Randy Helten won't reveal who's paying for his legal challenge against Mayor Gregor Robertson

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      One of six Vancouver residents trying to unseat the mayor has refused to disclose who's paying his legal bills.

      Randy Helten and the other petitioners are seeking a judicial declaration that Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs are "not qualified" to remain in office.

      They're seeking a court order naming NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe as mayor and forcing the 11th-place finisher in the council race, the NPA's Ian Robertson, to replace Meggs.

      The six petitioners are represented by David Wotherspoon, a partner at the downtown firm of Fasken Martineau.

      The same firm is representing LaPointe and the NPA after they were sued by Robertson and Meggs two weeks before the election.

      When I asked Helten who's paying for Wotherspoon's services, he replied, "It's a good question, but I'd rather not answer that and focus on the content of the case and not distract people from that."

      I pointed out to Helten that the Straight has already posted an article on the content, which was written by Carlito Pablo. Helten said he hadn't seen it.

      Then I told Helten that I was curious if NPA president Peter Armstrong is paying for his court action to try to unseat Robertson and Meggs.

      "Well, people might speculate that, but we, yeah, we just don't want to distract from the content of the case," Helten said.

      We parted ways because it was clear to me that Helten wasn't interested in responding to this line of inquiry.

      The NPA and LaPointe are represented by Geoff Cowper, who is Fasken Martineau's senior counsel and leads the litigation and dispute resolution group.

      Wotherspoon's specialties include defamation. According to the firm's website, his "cases have involved protecting businesses that have been targeted in a way that requires intense and swift action and often injunctions to safeguard clients' rights".

      In 2006, Fasken Martineau represented Great Canadian Railtour on a $45-million financing package. Armstrong is the railway company's executive chairman and founder.

      Comments

      21 Comments

      Anotherone

      Dec 12, 2014 at 5:23pm

      Wow, and many say that liberals are whiners who won't drop issues that don't go their way.

      This legal challenge is the equivalent of a bald guy with a ponytail.

      Dec 12, 2014 at 5:35pm

      Why keep clinging to something you've already lost? Move on, cut it off and fade into obscurity with dignity.

      TCG

      Dec 12, 2014 at 5:44pm

      Thanks for asking the right questions Charlie.

      spartikus

      Dec 12, 2014 at 6:40pm

      So Randy Helten, who has built a whole website [CityHallWatch] that demands disclosure from others, won't hold himself to the same standard.

      Noted.

      Robot

      Dec 12, 2014 at 8:13pm

      Interesting how the spin on this story in The Straight is about who is paying his legal bills rather than the substance of the claim. Talk about partisan journalism.

      TCG

      Dec 12, 2014 at 10:01pm

      This smells like a leverage move, simply trying to pressure the Mayor and Meggs to drop their lawsuit for libel against LaPointe. Hellen and his band of sore losers are just pawns.

      jenables

      Dec 13, 2014 at 12:43am

      What I've sadly noticed is that people are more comfortable defending corruption than those who are calling it out.

      Spartikus, City hall has hidden so much information from public view, not that you seem to mind. They do not have the right to do that with taxpayer money, public money, OUR money. We know now that legal action is one of the few ways that city hall will respond to certain requests. If it was taxpayer money used to pay for the litigation it should be public knowledge. Since it is not, who cares who is paying for it? Don't you care at all about the suit itself?

      hmmm...

      Dec 13, 2014 at 2:27am

      It's pretty astounding that someone who advocates voraciously for transparency--to the point where he will take legal action after the election is said and done--won't disclose his own finances.

      People who complain about the lack of transparency from Vision and support NPA are insanely hypocritical. The NPA received just as much, if not more, money from corporations for their campaign and were the LAST party to reveal the sources/amounts of their donations, even though they were the loudest advocates for transparency.

      If people are concerned about corruption, fine. But looking to the NPA as an alternative is ignorant.