Cadman claims mayor preparing for putsch

A Coalition of Progressive Electors councillor has predicted that Mayor Sam Sullivan will run as an independent if he doesn’t get the endorsement of the ruling Non-Partisan Association for his reelection bid.

“There are a lot of people within the NPA who are not very comfortable with Sam Sullivan, which is why I think he has hired his own private consultants,” Coun. David Cadman told the Georgia Straight. “He’s basically saying, ”˜You’re not going to do to me what you did to Philip Owen.’”

Cadman was referring to the power struggle within the NPA that resulted in Owen not running for reelection and Jennifer Clarke stepping forward as the party’s mayoral candidate in 2002. Clarke lost to COPE’s Larry Campbell.

But Sullivan disputed Cadman’s assertion. “Not at all,” Sullivan curtly replied to the Straight when asked if he can imagine himself running outside the centre-right party.

Asked if he anticipates a toughly contested NPA nomination process for the 2008 election, Sullivan responded: “I haven’t put any thought towards that. But certainly that is an option. I’m taking things step by step.”

Like Cadman, Vision Coun. Heather Deal told the Straight that she senses something is afoot with Sullivan’s hiring of consultants. “They work for Sullivan but not for NPA councillors,” Deal said.

Two consultants, former NPA president Dale McClanaghan and communications consultant Norman Stowe, were hired with Sullivan’s mayoral discretionary fund to launch Project Civil City last November 27.

Deal was the first opposition councillor to speak after Sullivan delivered his first state of the city address on January 16. “The state of the city [address] is no more than an attempt to start another reelection campaign on the part of the mayor using the city’s resources, space, and time,” she said at the time.

Former banker Tung Chan, who has ties to the federal Conservatives, was part of the core group of Conservatives who worked for Sullivan’s successful mayoral run in the 2005 election. He told the Straight that the party’s “nominations have always been lively and well-contested”.

Asked to assess Sullivan’s performance as mayor, Chan said, “I think Sam has been doing a very fine job in that he has been able to reach out to the two other levels of governments and try to build coalitions. I know that my view is not, obviously, shared by everyone.”

When asked if he thinks Sullivan will make a strong reelection candidate for the NPA, Chan said, “It’s not for me to judge whether he is strong or not. I can only say that he met my expectation, and whether he met everyone else’s expectation is a totally different story.”

Inside the NPA, rookie Coun. Kim Capri has emerged as Sullivan’s most outspoken cheerleader. “I’m supporting our mayor,” Capri told the Straight. “I look forward to him being our mayor for [another] three years.”

NPA school-board trustee Don Lee, who has been linked in the past with the federal Liberals, told the Straight that hopefuls shouldn’t expect a free ride during the nomination. “If you’re not willing to work hard and sign up people, then that would be a factor.”

Lee claimed that unlike in its rival civic parties, contests within the NPA are more intense because the party brings together otherwise competing political interests from the Conservatives, the Liberals, and the New Democratic Party.

“I feel that Sam has been doing a good job, but some may have ambitions to go further,” Lee said.

Speaking highly of Peter Ladner, Lee said that the second-term, bike-riding NPA councillor would make a good contender for the NPA nomination. The same is true, Lee noted, about another cycling enthusiast in the NPA stable: Coun. Suzanne Anton, a former park commissioner.

Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, is one of the keen observers of the city’s civic politics. Asked by the Straight who he thinks are the rising stars within the NPA, Saunders replied, “It’s not so easy to identify the rising star as it is to identify the falling star. And, clearly, Sam Sullivan is the falling star.”