sullivan milks his underdog image
Who is Gregor Robertson's backroom helper?
Senator Campbell swats Gregor Robertson, praises Raymond Louie

See Also : Greg Robertson's official home page